New fireplace for the old house

Fireplace that stores heat is a smart decision for every home. Wood heating will greatly increase the comfort of living, and to substantially reduce energy bills. Comfortable and natural heat is the welfare and quality of life at its best.

Renovating an old house and adding a fireplace in it is one of the major purchasing decisions during the renovation. Fireplaces are often wanted to homes that do not already have the chimney. Many fireplace manufacturers, like Uunisepät, have a full service for chimney foundation that will take care of everything included in the process of installing the fireplace in the old house.

When purchasing the fireplace comes topical, the first thing to consider is for what purpose the fireplace is planned to use. Is there a need for heating, or is the atmosphere most important? Would someone like to do some baking? Is the fireplace planned as space dividers, is it an interior design object to catch the gazes?

Home visit for technical calculations is needed for all houses to be renovated with fireplace. The aim of this visit is to ensure a straightforward setup, and make sure that the fireplace deliver is supplied with all the right components. When the fireplace is ordered from Uunisepät, the fireplace specialist of Uunisepät makes the home visit. At this visit the location of the oven is checked together with safety distances, and all permits, licensing matters and regulations are checked over with the owners of the house. The specialist also plans firewall issues, and will help with domestic help reductions if they are possible to use. If the fireplace is used for heating, the size of the fireplace has to be determined by the surface area to be kept warm.

If the building has had a fireplace already and new fireplace is intended to set at the same place than the old one, the foundation of the fireplace is not an issue. For the old house, which has no fireplace installed, the structure load capacity of the floor must be checked. Same goes with an old chimney: if the old chimney is to be connected to the new fireplace, it must have the condition checked. The building control unit of the city must be contacted and the need for planning permission needs to be determined.

If the old chimney does not have a flue damper, the damper can be installed to the connecting pipe. The fireplace can be installed also on the destination, where there is no chimney or flue damper at all. In this case an expert needs to determine the best place for the chimney from roofing materials, bushings, traction conditions, and weather shelters in mind. All special cases are being planned and made according to the designer's instructions.

How to retrofit a fireplace?

In this article it has been described, how a fireplace is installed in an old house that has no fireplace previously. At this case the fireplace to be installed is from Uunisepät, but the same process is with any fireplaces.

When the fireplace is ordered straight from the manufacturer, they will supply all materials needed for the fireplace installation. In this case the order consisted of three pallets of goods.

The chimney for the fireplace was built using Leca blocks. Both the inner barrel and the insulation around it are delivered in various lengths, which make the installation easy.

The background of the fireplace was built from the fireproof material in order to protect the initial wall structures of the house. Typical for the houses from 1970’s, this house was built to a concrete slab. Therefore the weight of the fireplace and the chimney were placed directly on top of the slab. This operation required the dismantling of the floor structures. It was carried out a detailed sizing and using a mechanical knife cut. With the help of building blocks the fireplace was then lifted to the same height with the room floor.

On the top of the building blocks the fireplace’s bottom plate was installed. This installation step have to be made extra cautiously: if the base plate position deviates from the horizontal position, the error multiplies easily when the fireplace rises. The same careful attitude must be obtained when starting the tile laying; the error is easy to see in the end result.

The walls of the old houses are never straight, and the move a bit followed by the heat and moisture, so there should be some space left between the firewall and the fireplace. This too gives the possibility to place the installation totally horizontal position.

One of the roof bar of the house was in chimney’s way so it needed to be cut. Luckily it was not one of the load-bearing structures, but not any risks where taken during the installation: the ends of the cut bar were re-attached.

After the fireplace structure was set, the fireplace was decorated with the chosen tiles and seamed. Installers cleaned up after seaming, so that there would be no need for the owners of the house to clean. When this couple in the evening looked at the living room, they felt that the fireplace had been there forever!

Ordering a new fireplace for the old house

When a new house is build, it is easy to fit a fireplace in. But when the fireplace is installed to the old house, there are several things to consider. The following is a case study is about a house that has been built in 1970, and has an oil burner as a main source of heating. The owners of the house ended up using the services from Uunisepät, but in any case the process of setting the new fireplace to old house is the same.

The heating system of the house under a case study was in the good condition; both the boiler and the burner had been renovated recently and the oil consumption was reasonable. The reason why owners the house wanted to have a secondary heat source was that the oil price was getting up. Atmospheric home evenings next to the fireplace were in mind also.

First the owners went to see different fireplaces to get some idea about different types of options in the market. They ended up with heat reserving fireplaces and liked the models from Uunisepät, so they contacted the local representative of Uunisepät in their area. After one phone call the date was set for the representative to come to visit their house.

During this visit the representative of Uunisepät discussed about the needs and wishes of the house owners. Strength calculations were made and chimney options checked in order to make sure, that the installation was possible in the place where the owner wanted to set the fireplace. The representative of Uunisepät suggested different designs and solutions for the fireplace - that were considered helpful by the owners.

Calculations and careful planning help to avoid the mistakes that may lie in the future. In this case the condition or the structure of the house did not set any limitations for the fireplace installation, so there was a wide selection of fireplaces to choose. After the consultation with the Uunisepät representative the owners ended up with the Uunisepät model called “Erkkeri Nostalgikko”. The heating capacity of this particular fireplace was 4,2 kW, which is enough for heating about 70 square meters from this 130 square meter house. The owners also preferred the stylish look of the fireplace that suited well for their interior and the style of their house.

Compulsory CE symbol for all new fireplaces in the European Community

The European Commission’s new directive for fireplaces emission levels will be enforced in Europe in 2012. At the same time, the CE symbol will become compulsory for all new manufactured fireplaces. In order to get the CE marking, the fireplace manufacturer needs to accomplish pretests for their fireplace products that prove that all the given standards are fulfilled. A lot of pressure is set on fireplace safety and environmental issues.

Most of the manufacturers are ready for this. For example Finnish manufacturer of storing fireplaces Uunisepät have had their own testing laboratory since 2010. The laboratory is equipped with all the modern testing devices, and it gives the possibility to run long term testing related to the fireplace safety and wood burning.

But it is not only the fireplace that needs to be taken care of. Followed by a cold winter in Northern Europe, it turned out that chimneys are more risky for the safety that the fireplaces in the case of fire. The fire outbreaks are caused many times by the imperfect installation of the chimney: wrongly installed chimney may cause fire hazard easily. The second most common reason is overheating: when the fireplace is heated more often during the cold winters, it may raise the risk of outbreak of fire in the chimney, if the chimney is not capable of handling that high temperature. The third reason for fire hazard starting from chimney is that storing fireplace is connected to the chimney that is not made for that kind of fireplaces.

According to the fireplace and chimney association of Finland, TSY, all the chimneys in market having already the CE symbol are comprehensively tested, reliable and fireproof. As long as the fireplace is heated at the right way and enough distance is kept between the fireplace and any flammable material, the risk of fire outbreak is minimal.

For example IKI chimney, manufactured by Uunisepät, is a chimney that is manufacturer followed T600 standard and has CE symbol on it. T600 standardized chimney will undergo even the highest temperature. This chimney is suitable for all models of fireplaces manufactured by Uunisepät. It is safe choice to purchase the chimney and the fireplace from the same manufacturer: then one can be sure that the combination is tested thoroughly.

New fireplace testing laboratory for Uunisepät

Fireplace manufacturer Uunisepät from Finland has introduced their new test laboratory for fireplace testing. The laboratory, which was opened in June 2010, has measuring devices for testing burning processes and fireplace safety.

In the opening ceremony of the new laboratory the founder of Uunisepät, Mr. Raittio, gave a speech on the history of manufacturing storing fireplaces in Finland. The history dates back to the 16^th century, when Juhana Herttua, the upcoming king of Sweden known as Juhana III, was the ruler of Finland. Juhana’s wife, Catherine Jagellon, wanted to have a new storing fireplace in their castle – and so the industry of storing fireplaces was born in Finland.

The laboratory was officially opened by the EC parliament member, Mr. Hannu Takkula. In his speech Mr. Takkula emphasized the importance of European-wide co-operation in environmental issues. He also pointed out that we all have the responsibility to make decisions that will contribute to a better future.

Since the founding of the company, Uunisepät has been testing their fireplaces thoroughly. The new test laboratory will offer even more possibilities for fireplace testing. The next research subject in the study is to find the optimal way to burn wood in a fireplace. The subject of the test might seem trivial, but the upcoming directive of the European Commission puts great emphasis on this.

The new European Commission’s directive will standardize the emission levels released from fireplaces, as well as set the limits for the carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and nitrogen oxide. Under this regulation is also the coefficient of efficiency for fireplace heating capacities. Currently country based measurement standards and methods for emission level control exist – this new directive makes the emission levels comparable from country to country and, consequently, more manageable.

It is not only a company level nor a national level matter to control the limits of particle emission and other substances under the regulation: it is an international issue that everyone should be aware of. These decisions, along with conducted research, will carry weight far into the future.

Setting higher standards for the fireplace industry in 2010

The Finnish fireplace manufacturer Uunisepät has taken into use a new testing laboratory for fireplace testing. This laboratory is equipped with all the modern measuring devices for concluding the tests related to burning processes and fireplace safety.

This new laboratory for fireplace research makes it possible to run long term experimentations on fireplaces and fire burning processes. One of the main objectives of the laboratory is to study how the cleanest possible burning process is conducted. These tests are important for the nature and for fireplace users; it was estimated, that in year the 2000 there were 200 premature deaths in Finland caused by particle emissions released from burning wood incorrectly. One can only imagine what these numbers are worldwide.

The importance of studying the burning process is underlined by the fact that the new European Commission’s directive for fireplace emission values will be introduced in the year 2012. The new directive will set the limits for the level of fireplace carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, particle emission, and nitrogen oxide that are released into the air during the burning process. The focus of this new directive is on new fireplaces, so it will have a direct effect on fireplace manufacturers. Companies like Uunisepät, who have been maintaining high standards and running tests since the beginning of the company, are not affected much by this directive: for example, Uunisepät has produced already over 100 000 fireplaces that are following the limits of the upcoming European Commission’s directive.

Since the beginning of the company, Uunisepät has been running tests to optimize the safety and ecology of their fireplace products – so this laboratory is just one step further in the research conducted by Uunisepät on the subject. In product testing, Uunisepät co-operates with VTT, The Technical Research Center of Finland. Uunisepät has also been an active member in all national development projects related to fireplace development.

New European directive for fireplaces coming in 2012

European Commission is preparing a new directive for fireplaces in Europe. This directive will set minimum limits for the efficiency of a fireplace and regulate how much carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, particulate emission, and nitrogen oxide can be released to the air from a fireplace.

Old fireplaces are excluded from the directive, but many fireplace manufactures, like Uunisepät from Finland, have been taking these harmful effects already into account in their production. This means that the directive will not affect the big and reliable fireplace manufacturers, who have been maintaining higher standards in their product design: for example Uunisepät have manufactured over 100 000 fireplaces that are already according to the upcoming directive.

The new regulation for fireplaces in the EC will come into use in 2012. All fireplaces, apart from sauna stoves and grills, will be under this directive. In Finland itself, there are 2,2 million fireplaces – and most of them will not fulfill the upcoming EC directive. Fireplace manufacturers from Finland have set up campaigns in order to get old fireplaces under the same regulation as well. Most of the manufacturers have already followed similar kinds of, or even stricter, regulations in their product design, and they see old fireplaces as a risk for the whole industry.

The reason for this directive is both environmental and health related. According to some estimates, in the year 2000 there were 200 premature deaths in Finland caused by particle emissions released incorrectly from burning wood. The real numbers are hard to count, as old fireplaces are seldom tested. It’s telling of the importance of this issue by that the government of Finland started its own law-drafting for fireplace standards in 2006. The project was cancelled when the European Commission’s drafts were published.

Since the harmful effect is not about burning wood, but burning wood the wrong way, it is more important to get acquainted with the guidelines of how to burn wood the right way. A good indicator is the color of smoke in the burning process, but one cannot count on that: lucid smoke might contain particle emissions that cannot be seen by the human eye.