by blogediter | Sep 26, 2018 | Chimney Plugs
Q: I am tired of high propane prices and I can’t afford to upgrade my furnace yet. So, this winter I am trying to heat my living room area with my wood burning fireplace. My intent is to use the fireplace as a supplementary heating source so my furnace doesn’t run so much. SB
[SB has an open zero clearance fireplace that is built on an outside wall of your home. It has no glass doors and not heatilator or fan.]
A: SB, Unfortunately, Efficiency wise this is probably the worst type of setup possible in order to generate heat to the living area. As a matter of fact, you will probably find that you consume 10% to 230% more propane when you are using the fireplace than when you don’t use the fireplace. I would encourage you NOT to use your fireplace as a way to save money on heat. Here is why:
1) The first thing you do when you go to start a fire in the fireplace is open the damper in the flue. Opening your fireplace damper is like opening a hole in your sealing. The second you open it the warm interior air is raising right out the chimney. So until you get a sizable fire going that is generating a good amount of radiant heat you are loosing heat to the chimney.
2) While you have a sizable fire going in the fireplace you are loosing in 3 ways.
- The fire is drawing warm air from your home for the combustion process.
- The fire is casting 90% of its BTUs up the chimney and only putting forward 10% into your home as usable radiant heat.
- The chimney is continuing to pull warm atmospheric air from your home and allow it to rise out the chimney. This in turn creates a vacuum stack effect that draws cold outside air in through cracks, windows and doors making your home cooler.
3) When the fire dies down and smolders you still have to wait with your damper open. The smoking and heat has to stop entirely before you can close the damper. During this time your fireplace is not generating any radiant heat at all and the damper is still robbing your home of heat.
SB, The moral of this story is a fireplace is not a good source of heat for a home. I know that our forefathers use to heat their entire homes with this type of heat, but the issues that I explained is the reason that potbelly stoves and wood furnaces became so popular in the 1800’s.
There are some things you can do to make your fireplace more efficient and I discuss them in this blog article: http://chimneyballoon.typepad.com/blog/2007/01/how_can_i_help_.html
by blogediter | Sep 24, 2018 | Chimney Plugs
Clean Your Own
This is a summary of a phone conversation I had with a very nice older woman in a North suburb of Chicago. I will refer to her as Mrs. G:
Mrs. G: Thank you for the information on the Chimney Balloon. I hired a chimney sweep to come to my home so I could have him measure to fit a Chimney Balloon.
Jason: That is a great idea. I know you expressed concern about getting your old damper open as it has rusted closed. How did that work out for you?
Mrs. G: It went well but the chimney sweep suggested an Exhausto Chimney Fan so I can seal up my chimney. He said it would cost about $900 to install one.
Jason: Exhaust makes a very good product Mrs. G. but I thought you said you do not use this fireplace at all?
Mrs. G: I never use this fireplace but the sweep told me this was a good way to stop heat loss through the chimney.
Jason: Well the Exhausto does have a feature that tops the chimney when it is not blowing, but if you really want to top your chimney it would be best to just have the sweep cap the chimney with a top cap plug.
Mrs. G: The sweep told me that the Exhausto will keep me from losing heat out the chimney and act as a top sealing damper.
Jason: Yes, but primarily the Exhaust is made to draw air up the chimney. It is perfect if you had a chimney that did not draft well and you use it often. In my opinion, You would be better served to get a more economical top sealing damper, like the ones made by Lymance, if you are looking to seal the fireplace at the top and you would like to still have the option of using it. If you don’t plan to use the fireplace and you never have, and if you have no known smoke draft problem, you would be wasting money by installing an exhausted. Is this Chimney Sweep someone that you know and trust.
Mrs. G: Well, this chimney sweep is from the yellow pages, I have not used him before. But he says he knows what he is talking about. He thinks this will work to create the right amount of air in my chimney so it won’t be cold anymore.
Jason: Mrs. G. I think this guy is trying to up-sell you and does not have your best interest in mind. I would call another sweep and have him look at your fireplace. Ask him if he thinks a Chimney Balloon or a top sealing damper would work best for you.
Mrs. G: Well I already have signed the estimate for the Exhausto so they are installing it tomorrow since they had a cancellation.
Jason: Mrs. G I would encourage you to call to see if you can have this guy let you out of that estimate. I really encourage you to have another person look at this first. We can look up some reputable chimney sweeps through the National Chimney Sweeps Association and get you another opinion.
Mrs. G: Maybe that would be good I will call him and call you right back
Jason: OK, in the meantime I will look up some reputable sweeps in your area. I will have you a few phone #s by the time you call back.
Mrs. G: OK Jason, thanks, goodbye.
Mrs. G never called me (Jason) back. I can only assume this chimney sweep talked her into the installation again. I didn’t care if she bought a chimney balloon or not. I actually thought a lock top damper may be what she wants. But I knew for sure an exhaust was going to be overkill.
by blogediter | Sep 21, 2018 | Gas Logs
Gas Burn
Q: Jason, I have a wood fireplace right now but no supply of wood. I am thinking of converting to a gas log fireplace to supplement my home heat. What do you think? -CM
A: CM, I have my opinions on this but this story from a customer speaks so well on the subject I will share that with you instead:
“…If you live in a cold climate area I wouldn’t really recommend you do anything with a wood burning fireplace, but plug up the chimney and maybe put a few candles in it. Why?… because I learned the hard way that fireplaces and gas logs are excellent ways to suck money right out of your pocket.
A few years ago I thought I would supplement my heat by burning wood in my fireplace. Turns out my heating bill went up because the fireplace was sucking the air out of my house when I burned. So I converted to a gas log fireplace (which it sounds to me like you have a partial gas log setup right now that needs fixing.) Well, part of having a gas log installed to code is to disable the damper or clip it open. This was even worse! I was constantly losing heat and the living room was drafty.
I ended up plugging the chimney with a Chimney Balloon to stop the cold draft from coming down the fireplace flue. This was allowable under code since the Chimney Balloon would melt and fall out if I accidentally light a fire under it. You see, this stupid “disable the damper building code” is only there so people don’t light a gas log and leave the damper closed on accident and therefore asphyxiate everyone in the house or set the place ablaze.
OK, long story short…I ran up my heat bill and spent $500 on a professionally installed gas log only to end up with a fireplace I don’t use because it wasted too much heat. So I put candles in it and plugged it with a Chimney Balloon.” – Terry B
by blogediter | Sep 19, 2018 | Chimney Plugs
Chimney Balloon is deflating!
Q: Jason, Your customer service has been top notch, but I’m still not having good luck with the Chimney Balloon. I purchased one a year or two ago. Over time I noticed it had become deflated. I’ve not blown it back up a number of times in the past week. It must have a leak somewhere as it will not stay inflated. Do the valves develop leaks?
Anyway, I’m just a bit frustrated and wishing this worked better than it does. I’m not sure there’s anything to be done about it, but I needed to vent (no pun intended). – SR
A: Dear SR,
There are some applications that are just not hospitable to the Chimney Balloon. I’m afraid this may be one of those applications.
However, we now have a product that is quite a bit more durable than the Chimney Balloon, because it is a dense-backed wool pad instead of an inflatable bag. It is called the Flueblocker. You can see it at www.flueblocker.com.
Judging by your photos and the Chimney Balloon size you purchased before, my bet would be on the 14×36 Flueblocker. The length will be perfect, but you might have to trim a bit off the depth. I would try fitting it full-sized first to see if it is a pressure fit, and then trim down from there if needed. Just like a haircut, you can always take more off, but you can’t glue it back on.
Here is a link to that size: https://www.flueblocker.com/product/14inch-x-36inch-rectangle/
– Jason[
by blogediter | Sep 17, 2018 | Save Energy
Newspaper
Q: Jason, I know you recommend using an air bed inflation pump but can I use an air compressor or holding tank to inflate a Chimney Balloon? – MM
A: Dear MM, I can appreciate your question, but I still recommend an air bed inflation pump or even a shop vac kicked into reverse. Below is a story of why that is the case…
