I have a knack of combining over-thinking things with procrastination, an example of which would be the installation of the wood stove. Unfortunately it's not as easy as just wanging a stove into the existing chimney. First choosing the stove was an epic task - insert/free-standing, height above hearth, metal/enamel, steel/cast iron, rear vent/top vent, clearances...
Even once we had the stove chosen, we then had to think about the chimney liner. Modern stoves are so efficient at burning wood (complete burning of gases, minimal air flow up chimney) that the large flue that's great for open fires would cause the stove to work poorly. Not only that, the large flue would remain cold which would be great for creosote (a byproduct of burning, especially wet wood) accumulation. Too much creosote + not enough cleaning = chimney fire. Now most chimneys are not built properly with required air gaps - with this house it's almost a certainty, so a chimney fire, bad enough as that is, could easily spread to the wood structure. That's bad, in case you didn't realize.
To solve these problems you install an appropriately sized, insulated, stainless steel pipe down the existing chimney. Right size = correct for airflow, stove works properly, burns wood efficiently with less creosote. Insulated = liner stays hot. better draft, less creosote, but most importantly, if you do have a chimney fire, the chance of it spreading to any surrounding catchy-fire stuff is minimized. Sounds like a good idea? Yes, so much so that it is a building regulation. Unless you're in some bizarre situation and there is no other way of doing it, you HAVE to put in an insulated liner to conform and be safe.
So what happens when I go to "Ye Olde Stove Shoppe" (seriously, that was the name)? "You could put an insulated liner in, but I wouldn't bother", "I just dump mine into the existing chimney flue", "It's your money". I then had a chimney sweep come round - "I won't put insulation around it - it gives off gases that poison you" (well yes, maybe if you use stuff not rated to be around chimneys). Shop after shop, sweep after sweep, completely saying the opposite of the code and what the experts say who both sell stoves, manufacture liner, AND participate on internet forums to help non-experts out.
Everyone who I spoke to locally was completely uneducated or willfully negligent in understanding current thinking. Of all the trades I've had experience with, these people rate the lowest. Seriously, your job is to stuff a brush up a tube, so easy the Victorians used kids, you'd think you'd have some time to do some reading around the subject. Obviously not.
