Electrics and gas
A back boiler and a solid-fuel stove appear to share one flue. What appliance-compatibility check has the home survey not signed?
No appliance-compatibility check for that shared flue has been signed. A back boiler and a solid-fuel stove appear to share one flue, which the survey can record as an arrangement that looks shared. Whether those two appliances may use that flue together is a specialist question. The home survey has not swept the flue, tested the draw, or signed compatibility. The appearance of a shared connection is not that check. The finding stops at what could be seen.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A back boiler sits behind a fire and uses the same chimney opening the fire uses, or a flue beside it. A solid-fuel stove is a different appliance, with its own needs for flue size, ventilation and lining. Seeing both connected, or apparently connected, to one flue is a reason to ask a specialist. It is not the specialist's signature. The survey did not light either appliance, and it did not camera the flue. Shared, here, means how it looked.
Ask a competent solid-fuel or gas engineer, matching the appliances that are actually fitted, to check whether they may share that flue. Keep any certificate separate from the home survey. Tell the solicitor the report has not signed compatibility. Do not light both appliances to see what happens. The survey has recorded an arrangement that appears shared, and it has stopped there.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did the back boiler and the stove only appear to share a flue?
- Was any compatibility check left unsigned?
- Was the flue left unswept and untested?
What are the typical next steps?
- Record an arrangement that looks shared, not a signed check.
- Ask a competent engineer whether the two appliances may share the flue.
- Do not treat the home survey as that compatibility certificate.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If only one appliance is lit in practice, is the flue approved?
No. How you happen to use them does not sign a compatibility check. The survey has not approved the shared flue, and it has not tested the draw of either appliance. Lighting one stove in daily use is not that missing signature.
Does a new stove pipe mean the old back boiler was disconnected?
Not unless that disconnection was seen and recorded. The note is that they appear to share one flue. A new length of pipe does not, by itself, prove the boiler is off the flue. The home survey has not signed either appliance clear.