Install guide

How to install a Mukluk.

Plain-English notes for owners and builders. This is not a substitute for a licensed installer, your council, or the relevant standards, but it should help you talk to all three without guessing.

1. AS/NZS 2918

This is the Australian/NZ standard for solid-fuel installs: hearths, clearances, flues, the lot. Your installer works to it. If you are doing any of the prep yourself, read up on it so you know what they will ask for.

2. Hearth, clearances, heat shielding

Build the hearth to the standard's dimensions for an untested appliance. Your installer will give you the exact numbers for your room.
Clearances are measured to combustibles, not to the wall surface. Plasterboard is a combustible. So is the timber framing behind it.
A heat shield with a proper air gap (25mm+, ventilated top and bottom) cuts clearances significantly. A sheet of metal bolted flat to a timber wall does almost nothing.

3. The flue

The Mukluk Small has a 5″ (125 mm) top-flue collar. It uses standard off-the-shelf flue pipe, the same diameter you'll see on stove and hardware sites all over the web. Nothing proprietary.
Through the ceiling and roof, use double-skin insulated flue. Single-skin black pipe is fine inside the room as the connector piece, but anything going through a ceiling needs to be insulated and properly cased.
Flashings: storm collar at the top, deck-fit flashing matched to your roof, sealed with high-temp silicone. Get this right. It's where leaks start years later.
Cap it. Rain cap or cowl. Keeps water and birds out.

4. First fires

Start with three small fires over a few hours, just kindling, with the door slightly open. The new stove paint may give off a bit of smell at first. Totally normal, just open a window.
Leave the airwash open while the glass is cold. Once the fire is going properly, wind the primary air back.
After that, burn seasoned hardwood. Avoid treated timber, painted offcuts, or anything that isn't clean wood. It's bad for the stove and it'll void your warranty.

5. What we don't supply

We send the firebox, door, glass, handle and fixings. You still need standard 5″ flue sections (insulated and single-skin), flashings, hearth materials, heat shielding, smoke and CO alarms, and someone to fit it all. Most of the flue pipe is easy to buy online. Your installer can source the lot if you would rather not.

6. Insurance and council

Let your insurer know you are fitting a wood stove and keep the installer's paperwork. Some councils restrict solid-fuel appliances in certain zones. Mukluk stoves burn cleaner thanks to double combustion, but they are not formally emissions-certified yet. Worth checking with your council before you order if you are in an air-quality zone.

Not sure about something? Send photos and we will tell you what we can.