Q: Jason, Hi, I stumbled across your site today, and I am very interested in one of your Chimney Balloons. My fireplace is very drafty and 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. – CW

A: Dear CW, 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 between the pipes. Once you are through these pipes you should be good to go. I would suggest using a folding carpenters ruler to measure the pipes so you can tell what size Chimney Balloon you need. You may need to consider a HEK  extender 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 your 8″ Chimney Balloon handle. – Jason