Smoke goes up the one chimney and back down the other.
Q: I have a house built in 1870, and the flue I would like to seal appears to be very narrow, somewhat jagged, and irregular in shape. The best I can tell, the opening appears to be about 6 inches deep, and 12 inches wide. Which size would be best for me? And do you think there is a wider opening further up the chimney? If so, would I be able to push the Chimney Balloon up there and then inflate it??
Also, like Maureen in the previous post, I have a smoke situation and am hoping your product will help. We have multiple fireplaces, and when I burn a fire in the living room downstairs, smoke enters my son’s bedroom upstairs. They are in the same chimney. This started happening after we added a chimney cap to keep birds and animals out. The guy who did the work came back and claims he sealed the flue heading into the boy’s bedroom. But we had one more fire at the end of last season and still smelled smoke in his room during the fire downstairs. Please advise… – JW
A: Dear JW, Well, to answer your first question… I would go with a 9×15 Chimney Balloon for that size hole to plug. It does not matter much if the hole is jagged and rough in shape as long as the hole is not any larger than 9″x15″ and has roughly parallel walls on at least 2 sides.
On your smoke crossover question…Yes, the Chimney Balloon will give you a very tight seal on your unused chimney so the smoke smell will not be sucked back into the home. I’m sure your Chimney sweep gave it a good try to seal it up, but there is no way to get as tight of a seal as a Chimney Balloon will offer. Even a fiberglass bat plug will allow odor back in through it. – Jason