The new fireplace (based on a Spartherm Arte 3RL 100H fire insert) was plastered last week. The plaster has dried out over the weekend and we expect to get the lounge decorated this week (with a bit of luck).
We have had the fire on today as the ground source heat pump still isn’t working! Nibe (the manufacturer of the heat pump) are due out on Wednesday, but in the meantime we have no heating or hot water.
Hello, this looks fantastic. Very contemporary and nice proportions, I absoutley love the colour of new plaster as is highlighted here. Can you tell me if you can use normal plaster so close to the stove? Or is it a special type. Thanks, Aaron.
Hiya. No, it is normal plaster. The frame built around the stove is metal and then it is boarded using fireline board (a special heat resistant plasterboard).
Amazingly, there are no instructions or guidance on how to do this, so you have to rely on really good tradesmen who aren’t thrown by unusual tasks. Our carpenter (Andy Lodge) has been a superstar on this front. We were supplied the fire insert and then left to our own devices to finish off the rest.
The actual insert itself doesn’t really get that hot. Not as hot as you might think. I wouldn’t touch the glass when it is running, but the handle at the front is fine. You can also touch the metal work above (that is now hidden by the plaster) when the unit is on. The flue is also double skinned with insulation between the skins so this also doesn’t get too hot either.
One of the things that I didn’t realise until the unit arrived is that there are 4 large vents on the top of the unit. These let the hot air out and, via a system of ducts, you could pipe the hot air into different rooms. We ended up put two large vents in the top of the “chimney breast” that vent this air into the room via the large horizontal slot. If there was an upstairs in this part of the building, I would have been tempted to vent the hot air elsewhere.
S.