Finding a competent person to install your woodburner

Here at Gr8Fires, we do not carry out installations. We focus on selling wood-burning stoves and multi-fuel stoves at the best possible prices (backed by our lowest price guarantee). So, when you buy a stove from us you will need to find somebody to install it for you.

Let’s not forget, when you install a woodburner, you’re going to want to ensure that poisonous gases are sealed into the system and do not seep into your house. You’re also doing it to meet the building regulations relating to stove installations.

So, you need a competent installer who will help you to achieve both of those things. Fortunately, the government runs a series of competent person schemes, which allow installers who have joined the scheme to self-certify their work. This avoids the need to have to pay your local building control office to inspect and certify that the work meets building regulations.

Here are the competent person schemes currently in operation whose members are able to self-certify woodburner installations. Many of these bodies offer search functions on their websites to allow you to locate a registered installer in your area by either place name or postcode.

APHC

APHC
Full name: Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (Certification) Limited
Telephone: 0121 7115030

Benchmark

Benchmark
Full name: Benchmark Certification Limited
Telephone: 0238 0517069

BESCA

BESCA
Full name: Building Engineering Services Competence Assessment Limited
Telephone: 0800 652 5533

ELECSA

ELECSA
Full name: Certsure LLP trading as ELECSA or NICEIC
Telephone: 0845 634 9043 or 01582 531000

HETAS

HETAS_hri
Full name: HETAS Limited
Telephone: 01684 278170

NAPIT

NAPIT
Full name: NAPIT Registration Limited
Telephone: 0345 5430330

OFTEC

OFTEC
Full name: Oil Firing Technical Association Limited
Telephone: 0845 6585080

Stroma

stroma-certification-logo
Full name: Stroma Certification Limited
Telephone: 0845 621 1111

It is worth investing a bit of time to read up on the various merits of these schemes to check on their particular specialisms. For instance, some schemes have a stronger focus on biomass installations than others, while some specialise in wet installations (i.e. for boiler stoves) and others do not.

8 thoughts on “Finding a competent person to install your woodburner

  1. I am not sure that our wood/coal burner was installled by a competent person. Are we able to have it checked out? For instance, we do not have a plate above the burner which I think we should have

    • Hi Yvonne

      Do you have a certificate to say it is compliant with the Building Regulations? You would have this if the installer was from a competent person scheme. If the installer wasn’t from a competent person scheme, a building control officer from you local authority should have visited to sign it off. You could make contact with them now to see if they will sign it off.

  2. My husband is a retired builder. Does he have to go through building control in order to fit a gr8fires wood burning stove?
    Thanks

  3. Would be nice if you had a list of competent installers for area Post Codes, so far been unsuccessful in finding a competent installer. lots of cowboys out there.

    • Hi Keith

      That would be a mammoth task, but most of the competent installer schemes have a postcode search function for their own members on their websites.

      Thanks,

      Gr8Fires

  4. What if you are a qualified plumber builder and you don’t tell building control and just do it knowing full well you will do a good job as you are trained in all the aspects of gas building regs

    • Hi Gary

      That would give you personal piece of mind. The potential issues would be if you were selling the property, the buyer’s solicitor is likely to ask for the certification. Equally, you would need to check your insurance policy to make sure your cover isn’t dependent on the installation being certified.

      Thanks,

      Gr8Fires

Leave a Reply to Gr8Fires Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *