Small Chimney
Q: Jason, How much energy will a Chimney Balloon save for an average 15 inch chimney?
A: AP, Your question is hard to answer with the little information you gave. It is kind of like asking me how much water you would save if you fix your leaky faucet. I can’t really tell unless I saw the leak and measured it. However, your question is well worth answering, but I will have to give you a ballpark figure working with averages.
The biggest factor is… how bad is your damper right now? Is it missing? Is it rusty, corroded or warped? Is it a flapper, chimney top, or a pivot style damper? There are a million variables as to how bad or good your damper may be doing currently. If your metal damper is not 100% tight, which they hardly ever are, then you are losing heat.
So let’s take a look at what the US Department of Energy and other third parties say… The US DOE estimates 14% of a home’s energy is lost through the fireplace. Here is a link to that information: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/air_leaks.html
Lets put this figure in dollars. The DOE estimates an average home in 2005 used $1300 in energy per year and 43% of that is heating and cooling. Now if 14% of that amount is lost through the fireplace then sealing the fireplace will save $80 per year on average.
Those are pretty conservative figures since other studies have pointed to a savings of over $200 annually by plugging the chimney flue.
AP, I hope this answers your question thoroughly enough…, – Jason