# Forum Home Renovation Heating & Cooling  Standards for installing wood heater?

## Spelunx

I am thinking about buying a second hand wood heater and getting it installed. No idea where to start though. 
I can find standards that show how far it needs to go from the wall, but that is about it. 
The best place to install it in the house would be right near the gas bayonet, which I assume is not a good idea.....  Not 100% sure though..... 
Is there any general guideline as to placement of a slow combustion heater? 
What Tradie do you turn to for installation of such things? 
cheers.

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## David.Elliott

Second hand heaters advertised. 
The Quokka runs adverts saying they will not accept adverts for them. Gumtree may be an option...
I would encourage you to look for new if at all budgetarily (?) possible. Newer ones are much more efficient than than the older.
I see no real problem next to the bayonet.
There are restrictions for proximity to combustible materials. ie: timber framed walls, roof timbers etc.
I just purchased a small Masport for the cottage reno I'm doing, all I needed to know was in the instructions. The place where I bought it charge $600.00 for a standard install. That one is going into an old fireplace with the flue inside the old brick chimney so a no brainer for me...
I did manage about 7 years ago to find a big, brand new Arrow brand heater, with a booster fan, that was bought and never fitted for about 2/3rds new price...
Installed myself, hardest part, for me at least, was making the roof protrusion watertight. 
Bear in mind wood is not cheap to buy. We're in Jarrahdale, so bottle gas and electricity are the only other heating options we have. Both more expensive.
But as we're in Jarrahdale we're close to the public firewood areas where it costs $15.40 for a firewood permit to collect a tonne. My wife and I can collect a 6x4 trailer with a cage, (so 3' high) and a layer in the ute in around 3 hours door to door...This time of year once lit we keep it going around the clock, it will burn around 8 hours once damped down...

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## toooldforthis

there are a few advertising installations on Gumtree - you could try them.
personally I would go talk to a supplier of new and see what they say about installation standards to get some idea on how to evaluate what the gt installers say.
you need non combustible material on the floor and walls(if close) and the flue has to be insulated where it goes throught the roof.
for the fire to draw well you need the flue to be higher than the roof ridge height, depending on how close to the ridge the flue exits, but as a rule you want it higher.
if you find some WA standards online it could be useful for others to link them in this thread. I saw where someone from another state was having the same problem - one would think standards should be publicly available.

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## Moondog55

BCA was recently updated to cover all installations. I have a copy somewhere but I can't scan at the moment 
But manufactures clearances are the minimum unless you have non combustible walls or a non combustible heat shield and the only heat sheild allowed under the BCA for domestic dwellings is now masonry 90mm thick with a minimum [25mm?] air gap and minimum 50mm between appliance and the heat shield
Personally on an inside wall is where I prefer to put mine but a lot of people use an outside wall with a horizontal penetration
Where no manufacturers data is available I think/thought minimum safety clearance to any combustible was 1200mm horizontally and 1500 vertically, so make sure all curtains etc are that far away and cannot come any closer than that
Hearth must extend a minimum of 400mm on each side of the appliance 
Ref ABCB
Pp 358/359/360
Diagrams a & b 3.7.3.4

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## SilentButDeadly

I wouldn't bother with 2nd hand as most of them will need some work or parts to bring back to safe and efficient function.  
Five years ago, we invested the best part of $300 in cast iron and other parts on an old Masport already in the house to get it performing then spent another $700 two years after that painting it, moving it within the house and fitting a new flue. Last weekend, it was removed for scrap and replaced with a brand new Nectre 15 that is half the size and operates far better/hotter/more efficiently...another $1,300 ($1,000 for the Nectre and $250 for the three lengths of internal flue shield we should have fitted in the first place).   
The Masport was killed by an opening in the join between the castings at the back which meant we could no longer control the burn...and it ate firewood at an alarming rate. Plus the major cast component (rear baffle) that I replaced five years ago was destroyed by heat & rust anyway. 
Rule of thumb for a slow combustion stove: if it has been in use for more than 5 years and still works...it is no longer 2nd hand...just well functioning scrap.

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## Moondog55

> Rule of thumb for a slow combustion stove: if it has been in use for more than 5 years and still works...it is no longer 2nd hand...just well functioning scrap.

  I think I need to remember this; although it may not apply to Pot belly stoves; they tend to die all at once in a spectacular fashion as holes appear in the metal

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## Smurf

Agreed in general about new versus old although my Saxon heater is 19 years old still going strong. The baffle (easily replaceable - it just lifts out and it's just a steel plate) is wearing out but the rest still seems to be pretty solid. 
This Saxon was built in Tassie and it's made from fairly thick steel. The company no longer exists as such, they ran into financial trouble unfortunately and sold the name and designs for the heaters to another company and "Saxon" heaters are now manufactured somewhere else (the old factory is now a depot owned by an unrelated rural supplies company - farming stuff etc). The new ones look pretty much the same but I don't know if the quality is still as good as they used to be (eg are they still using the same thick steel they used to use?) or not.

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## SilentButDeadly

[Haha] I reiterate...if it's already in your house it's well functioning scrap. But if you are planning to put it in...more fool you. Best to avoid getting burnt...

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## Spelunx

Cheers guys! 
I have spoken to a couple of tradie mates today, and they reckon they arent too hard to install, happy to do it for a carton apparently! 
The house is brick walls and tiled floor, so combustables isnt such a problem, apparently I need to watch the roof space, cant be too near rafters, etc.... 
Regarding the second hand fire, I was only looking at 2-3 year old jobbies.  New they are around $2k+, which is just a bridge too far, considering we already have reverse cycle air and natural gas for heating options.  The main issue is that my wife works from home 3 days a week, in the old house it was relatively cheap to keep the house warm all day, but it is turning out more expensive with gas in the new house.... 
I can get my own wood, but I only have a small saw, so I tend to get bits that are max of 15cm across, and then top up with a big load of dry jarrah once or twice a year.   
The one I was looking at on Gumtree has been sold.... bugger.... better be quicker about it next time!

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