Slotted vents under the damper, How do I close off the fireplace flue?
Q: Jason, I have a Heatilator Mark 123 fireplace that has a fireplace damper that is actuated by a pull chain. It is very cold in the winter and I can feel a draft come down and out of the fireplace. I see that you recommend putting the Chimney Balloon in above the...
Blower Door Testing and the Fireplace Chimney “Soot Puff”
Blower Door Testing I love going to tradeshows because it is a time that service professionals like Energy Raters and Chimney Sweeps can give us feedback on the applications that they use the Chimney Balloon in. At the 2009 ACI Conference in Kansas City, some energy...
Green Bloggers talk about the Chimney Balloons
Chimney Balloons The Chimney Balloon has become quite a topic of conversation for green energy and green tech bloggers. The Chimney Balloon is referred to in so many ways. People call it: "an inflatable baffle, chimney seal, flue baffle, inflatable damper, chimney...
TomsGuide.com reviews the Chimney Balloon
Chimney Balloon product Chimney Balloon USA provided a 9x9 Chimney Balloon to the editors of the popular Green Technology Website TomsGuide.com. We wanted their honest opinion on the Chimney Balloon product. They installed the Chimney Balloon, took some pictures, and...
How can a Chimney Balloon work in this fireplace?
Q: Jason, See below. There doesn't seem to be enough room under my damper to use the Chimney Pillow/Balloon. There is plenty of drafts. - SZ A: SZ, Thank you for the pictures. they are very descriptive. With this application, I would tend to recommend to put the...
Wood Burning Fireplaces Steal Heat From Your Home
Fire Place sucksanim On a cold winter eve who of us is not tempted to go to the living room and stoke up a fire in the fireplace and read a book in front of the fire? You may be thinking “I am doing myself a favor by supplementing the furnace with additional heat”,...
Janesville Messanger Newspaper writes on the Chimney Balloon and Energy Audits
Energy Audits Last week I hosted a press open house at my home in Janesville to show how simple home envelope sealing like using the Chimney Balloon and adding insulation can save a homeowner money. I invite Mark Furst from Grading Spaces LLC and Bob Wilson from...
Damper parts are hard to find for a custom fireplace.
Stone Fireplace Q: Dear Jason, I have a custom made wood burning cobblestone fireplace in my cabin upstate. The damper was made by the person that built the fireplace 35 years ago. I have looked all over to find damper parts for this damper because the handle has...
Top 10 Energy Efficiency Myths
This is an article that was written by CCI's Brad Wray about the top 10 home energy myths. CCI has done thousands of home energy audits on the home since 1979 so they know all the bad information out there about home energy. They also know all the good information so...
Can a Chimney Balloon work with a top sealing damper?
Lock Top Damper Cable Q: Jason, I have a 113-year-old house with 6 fireplaces ... they were originally coal-burning units .. they all have the lymance lock top damper on the top of the chimney ... will the Chimney Balloon work with that configuration? - GB A: GB, WOW...
An interesting story about how someone uses their Chimney Balloon
This posting was found on Google Groups and I thought it was an interesting and relevant post on this blog. Q: My wood burning fireplace has a lot of missing mortar between the bricks right behind where the logs go. I went to Home Depot and they sell fireplace mortar...
My home gets smokey when the furnace and the fireplace are being used at the same time.
Q: Jason - Our house gets smoky when our furnace runs while using the fireplace. The chimney inspector told us we needed to extend the fireplace chimney, so he did. We keep a window cracked by the fireplace as he suggested. that didnt fix it, so it still gets smoky in...