Heatilator
Q: Hi, I stumbled across your site today, and I am very interested in one of your Chimney Balloons. I have a question. My chimney has a system to take cold air off the floor in front of the hearth, and draw it through some pipes that run through the flue. This warm air is then fan forced out above the fireplace. The question is whether your Chimney Balloon will go between these pipes and the damper, or squeeze through between the pipes, and be inflated above them. I can take a digital picture and send or maybe take some measurements and send those… – CF
A: CF, Most people refer to those systems as heatilators (but that is a brand name.) A deflated Chimney Balloon needs a gap of 2″ to 2.5″ to fit through. Once you are through these pipes you should be good to go. I would suggest using a folding carpenters ruler to measure above the pipes so you can tell how large a Chimney Balloon you need. You may need to consider an extension for your Chimney Balloon if you plan on reaching very far past the heatilator pipes to inflate the Chimney Balloon. The Handle/valve Extender kit (HEK) will give you an extra 16″ of reach to add to your 12″ Chimney Balloon handle. You can see those extenders on the Buy Chimney Balloon page.
Below is an image of one and this is a link to the Chimney Balloon Blog entry on how to use the HEK Extender. http://www.chimneyballoonusa.com/blog/using_a_hek_extender/index.html