The flue in your house determines the type of fire that is available to you. The following list will help you to identify the type of flue in your house, so that you can decide what fires are suitable for you.

CLASS 1 SOLID FUEL CHIMNEY:
A solid fuel chimney tends to have a fireplace opening normally consisting of brick or stone. It is suitable for burning solid fuel such as real coal or logs. The flue is typically brick built, with a cross sectional area equivalent to or greater than 7” diameter and terminates with either a terracotta chimney pot or cowl on the roof. Older buildings or large detached houses often have this type of flue.

CLASS 2 PRE-CAST FLUE:
The fireplace opening for a pre cast flue normally consists of stacked concrete starter blocks built into a ‘U’ shape within the wall. These can be of various sizes, but the shallow, narrow starter blocks are the most commonly used. The flue is then created using further stacked concrete blocks that are hollow to create a flue passage running through them. The flue has a cross sectional area equivalent to 5” diameter and terminates with either a ridge vent or a metal flue pipe with cowl on the roof.

CLASS 2 PRE-FABRICATED FLUE (TWIN WALL STEEL FLUE):

The fireplace opening for a pre-fabricated flue normally consists of a pre-fabricated twin wall metal flue box, which connects to a series of metal pipes that are at least 5” diameter internally. Usually terminates with a metal flue pipe protruding from the roof, with a cowl on top or just a ridge vent.

NO FLUE:
For houses without a chimney or flue, there are several options that will allow you to install a working gas appliance:

• POWERFLUE: This is a powerful, but quiet electronic fan, which is situated on an outside wall and extracts the flue gases from the fire. A 240 volt electricity power supply is required.
• BALANCED FLUE: Balanced flue fires are glass fronted and are very efficient. These fires require an outside wall and vent directly outside through a horizontal twin wall pipe. No mains electricity is required.
• FLUELESS: Flueless gas fires require no flue or external wall and can be situated anywhere where there is a natural gas supply. No electricity supply is required. They are 100% efficient as all the heat generated from the fire comes directly into your room, passing through a catalytic converter, which ‘cleans’ the combustion products.

Alternatively, if you do not wish to install a gas appliance you can install an electric fire.