by blogediter | Apr 15, 2019 | Save Energy
Q: Jason, the cable that leads up to my Lymance chimney top damper seems to be puncturing my Chimney Balloon. I attached an image of the damper to show you where the cable is. -TP
A: TP- I see the cable as a very faint line just to the left of the Chimney Balloon valve in the picture. I see the cable runs along the edge of your metal damper there as well. What is happening is this cable is getting frayed over time as it rubs up and down against the metal edge of this damper opening. That frayed section of cable has little needle like protrusions and a flat side that is like a saw blade in roughness. I also notice that the Chimney Balloon is tight like a drum when installed. It is probably a little two tightly inflated.
Two things will help solve your issue here…
- Remove your Chimney Balloon and wrap packaging tape around your chimney top damper cable in the area the Chimney Balloon will come in contact with it. This will keep the flat sharp end of this cable from cutting the balloon.
- When you reinstall and inflate your Chimney Balloon do not fill it so tightly full with air. You can leave a little give in it. – Jason
by blogediter | Apr 12, 2019 | Fireplaces
Q: Jason – I have a heck of a time getting my fire started without getting smoke into the house. How can I get the fireplace fire burning without smoking the living room up? – PR
A: PR – So you start a romantic evening with your lovely wife, a bottle of wine, a comfy blanket by the hearth and then you set the smoke alarm off while trying to start the fire and the kids wake up and blow the whole evening. I only know this because I have done it myself.
Houses can be very tight nowadays, and it can be hard to get that initial air movement started to get the fireplace to draw well. Once the fire is blazing the natural lift of heated air helps to keep the smoke going out the chimney instead of into the living area. Starting a fire that is smoke free from the beginning is a bit of an art. Here are a few tips to start it off right.
- Glass doors are invaluable especially if you have a vent on them that is low to the floor. Open the lower vent, start the fire, then close the glass doors and they will keep 99% of the smoke going where it is suppose to go.
- If you have no glass doors, then you have to get the fire as hot as possible as quick as possible. My favorite way to do this is to use paper shopping bags. You can fill the bag with cardboard (not glossy print cardboard is preferable) or more bags. I usually fill two bags with dried twigs from the ash tree in the back yard. These twigs are excellent kindling and the tree drops them all year long. Light the bag in three spots on the bottom and you will have a roaring start to a fire in no time. Some people swear by newspaper, but I have read quite a bit on how the ink can create an undesirable sticky property to soot in your chimney.
- As a last resort you can crack a nearby window or door to allow a better draft for the fire. But who the heck wants to do this in the winter?! It is bad enough that the fireplace is going to suck your expensive home heat out the chimney. Like you really want to open up a window and let the cold winds blow! As I said, this is an absolute last resort.
- Once the fire is going strong you will get less smoke if you keep it burning hot. When you get down to coals it will not be producing much smoke as long as you have well seasoned wood. – Jason
by blogediter | Apr 10, 2019 | Chimney Plugs
Q: Jason – My husband insists on using rubbish to start the fire in the fireplace, We are not just talking paper and cardboard, he will take a small plastic bag of garbage from the kitchen and put the logs on top of it and light it. I think it stinks and is dangerous, but he says “Well it is better than sending it to the landfill.” Please tell him that this is not a good thing to do. – GD
A: Dear GD, I make it a point to not get into the middle of spousal arguments but Im going to have to make an exception on this one. It is an absolutely terrible idea for your husband to use garbage to start the fire in the fireplace. Burning plastics create terrible caustic fumes that are harmful to people and their lungs. It may appear that all of the smoke and fumes are going up the chimney but you mentioned that the practice of using garbage to start a fire “stinks” and I am assuming you mean the smell of burning garbage stinks. The fact that you can smell it in the house tells me that you are getting fumes into the house. Furthermore there could be other items in the trash that he is burning that he didn’t know was there…chemical cleaner containers, paints, or other items that emit even more toxic fumes than plastic. From a chimney standpoint, the soot created from burning garbage can be very sticky and cause rapid buildup of creosote and other stinky deposits in the fireplace and chimney. This makes cleaning the chimney more difficult and sometimes more expensive. In short Mrs GD…your husband is being a meathead and he needs to stop burning his trash in the fireplace. (Note: In case your husband is a big fella, tell him I mean meathead in the most endearing kind of way.) It is time for him to use cardboard or paper shopping bags as this is the cleanest burning handy kindling he will find in the house that wont give him premature lung problems. – Jason
by blogediter | Apr 8, 2019 | Chimney Plugs
Q: Jason – I have a decision to make. I can either pay a chimney sweep $950 to replace my metal flue damper or I can just have him clean the chimney and buy a Chimney Balloon. Which one should I do? – TR
A: TR – Well to be honest with you $950 sounds like a rather large amount to replace a metal damper, I hope he including a chimney cleaning with that quote. I am of course assuming that your fireplace is of a standard make & size. If your chimney required a custom fabricated damper it would be much more expensive and would have been obvious from the quote.
The answer to this question lies almost entirely in two questions …How often do you use your fireplace? And how concerned are you with conserving your homes heat?
If you use your fireplace less than once a week on average you would certainly be better off just going for a chimney cleaning and a Chimney Balloon. In this case you are an occasional user of your fireplace and it spends much more time out of use than in use. You want as tight of a seal on your fireplace flue as possible to maximize heat savings and minimize chimney creosote smell.
If you use your fireplace more often than once a week on average you probably are not that concerned about loosing heat from your home since fireplaces tend to waste much more heat than they create for your home. The US Department of Energy states that regular use of an open fireplace will actually increase your heating bill. The major point of the Chimney Balloon is that is saves heat, not that it is easier to use than a damper.
So in this case you want to consider replacing the metal damper. You will get an inferior seal on you flue with a metal damper, but it will more convenient for you to use than a Chimney Balloon. As it is, most homeowners forget to close their damper after having a fire, and you may grow weary of installing and uninstalling your Chimney Balloon and some day you will just stop using it.
TR, I could give you a pat answer that “Of course the Chimney Balloon is your best option!!” but I think you will appreciate seeing it from both sides. – Jason
by blogediter | Apr 5, 2019 | Chimney Plugs
Q: Jason, On the “Sizing a Chimney Balloon” portion of the Chimney Balloon fireplace damper website it says to find a spot in the chimney that is low, like in the smoke shelf of the smoke chamber or by the damper, to measure for and install your Chimney Balloon? Why shouldn’t I just measure higher-up in the flue and install a Chimney Balloon up there? A smaller Chimney Balloon costs less money. – JC
A: JC, I know it is tempting for you to think we recommend a lower install location because we are just trying to sell a larger more expensive Chimney Balloon. But that is not why we suggest this. There are a number of reasons why you should install a Chimney Balloon in a lower location. Here are a few:
- It is best to install a Chimney Balloon in an area that you can reach with your hand because it will be easier to install and uninstall. When installing the Chimney Balloon you may need to prod a corner into place or adjust the alignment of the Chimney Balloon with your hand, and this is easier to do if the Chimney Balloon is installed in an easy to reach location. We make handle valve extenders for the Chimney Balloon in case it is not possible to install in an easy to reach location.
- If you do have a smoke shelf or smoke chamber then this structure shelf will help to support the weight of the Chimney Balloon once installed. The Chimney Balloon is designed to hold itself in place just by grabbing the flue sides through air pressure, but a smoke shelf makes its job even easier as it gives the bottom of the Chimney Balloon a location to rest. If the shelf is unusually deep and you need the valve of your Chimney Balloon to be somewhere other than the direct center of the Chimney Balloon this can be done through our custom order process. Here is a link to the blog about how to order a custom Chimney Balloon.
- If you install a Chimney Balloon low down you will be sealing off more of the fireplace inner chimney surface from your home. There are two advantages to this. If the creosote of your fireplace is particularly smelly or humid this isolates your home air from being contaminated by the chimneys smoky creosote smell. The other advantage is that heated air in a fireplace chimney tends to naturally cool and sink and create a draft sensation (Here is an article that addresses problems with top sealing dampers that tend to not stop the chimney draft)
The damper photo image above is a perfect example. The fireplace owner told us the chimney area is humid and sooty and smelly and the damper leaked cold air. We recommended a Chimney Balloon to be installed just above the damper, nice and low. After the customer installed the properly sized Chimney Balloon and used vinegar to neutralize the smokey aroma, the stinky fireplace smell stopped for good. – Jason
