Shepherds hut flue kit - The flue kit required to install a stove in a shepherds hut.

Shepherds hut flue kit.

Shepherds huts have become increasingly popular over the last few years. They make a great home office, garden room retreat and can even be a source of income when rented out by their owners. Indeed the interior design and style of shepherds huts has moved on a long way from what you may once have found in the pasture next to the flock.
To make the most from this special little space you need to heat it somehow in the Winter months. The best way is with a small wood burning stove which can sit in the corner of your shepherds hut and purr away keeping you snug as a bug.
 This short blog is aimed at providing you with both a little inspiration along with some helpful information with regards to fitting a stove in your hut and the type of flue kit you will require to do this.

Whilst aesthetically you may want to keep it looking as traditional as possible to safely install your stove it is best to stick as closely as you can to such guides as Approved Document J and BS8511:2010. or visit the SOLIFTEC website for further reading.  Indeed if you are planning on renting your shepherds hut out then it is best to install it with good reliable flue components in a way that is as close to the directives as possible. This will show you have taken all due diligence when it comes to installing the stove. With this in mind where you exit your hut the flue will need to be insulated from the combustible roof materials. Traditionally they may have simply exited through the tin with a lead flashing as seen in the picture above. This maybe acceptable when there are no combustible materials present. However, in most modern huts there is now an internal and external skin to the shepherds hut design which is filled with insulation. To safely exit this type of more modern construction with a flue system you need to incorporate a short length of twin wall flue pipe.

Whilst you will require twin wall flue to exit the shepherds hut you can connect inside the hut to single wall flue pipe which in turn will connect to your wood stove. This single wall flue pipe will need to be shielded from combustibles if it is within x3 of the flue pipes diameter. eg. a 4" flue pipe needs to be 12" away from any combustible surfaces. 

Whilst not a flue component the shielding and hearth are vital components when installing a stove in a shepherds hut. The walls adjacent to the stove should be shielded using 25 mm vermiculite board which is then attached to the combustible wooden wall incorporating a 12 mm air gap between the wood and vermiculite. Most solid fuel stoves can then sit around 8" away from the vermiculite. You may want to use the top of your stove for cooking so would consider the addition of a 90 degree T and cap flue component which will inevitably site the stove closer to the wall. In this case a good idea is to position the stove in the corner of the hut so that the corner accommodates the rear exit component.

The flue kit you select can be made up of individual flue components you select from the various online flue suppliers you can find online. You can often select between different types of flue kit finish. Flue pipe can be finished in black vitreous enamel or other enamel colours or steel and then painted in a wide range of high temperature colours or left in the metal. For my taste the most authentic in style is the vitreous enamel pipe in satin black finish. This combined with a short length of black powder coated twin wall flue would be my shepherds hut flue kit of choice.

I would also consider incorporating an anti down draft cowl as a shepherds hut flue is very short and on wild and wooly days you may experience 'blow back' where the draw is momentarily lost and the stove puffs out a little back draft of smoke. The ad cowl will prevent this but is both expensive as well as not traditional in appearance.

The aim is simple to safely install your wood stove in your shepherds hut so that you can use your hut all year round.

The aim will be to organise a flue system similar to the one below.

Some flue kits are bespoke and hand made by the same artisans that are constructing the shepherds huts.

HELPFUL LINKS

Further reading on installing stoves in shepherds huts

small stoves for shepherds huts

HERE IS A LINK TO A PLACE YOU CAN BUY A COMPLETE SHEPHERDS HUT FLUE KIT TO MAKE INSTALLING YOUR STOVE EASY.

Below is a gallery of pictures for all shepherds hut lovers of a line up of huts at the great 

Dorset Steam Fair 2015