My Heatelator fireplace is very drafty and I would like to close it off to stop the draft.

My Heatelator fireplace is very drafty and I would like to close it off to stop the draft.

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

Can the Chimney Balloon work with a fireplace Heatelator?

Can the Chimney Balloon work with a fireplace Heatelator?

Q: Jason, My fireplace was constructed with a 42″ metal heatelator box. The walls above the damper taper to a 16″x12″ opening about 28″ above to face. This seems to be the nearest location that has any ledge to grip. However, just above this metal, the ledge has an 18″x16″  dimension that tapers up to a 12″ square flue liner several feet above. Of the sizes you list, only the 15″x36″ would seem to be big enough at this location, but it’s disproportionately long for the 18″ width of that opening. Would maybe consider using a 15″x15″ and an extender, placing it higher up in the chimney? Suggestions, please. .DW

A: Dear DW, You may have a wood burning fireplace insert instead of a built-in Heatelator, but either way this would be my advice… Order a custom 18X18 Chimney Balloon and also get a HEK extender for the valve. This will allow you the reach to get to this higher height in the flue. That area above the metal ledge is where you want to install it as long as that metal edge does not have any dangerously sharp edges. A 18X18 Chimney Balloon with an extender will cost $64.99 including USPS shipping. Custom Chimney Balloons do take 14 days from your order to ship, due to building time. You can call the customer service line if you have any further questions about this particular application. – Jason

#102: Fireplace Inserts, Coal Burners, Heatelator’s, and Other Weird Applications

#102: Fireplace Inserts, Coal Burners, Heatelator’s, and Other Weird Applications

#102: Fireplace Inserts, Coal Burners, Heatelator’s, and Other Weird Applications

Fireplace #102: Inserts, Coal Burners, Heatelators, and Other Weird Applications

We have covered the common fireplace applications in our chimney plug blog articles. However, there are so many fireplace variations like Heatelator tubes, fireplace inserts, coal burners, etc… We cant cover them all.

If you have something that you don’t see represented in this fireplace product selector, please contact us to get personalized help. Our tech support will have you take a couple of flash photos of the fireplace, so we can give you specific instructions on how to measure and fit a chimney plug.

#1: I Have a Round Butterfly Damper High Above the Firebox. How Do I Plug the Flue?

#1: I Have a Round Butterfly Damper High Above the Firebox. How Do I Plug the Flue?

#1: I Have a Round Butterfly Damper High Above the Firebox. How Do I Plug the Flue?

Fireplace #1: Butterfly Damper 3 Feet above the Firebox

These high-up butterfly center pivot dampers are usually in prefabricated zero clearance fireplaces made by Heatelator.  Here are the characteristics:

  • The damper handle that opens the circular center pivot damper is usually on the outside lintel face of the fireplace.
  • You will notice that there are horizontal slats cut in the sheet metal just below the closed damper.

Those vent slats below the round damper gives you a pretty good place to tuck in a square Flueblocker. Measure the area below the damper (Image 1-3), and buy a Flueblocker that is a little larger than that area. Most of the time it requires a 12″x12″ Flueblocker, or a 16″x16″ trimmed down to fit. Just make sure you keep that pressure fit by having the pad be larger than the hole.

 

Because this install location is up out of reach, you will likely need to buy some extra 6″ Handle Extenders for your Flueblocker.