Chimney Balloon fireplace damper

How can I seal an old chimney if there are retrofit plumbing pipes running through it?

Q: Jason, I have a property built around 1900. It is a three story building with a three story shed behind it. The chimney is located at the back wall of the building. All of the sheds are not insulated but roughly 50% are.

The previous owner got some pipes installed in the chimney to provide water for washer outlets in the sheds. Needless to say the pipes froze! Anyways...I wanted to know can I install a chimney balloon on the top of the chimney to stop any drafts from coming in? Is it as effective as fiberglass? If it gets up to freezing temperatures is the balloon still going to stay in place? It will not change shape or wither up at -30 degrees (Celsius)? Thanks!

PS. The space is quite small about 1.25 feet by 1.25 feet or perhaps even smaller. - OM

A: Dear OM, Ahhh, running pipes through an open chimney. That previous owner really set you up for a fall on that one. Since this is essentially an abandon chimney you can install a Chimney Balloon at the top and it will help significantly as long as you have a spot to put the balloon in that isn't in the way of the pipes. From your measurements it sounds like it would take a 15x15 Chimney Balloon.

The Chimney Balloon will not shrivel in the cold, but it will soften slightly. To minimize this I do recommend inflating it when the temp outside is cool (like late fall or winter) and you should inflate it with a pump not by mouth. That way you will inflate it with cold air when the ambient air is cold as well.

I would advise checking it once a year in the fall just to top it off with air and make sure it didn't shift. Also make sure you install it at arms length into the top of the flue so the suns UV doesn't reach it. UV will shorten the life of the membrane of the balloon.

The Chimney Balloon will plug the chimney better than a fiberglass plug since the balloon will insulate and air seal at the same time. Fiberglass is a great insulator, but it is not an air sealer, so if there are air currents (like in a drafty chimney) it will let cold right through. That is exactly why people call us all the time and say "I plugged my flue with fiberglass but it is still drafty...what is the deal?" - Jason

Will a Chimney Balloon fit a Bellfires retrofit fireplace with a locktop damper cable?

Q: Jason, It looks like your product would fit my application, but I already had to mail back another company's product for a refund because I couldn't get it to fit well.

Here is a little more information. I have a Bellfires retrofitted, concrete fireplace (http://www.bellfiresusa.com/fireplaces/model_BR.htm),and I also had my old chimney flue replaced with the Solid/Flue product (http://www.solidflue.com/). The horizontal cross-section of the firebox is roughly trapezoidal but has rounded corners. The smoke chamber zone is also concrete (fairly smooth) and has sloping surfaces with no corners to smoothly join the Bellfires fireplace with the 8" round flue. The round flue begins at about 4 feet above the floor of the fireplace.

I have a lock-top type, cable operated damper at the chimney top and no damper right above the fireplace. Would my best bet be using the 9" x 9" chimney balloon in the flue itself? Would the square balloon conform adequately to the round flue? The damper cable is pressed against the side of the flue at that point, so I don't think the cable will be any obstacle. Would I need to order auxiliary parts to use the chimney balloon up that high?- JW

A: Jay, I understand the fireplace configuration you are describing and we have a solution that will fit that application. A 9X9 Chimney Balloon will fit your 8" solid flue tube. The square corners of the Chimney Balloon are designed to conform to a circular flue as well as a square flue. When inflated the balloon will also press your locktop cable to the side of the flue wall. We have had many customers with Lock-top dampers and Chimney Balloons in their chimney. It is a very effective combination. To accommodate the 4' reach I would recommend an HEK Extender for your Chimney Balloon. - Jason

Customer followup email: Jason, Thank you for the information. I ordered the chimney balloon, it arrived in 3 days. It works great. Thanks - JW

Why is my fireplace blowing out my furnace pilot light?

Q: When I light my wood burning fireplace, my gas furnace pilot light on the other side of the house blows out. How do i stop this. - ST

A: Dear ST, Well without actually seeing this particular situation in action it is hard to tell. Two major questions are: How old is the furnace, is this an open fireplace or enclosed fireplace?

If I had to take an educated guess...I would say that the stack effect in your home is rather strong, and the draft is accelerated through your furnace when you light the fireplace and this is blowing out the furnace pilot light.

When you open your fireplace damper there is heated inside air immediately rising out of the chimney. As you light and stoke a fire the volume of air escaping your house through the chimney is higher and higher. That is why heating with an open fireplace is a loosing battle. Since your home has to take in air in other areas to replace the air it is loosing out the flue, your normal drafts in your house (around baseboards, outlets, doors, windows & furnace flues) are under pressure to allow in more and more cold outside air. This type of increased draft could be what is blowing out your furnace pilot light.

This has the potential to be a dangerous situation so you will want to have a HVAC tech over to check the furnace draw during the fireplace use. - Jason

Will the Chimney Balloon seal both the fireplace and the hearth oven flue in one shot?

Q: Jason, One of the fireplaces in our 1844 house has an oven built into the fireplace hearth face, which we've never used. The oven has a door, and there is a clean-out door below the oven door. Can you make a guess if the Chimney Balloon would seal off the oven as well as the fireplace in one shot? Thanks, MB

A: Dear MB, A picture is worth a thousand words. Thank you for that photo of the hearth fireplace oven.

Sealing both with one balloon is not recommended since you don't know how high up the connection may be in the flue. I would seal them individually.

On the fireplace…I would measure the area where the fiberglass is at (I can see the yellow sticking down just below the lintel). I understand that is a trapezoid shape, so you will need a measurement of the front, the back, and the depth of that flue opening.

If this main fireplace flue has a fireplace damper you will also want a measurement above the damper since that may be a better location to install a Chimney Balloon if the damper hardware is in the way in the lintel area. Sealing the large flue is the main issue and that will stop most of the air infiltration, so let's do that first.

If you still have draft coming through the hearth oven then we can do a separate Chimney Balloon for that inlet. My suggestion for the oven would be to measure the shoot that runs out of the top or side of the oven enclosure. It should be a smallish rectangle or square vent heading up like a chimney.

With those measurements we can get this fireplace air sealed, so cold draft is not an issue anymore. - Jason

Spalling fireplace chimney bricks fell into my chimney!

Q: Jason, I purchased a chimney balloon last July. It got smashed by a falling brick that fell inside our fireplace chimney down to the fire box (a 2 story fall), so I need to purchase another one. It worked great until last night when a shower of brick, mortar, feathers, and leaves fell into our bedroom fireplace- yuck! Can you tell me what size I purchased last time? - CS

Dear CS, Last time you purchased a 12x12 Chimney Balloon. You may want to have the structural integrity of your chimney looked at if the spalling bricks are falling down inside your chimney. If one brick falls then there could be more on the verge of falling. A good chimney sweep can tell you what your looking at for issues with this fireplace chimney. You don't want to have a chimney that is in the habit of throwing bricks off on the inside or outside. Worst possible case scenario would be a chimney collapse, so this is nothing to mess with. I would have it checked out soon. - Jason

Australian Chimney Balloons and Coonara fireplaces?

Q: Jason, I am very interested in this fantastic Chimney Balloon product. I live in Australia - do you have any reps here that I can purchase one from??

I have a 'Coonara' style fireplace.  Its a freestanding wood fire with glass door and a flue that goes up into the plaster roof lining and up outside where it has a pointed swivel thing that moves with the direction of the wind.  My problem is that when its windy we have an enormous amount of wind noise that belts down the flue, even with the flue closed.  Can I use one of your products?? If so would I have to take the swivel thing off of the roof to add the balloon? Thanks very much for taking the time to read my question and I await in anticipation your response. Regards, CS

A: Dear CS, Thank you for your interest in Chimney Balloons. First I will answer your question about the chimney. The weather- vain on the top will not interfere with the Chimney Balloon installation at all, but it may be causing some of the wind noise you are experiencing. Also, the Chimney Balloon should work well with a Coonara style fireplace as long as you can access the flue.

For ordering you will receive better service through the Australian distributor which can be reached through the website www.chimneyballoons.com.au

Does a Chimney Balloon work with a Coonara fireplace?

Q: Jason, I am very interested in this fantastic product. I live in Australia - do you have any reps here that I can purchase one from? I have a 'Coonara' style fireplace. Its a freestanding wood fire with glass door and a flue that goes up into the plaster roof lining and up outside where it has a pointed swivel thing that moves with the direction of the wind. My problem is that when its windy we have an enormous amount of wind noise that belts down the flue, even with the flue closed. Can I use one of your products?? If so would I have to take the swivel thing off of the roof to add the balloon? Thanks very much for taking the time to read my question and I await in anticipation your response. Regards, CS - Melbourne Australia.

A: Dear CS, First I will answer your question about the chimney. The weather-vain on the top will not interfere with the Chimney Balloon installation at all, but it may be causing some of the wind noise you are experiencing. and the balloon should work well with a Coonara style fireplace. The only hang up may be if the baffles in the fire box give you access to the chimney. You need to be able to touch the chimneys interior in order to install a Chimney Balloon.

For ordering you will receive better service through the New Zealand distributor which can be reached through the website www.chimneyballoons.co.nz or this number 03-314 3832. You will want to speak with Kathy (email: kathy@chimneyballoons.co.nz), and i am sure she will be happy to serve you.

Ventless gas logs that have a chimney...this is not normal.

Q: Jason, I live in Tennessee, in a restored log home from the very early 1800s. I have a number of ventless logs inside of chimneys (which were originally wood burning.) We use our ventless logs during the winter to heat the rooms we're in. (The house is 6000 square feet, and keeping the whole thing climate controlled seems wasteful, considering how poor logs are as insulators...) I want to figure out some way to keep more of the heat from the ventless logs in. Is the right thing to get one of your chimney balloons, some sort of heat reflector, a blower fan, or to stop being a cheapskate and spend the 700 a month it takes to heat the whole house if we simply do things "the normal way" with the central H/AC. - ER

A: Dear ER, Thank you for your interest in the Chimney Balloon. In order to answer your question well I think i need to clarify with you that you do in fact have vent free gas logs. If you have vent-free gas logs you would have no chimney at all in the fireplace. The vent free variety of fireplace is usually just a firebox in the wall with a heat disapator on the top of the fire box. If this is in fact what you have, then you have no need for a Chimney Balloon because you have no chimney. If you have a vented gas log then you do have a chimney in your fireplace and it is likely that the damper has been clipped open or is otherwise disabled due to current code regarding gas logs. In this case a Chimney Balloon will help you quite a bit. When a vented gas fireplace is not in use, its open damper will suck the heat right out of the room due to the air stack effect in your home, especially in historacle log construction like your home. As far as heating your home goes. Right now it sounds like you are practicing zone heating. This can be very effective way of cost savings in a home your size (6000 square feet). I hate to say this...but $700 per month is actually a resonable amount to pay in the winter months to heat this size of area with a traditional HVAC system. If there are not many of you living in your home you may find zone heating is the way to go. I am for it as long as it is done safely and makes your home as usable as it can be for your needs. I would encourage you to have an energy audit of your home (if you havent already) as a trained professional in insulation would be able to direct you to even greater savings, Jason

Q: Thanks for the reply. Here is where it gets weird. In the 6 fireplaces in my home, there *used* to be standard issue wood fires. Then they were replaced by vented gas logs in the 70s. In the very late 90s early 2ks, they replaced all of the vented logs with *ventless* logs. So I have 6 fireplaces with ventless logs in my house :) Actual fireplaces, with chimneys. So, given *that*, what do you think is the right "plan A"? :) Thanks! - ER

A: OK, well that clears things up a bit. Since you do have chimneys over these "ventless" gas logs then you can use a Chimney Balloon to plug these fireplace chimneys. The key is that you have to remove the Chimney Balloon from the chimney before you light that particular fireplace. This is particularly important to note if you are used to just firing up your gas logs without opening a damper. A Chimney Balloon is deigned to burst if you light a fire under it, and it doesnt matter if it is a vented or vent free fire. You have a unique situation here, but with a home that is 200 years old I bet you have a lot of unique situations with your home. Im sure it has a lot of character and has had many owners over it life and each owner has made interesting changes im sure. If I can be of further assistance please let me know - Jason

How much is a custom Chimney Balloon for a double sided fireplace.

Q: Jason, I spoke to you on the phone about my double sided fireplace. There is about 3.5" from the bottom of the flue to the top of the arched opening into the family room. The dims are 42" x 27.5". None of your custome sizes looked like thay would work. Can i get one 45" x 31"? How much(go easy on me)? I live in Ohio. - KK

A: Dear KK, I wold go for the exact size that you need since these large balloons can be pricey. A 42x27 Chimney Balloon is a rather large Custom Balloon. I put that size on our Chimney Balloon custom page for you in case this is what you decide to do. Here is a link to the 42x27 order page, it costs $139.99.

You may find a better location to install a Chimney Balloon if you look for a spot with parallel walls either above or below the damper. Keep in mind you can use an HEK handle extender to install the Chimney Balloon higher. Large Chimney Balloons are difficult to make properly and require a lot of material so they do cost more than the smaller models. - Jason

Will a Chimney Balloon work in a Inglenook fireplace with an electric insert?

Q: Jason, I am putting an electric 'log burner' effect stove into the original inglenook fireplace. Can I use a chimney balloon? - SP

A: SP, You absolutely can use a Chimney Balloon in your Inglenook fireplace. Just install it before you put the electric fireplace insert in, and make sure the balloon is high enough as to not interfere with the electric insert. Considering you are in the UK you will want to contact Chimney Balloon LTD near Aldershot at 01252 319 325. Let me know if you have any further questions. - Jason