How Much Space Do You Need to Leave Around a Wood-Burning Stove?

How much space you need to leave around a wood-burning stove depends on the materials around it and how the stove is being installed. In this article, we'll look at all the safety and legal considerations so you can make sure you leave enough room around your stove.

Do you have enough space to install a woodburner?

You’re thinking about fitting a wood-burning stove and you’ve got the perfect space set aside for it. But have you left enough space?

You need to find a spot with enough space around your woodburner to meet the manufacturer’s recommendations and legal requirements. If you don't, you risk damaging your property, voiding insurance policies and endangering lives.

We don’t want that, so make sure there will be enough space around your woodburner before buying an appliance.

Distance around a stove to different materials

Deciding how much room to leave around the woodburner is influenced by two main factors:

1. Distance to combustible materials
2. Distance to non-combustible materials.

Distance from a woodburner to combustible materials

A combustible material is any surface that could be set alight by heat from your wood-burning stove, so the distance to combustible materials around your fireplace is something you need to get right.

The most obvious examples of combustible materials will be timber used in any of the adjacent walls, fireplace surround or mantel. But it could also include soft furnishings and other flammable items.

The space you need to leave around your woodburner to combustible materials will be dictated by the manufacturer and will usually be found in the stove manual.

Your stove manufacturer will give guidance on how far away the stove should be positioned from combustible materials to the front, back and side. This information can often be found on the back of the appliance, as well as in the stove manual.

The distance specified will vary between woodburners, depending on their heat output and other factors. Typically, they advise a gap of more than 400mm around your wood-burning stove.

There are instances where this will not be practical, including if you're installing a wooden mantel above your woodburner. In these instances, (and if your stove has a heat output of less than 7kW) you may able to reduce the minimum distance to combustible materials by using a heat shield: a galvanised steel sheet at least 1.5mm thick that is positioned to protect the combustible material from direct heat.

Distance from flue pipes to combustible materials

Building regulations state that there must be no combustible material within your flue pipe manufacturer's declared minimum distance to combustible materials. Their declaration must comply with BS EN 1856-1.

In other words, flue pipe manufacturers must test safe distances to combustible materials to achieve the required standards. They will give this distance in the manual.

This varies between manufacturers. A typical distance is 450mm (18 inches) between an uninsulated flue pipe and combustible materials.

If you need to reduce the distance stated by the flue manufacturer, you can often do this by using a heat shield. A heat shield must extend at least one-and-a-half times beyond the diameter of the flue or make any path between the flue pipe and combustible material at least three times the diameter of the flue. There must also be an air gap of at least 12mm (or ideally 24mm) between the heat shield and the combustible material.

Alternatively, you could use an insulated twin wall flue, rather than a single wall flue. The insulation around the flue pipe will reduce the required distance to combustibles.

Distance from a woodburner to non-combustible materials

There is no legal restriction on how close you can place the stove to a non-combustible surface, such as brick. Instead, the required distance between a woodburner and non-combustible materials is dictated by the stove manufacturer's recommendations.

The air gap around the woodburner will be listed in the stove manual. Since bricks and similar non-combustible materials can't get 'too hot', these minimum distances are usually intended to encourage the best performance from your stove.

The distance varies between different woodburners but is typically between 50mm and 150mm.

These distances are not a safety requirement but recommendations to help you get the best performance from your stove. A suitable air gap around the stove encourages heat to flow into your room.

Nonetheless, some building control officers will take the listed minimum distances to non-combustible as non-negotiable. It is worth checking their stance before placing your stove closer than the minimum distance to a non-combustible material.

Even if no information on how much space to leave around your stove is given by the manufacturer, a space of at least 80mm is advisable to allow air and heat circulation away from the stove.

Distance from flue pipes to non-combustible materials

Flue pipes typically need to be one-and-a-half times the diameter away from non-combustible materials. It is important to check the manufacturer’s guidelines for the flue pipe you plan to use.

As with the stove itself, there are no safety considerations when placing a flue pipe near a non-combustible materials. It is just a case of checking the manual to ensure you're achieving the clearance recommended by the manufacturer to ensure performance isn't impacted.

Struggling for space around a woodburner?

If you’re finding it difficult to meet the minimum clearance recommended by a particular stove manufacturer, there are a few options available to you.

One is to bring the stove out onto the hearth slightly. This will allow you to meet the minimum clearance distances when using an existing fireplace and chimney.

Another possible solution is to fit a cassette stove or inset stove. These are designed to slot snugly into standard fireplace openings and do not need clearance space. A good example is the Mazona Dedham 7kW Inset Stove (pictured below).

Another option is to choose a small woodburning stove. A small woodburner takes up less space and is less likely to encroach too close to surrounding materials.

Make sure you’ve considered all of the costs and considerations when installing a logburner.