Step-by-Step Guide: Installing Your Wood-Burning Stove

Correctly installing your new wood burning stove is essential to ensure the best performance of your stove but also for the safety of your family. At Contura we want to make sure you get years of use and enjoyment from your wood burning stove which is why we provide complete installation instructions for each stove model. These also include advice and guidance about building regulations and notifying your local authority about your new wood burning stove.

Wood burning stove installation requirements

All wood burning stoves require a supply of air to ensure combustion levels are as high as possible. Air vents are one of the best ways to ensure a constant supply of air to your stove and ducts can be used to connect the vent to the duct so no cold air makes it into the room.

Think about where you want to place the stove. Bring out your House Blueprint and layout to get a quick overview of the house. As wood burning stoves can get very hot there is a minimum safe distance for combustible materials for each side of the stove. Placing materials any closer than this distance can result in a fire.
Building plan with wood stove

Wood stoves create smoke. You'll need to install a chimney so the smoke can leave your house. Either you'll need a masonry chimney or a steel chimney. It's best to have a straight, vertical chimney - the fewer bends in the chimney the better.

After installing your wood stove it is extremely important that it is inspected by an authorised chimney sweep before the first use to ensure it is safe to use. We also include lighting instructions for the first time you use your stove.

Find your nearest Contura stove dealer

With dealers across the UK, it couldn’t be easier to find your perfect wood burner stove – whichever style you choose. It’s also a perfect opportunity to talk to our advisors for more information about your stove fireplace, the additional extras available and much more.

Dealer search

An easy way to figure out your kw need

So if your room is 5m long, 4m wide and 2.5m high, your calculation will be: 5 x 4 x 2.5 = 50. This means your room is 50 cubic metres. Now you need to factor in for things like insulation, windows and doors. So let’s look at 3 different numbers we can use based on the properties of your room:

10 – for very draughty rooms or those with at least 2 single pane windows and/or doors, or poor insulation
15 – for reasonably insulated rooms and double-glazed windows and doors
20 – for a well insulated room with few windows and doors

We then divide the cubic meters of the room by the number associated with the properties of the room. So if our example room was well insulated, this would be 50 / 20 = 2.5. That means your wood burning stove needs to have about 3kW output to adequately heat your room.