What you need to know before you buy a fire.

An area where it is an offence to emit smoke from a chimney. They were created under the Clean Air Act to cut urban air pollution, and most towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales are covered. Inside one you may only burn an authorised smokeless fuel, or burn wood in an appliance that DEFRA has specifically exempted.

Your local council decides and publishes it. Search your council's website for "smoke control area" or call their environmental health team with your postcode — they will tell you in a minute. Do not assume a rural address is exempt or an urban one is covered; the boundaries follow no obvious logic.

The appliance has been tested and granted an exemption, so wood may legally be burned in it inside a smoke control area. The exemption depends on the stove being used as it left the factory — fitting a non-standard restrictor or modifying the air control voids it. Where a product on this site is DEFRA approved, it is marked as such on its page.

In a smoke control area it is an offence and your local authority can issue a penalty. It is enforced on complaint rather than patrol, so in practice a neighbour reports the smoke. The simpler route is to buy an approved appliance, or burn only authorised smokeless fuel in the one you have.

No. Smoke control rules apply to solid fuel. Gas, electric and bioethanol appliances are unaffected, which is one reason they suit flats and city centres — although a gas appliance still has its own regulations and must be fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

Measure the room in metres, multiply length × width × height, then divide by 14. A 5m × 4m room with a 2.4m ceiling comes out at about 3.4kW. Most British living rooms land between 4kW and 6kW. That formula assumes an average, reasonably draught-proofed house — treat it as a starting point, not a specification.

Because a stove that is too big for the room gets run shut down to stop you cooking yourself out. Burning cool means incomplete combustion: tar in the flue, blackened glass, more sweeping and a real chimney fire risk. A correctly sized stove run properly hot is cleaner, more efficient and less work.

Considerably. A well-insulated new build with good glazing can want a third less than the formula suggests — often a 4kW model where the maths says 6kW. A solid-wall Victorian house with high ceilings, single glazing or an open staircase will want more. If your home is at either extreme, tell us and we will adjust the number with you.

Measure the whole connected volume, not just the part with the fireplace in it. Heat will migrate to the rest of the space and up any open stairwell. Open-plan rooms usually need more output than people expect, but the honest answer is that a single stove heats the space it is in far better than the space beyond it.

It can be a practical one. An appliance rated above 5kW normally requires a dedicated air supply to the room under the building regulations, which in most cases means an air vent — occasionally a floor vent or a direct external air kit. It is entirely doable, but it is worth knowing before you fall in love with a 7kW stove.

The part of the building regulations covering combustion appliances and fuel storage. It sets out hearth construction, distances to combustible materials, flue sizing and materials, the air supply to the room, and the carbon monoxide alarm. Any solid fuel installation has to meet it, and the work has to be signed off.

The work must be certified one way or the other. A registered installer (HETAS or an equivalent competent person scheme) can self-certify and issue you a certificate on the day. If you use someone who is not registered, or you fit it yourself, you must notify your local building control before work starts and pay for an inspection. Skipping this can surface later at sale, and can affect a home insurance claim.

No. We are a supplier and we do not fit fires or arrange fitting. You appoint your own installer, which keeps the appliance, the certificate and the responsibility in one clear place. We are happy to answer questions about whether a model suits your room before you order.

Different rules and no flexibility: gas appliances must by law be installed by a Gas Safe registered engineer. It is a criminal offence for anyone else to do the work, including you. Check the engineer's Gas Safe card and that it covers the appliance category.

Yes, for any solid fuel or gas appliance. Document J requires one in the same room, and in England and Wales it is separately required in any room with a fixed combustion appliance in rented and owner-occupied homes. Fit it at the height and distance the manufacturer specifies, and test it.

No. Neither is a combustion appliance in the building regulations sense — electric needs only a suitable socket or spur, and bioethanol needs adequate ventilation in the room and sensible siting away from anything combustible. No flue, no notification, no certificate.

Usually, yes. An old masonry chimney was built for an open fire and is far too large and too cold for a modern stove, which produces less volume at lower temperature. That gives you poor draw and condensation. A stainless liner sized to the appliance fixes both. Your installer should confirm it after inspecting the stack.

It follows the appliance's outlet — commonly 125mm (5") on smaller stoves and 150mm (6") on larger ones or anything not DEFRA approved. You cannot reduce below the manufacturer's stated size. Where a product page states a flue outlet, that is the figure to work to; where it does not, ask us or check the manufacturer's manual before ordering a liner.

Three. A twin-wall insulated flue system built up an internal route or the outside wall, which is a proper construction job but completely normal and is how most extensions and garden rooms get a stove. A balanced-flue gas fire, which needs only an external wall. Or a bioethanol or electric fire, which needs no flue of any kind.

A sealed system for gas appliances. A pipe within a pipe passes through an external wall: the outer draws combustion air in from outside and the inner takes the fumes out. The fire is sealed behind glass, so nothing enters the room, no chimney is needed and no warm room air is lost up a stack. Efficiency is typically 80–90%, against roughly 50–70% for a conventional flue fire.

At least once a year for wood, and twice a year if you burn a lot or use smokeless fuel. Use a sweep registered with a recognised body and keep the certificates — insurers ask for them after a chimney fire. Burning properly seasoned wood at under 20% moisture does more to keep a flue clean than anything else.

A standard that has applied to every new solid fuel stove sold in the UK since January 2022. It sets limits on particulate emissions and carbon monoxide and a minimum efficiency. In practice it means tighter air control, cleaner combustion and around 80% efficiency or better. Every solid fuel appliance we sell meets it.

No, and this catches people out. Ecodesign is about emissions and efficiency; DEFRA approval is a separate exemption that lets you burn wood in a smoke control area. A stove can be Ecodesign compliant and still not be DEFRA approved. If you live in a smoke control area, check for the DEFRA mark specifically.

No. Ecodesign in this context is a solid fuel standard. Gas appliances have their own efficiency requirements, and electric and bioethanol produce no flue emissions to regulate.

No. The standard applies to appliances placed on the market, not to ones already installed, and there is no requirement to remove a working older stove. That said, a pre-Ecodesign stove typically burns considerably more wood for the same heat, so a replacement often pays back in fuel — and burns far cleaner.

Dry wood at under 20% moisture, or an authorised smokeless fuel. Wet or unseasoned wood is the single biggest cause of tarred flues, dirty glass and complaints from neighbours, and burning it wastes energy boiling off water. Never burn treated or painted timber, and never household waste.