Home & Garden

Does your chimney need lining?

Does your chimney need lining?The most appealing focal point in any room must be the fireplace. Be it an open fire, closed stove or  room-heater, the leaping flames and glowing coals are the real heart of the home. However, for any fire to work successfully, it must be connected to a sound chimney and correctly sized flue. The functions of a chimney are to safely remove the products of combustion from the fireplace or appliance to outside without causing danger to the occupants of the house or setting the house itself on fire. A chimney works because hot air rises and always moves from high to low pressure. Factors such as running the appliance at a very slow rate or cold air leaking into the flue, will cool the gasses and affect the performance of the chimney. To keep the flue gasses warm, consideration must be given to the insulation value of the lining system chosen. In houses built since the introduction of the 1965 Building Regulations, all flues must be built with liners during their construction. This is usually done with clay liners, which should last the life of the building. However, in houses built prior to 1965, lining was less common. Flues were usually “parged” (rendered) on the inside with lime mortar. This parging suffers attack from acids and tars produced during combustion, and gradually deteriorates. The flue is then in poor condition, often leaking fumes or tars into the walls or other parts of the building. Sadly, many houses built since 1965 suffer similar problems due to badly installed flue liners and need further attention. 

Lining

There are a number of reasons why an old chimney may need lining. For example you might find that the flue is leaking smoke and fumes into other rooms or parts of the building. Condensates or tar are seeping through the chimney walls causing staining, either inside or outside the building (a common problem with wood burning stoves) The flue is much too large for the type of fire or appliance being used. Or perhaps The flue is too cold, particularly if on an outside wall, and is not  drawing properly. Before any new lining is installed it is essential to have the chimney thoroughly swept to remove all soot and tar deposits. This means with stiff polypropylene or steel scraper brushes. There are two distinct types of flexible metal liners available and it is very important to distinguish between them. 

Solid Fuel Liners

This is a double skinned liner made from an extremely high quality stainless steel It is smooth on the inside, corrugated on the outside and must be installed the correct way up. It is specifically designed for relining flues for solid fuel and wood. Whilst stainless steel is a very tough material, it is still prone to corrosion due to the acidity of fumes from solid fuel, especially if condensation is present. Its anti corrosion properties are also reduced if heated above 900ºC for more than about 15 minutes, perhaps as the result of a chimney fire.

Gas and oil flue liners

A light gauge single skin liner, only suitable for closed gas fires and boilers, some inset fuel effect gas fires and kerosene oil appliances. It should never be used with solid fuel or wood burning
appliances.

For further unbiased advice contact Yorkshire Stove Solutions 

“We will never insist a liner is fit where it is not required”



3 Dale Close,
Selby,
North Yorkshire.
YO8 9AL

07794 805999

Recycling Ink Cartridges / Why Not Just Throw Them in the bin?

Recycling Ink Cartridges / Why Not Just Throw Them in the bin? The greater part of ink-jet cartridges are made out of plastic. In a landfill situation they are likely to take thousands of years to degrade, all the time releasing plasticizers into the environment. Every year millions of these empty ink-jet cartridges are simply thrown away. Recycling used ink-jet cartridges is easy and is eminently beneficial to the environment. Recycling helps reduce the amount of solid waste generated and conserves raw materials. Apart from the plastic container the functional elements in an ink-jet cartridge are effectively solid state, in that they can be reused without loss of print quality. 

There are essentially two types of none OEM cartridges available. There are compatible cartridges, which are effectively new units designed to match the requirement of the original manufacturers units. The second category are re-manufactured cartridges. These are recycled units which have been rigorously cleaned, had there chips reset, refilled and tested.

Whichever option you choose you will save a considerable sum over the cost of new cartridges especially if you print numerous sheets on a regular basis. Plus you know you're contributing to the recycling effort.

Advantage Printer Consumables based in Selby, North Yorkshire offer a comprehensive range of both re-manufactured and compatible cartridges. They also offer free UK delivery.



Advantage Printer Consumables,
Unit 5,
Oakney Wood Avenue,
Selby Business Park,
Selby
North Yorkshire
YO8 8FQ
01757 212747

www.cartridgesuk.com

Great Yorkshire Show - 2014

Great Yorkshire Show - 2014We are celebrating our 156th Great Yorkshire Show from Tuesday 8 -Thursday 10 July 2014. Opening Times are: Tuesday & Wednesday 7.30am - 7.30pm, Thursday 7.30am – 6.30pm

Make your day at the Great Yorkshire Show 2014 really special by booking into our hospitality suite. Conveniently located near the President's lawn the hospitality suite provides a peaceful haven whilst keeping you at the heart of the action.

You can book for parties of two to 30!

Places are priced at £130 + VAT per person, per day and the benefits include:
Entrance to the Show
Preferential Parking
Morning Coffee
Yorkshire Buffet Lunch and House Wine
Yorkshire Afternoon Tea
Souvenir Programme
Grandstand Tickets

Please be aware that tickets are not refundable. Guests should be dressed smartly and the hospitality offer is for over 18’s only. Dogs, except assistance dogs are not allowed on the Showground or in the car parks and should not be left in cars.

If you wish to make a booking or register for our mailing list please contact Janet Fox on 01423 546228 or Sally Wall on 01423 546218.

July Gardening Tips - Northern Living

July Gardening Tips - Northern LivingFlower Garden
Cut back lupins and delphiniums that have finished flowering to encourage a second flush later in the season.  Continue to deadhead the flower border on a regular basis as this will also encourage more flowers later on. Don't forget to feed all the flower borders and containers every two weeks and water well in dry weather. Containers may need watering as much as twice a day in very hot weather. Keep up with the weeding otherwise the weeds will take moisture and nutrients meant for your flowers. Take time out to sit in your garden and enjoy! 

Lawn
Keep mowing regularly unless there is a drought. Set the mower blade slightly higher than before so that if it becomes very hot the grass will not dry out so much.  Only water any recently sown grass or new turf. If an existing lawn does go brown it will recover after the first rains. 

Fruit and Vegetables
If apple trees are still over crowded with fruit after the June drop then take out any blemished fruit and the central apple from each cluster.  As soon as summer fruiting raspberries have been cropped cut out the old canes. Regularly pick courgettes to prevent them from becoming marrows. Pick peas and beans as soon as they are ready or they will become tough and stringy later. Lift and use over wintered onions. Sow spring cabbage and winter salad crop seeds. 

Wildlife
Top up bird feeders and tables regularly but avoid chunky food that could be taken back to fledglings and choke them and keep the bird bath topped up with fresh water.  Plant marigolds around the vegetable garden to attract hoverflies and grow more plants that have single flowers rather then doubles as these seem to attract insects better. Don't deadhead roses that produce hips as these will be a valuable food source later on in the season. 

Looking Good This Month

Delphinium - Tall growing stately flowers in many shades.
Helianthus - Sun flower. Tallest growing flower with large heads.
Nicotiana - Flowering tobacco. Large leaves with fragrant white flowers.
Nymphaea - Water lilies. Good colour, shape and coverage of ponds.
Roses - Climbers, ramblers, bush, shrub and patio. Good colour and scent.
Solanum Crispum - Potato vine. Fast growing climber. Profuse lilac or white flowers.
Verbena Bonariensis - Tall airy plant that you can see through with purple flowers atop.

Environmental Benefits of Wood Burning

Environmental Benefits of Wood burningWood burning is better in environmental terms than most fuels as the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is the same as that absorbed by the tree during growth. It is also a renewable resource, particularly when derived from plantations and cultivated woodland. When using your wood burning stove, for optimum results, we recommend logs should be seasoned for 2 years or more to achieve a moisture content below 20%. This will not only give up to twice the output of freshly felled timber but help avoid a build up of tar in your stove's flue. Not only do modern woodburning stoves burn much cleaner and more efficiently than older conventional stoves, but the view of the fire is just spectacular. By upgrading to a CE certified and HETAS accredited wood burning stove, you can save wood, reduce smoke and enjoy the view all winter long.

The Forestry Commission have recommended that millions of trees are planted to cover an extra 4% of the UK in woodland, equivalent to 30,000 football pitches a year, increasing the UK's total woodland cover to 16%. According to the Solid Fuel Technology Institute, logs are the cheapest form of heating energy. The cost per kW of useful energy is now around 4p. This compares to 5p for anthracite, 7p for natural gas, 7.5p for oil, 9p for LPG and 12p for electricity.

House Warming Selby presently have a number of stoves on special offer. Although summer might seem like a counterintuitive time to consider a stove installation, it actually has a number of advantages. Most obvious of which is it's reasonably warm outside so you'll not loose the heater from your house during installation.

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