room cold due to air from chimney

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Niall M

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Hi there, just moved into a new house. Our front room is cold despite the radiator being on, it seems to be from air coming from an open fireplace. we dont light a fire every day. is there anything i can do to minimise the draft coming in.
 
we fitted a stove, best investment ever, before this we did roll up three hoodie/fleece type jumpers up the chimmey (be careful of someone lighting a fire with chimmey stuffed, we hung a piece of paper from a string to remind of jumpers)...
 
You can buy chimney baloons pretty cheaply that will do the trick. Search previous threads for discussions on these.
Leo
 
I hads one of those ballons and it cost me €35 or so. It "broke" in a matter of months. I stuffed a strong plastic bag with spare attic insulation, stapled it all together and shoved it up. Works like a dream, no more cold drafts.
 
I did a bit of research on this a few years ago, I have two chimneys and we put the chimney pot cover on one of them(fitted into the pot, a metal hat type pot cover that can be raised and closed via a chain on your fireplace) looks good too!
The reason I went with this was because I was amazed at how much water comes in a chimney pot throughout a year, think it was 40-60 litres so while a chimney being used(the fire being lit) will dry out this moisture and won't be noticeable, a chimney not being used would be more prone to moisture coming in and possibly causing dampness.
 
hi
i had the same problem when i moved into my new house had the heating up to the last couldnt heat the room.then i discovered the draught coming down the chimney. bought a chimney ballonn and i have the heat set at half this winter i have under floor heating so takes longer to heat if your losing it up the chimney. bough it online delivered to the door.
 
I made a wood cover that stands on the hearth and goes over the fire opening, about 4 inch deep (front to back), I bought fancy wood patterns for the corners and front to make it look good, and painted it mat black. Not only does it stop draughts, it tidies the fire place up when we are not using the fire
 
Chimneys are designed to pull air towards themselves and hence to remove smoke from the fire. I'd be very suprised if the draft was coming from the chimney.
 
BillK said:
Chimneys are designed to pull air towards themselves and hence to remove smoke from the fire. I'd be very suprised if the draft was coming from the chimney.
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I have no great knowledge of physics but... if the room is warm & hot air rises, and outside air is cold and falls, the warm air is sucking out the heat from the room as it rises whilst the cold air is drawn down to replace it.

I've felt the draft of cold air come down the chimney before it was blocked, and settle around the floor ( resulting in cold feet!). But also I noticed that cold air was drawn into the living room from the hallway, thro the keyhole on the door, ( the door itself is well sealed), this all stopped when I blocked the chimney.
 
Chimneys are designed to pull air towards themselves and hence to remove smoke from the fire. I'd be very suprised if the draft was coming from the chimney.
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I was thinking something similar.

When a door is left open, people complain about cold air coming in, but what is actually happening is that hot air is leaving. The hotter the air the higher the pressure, so if there is a 'hole' the hot air will escape, cooling the room.

What I expect is happening is that hot air is leaving via the chimney, and as a result the room is getting colder.

I have no great knowledge of physics but... if the room is warm & hot air rises, and outside air is cold and falls, the warm air is sucking out the heat from the room as it rises whilst the cold air is drawn down to replace it.
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Not quite. The hot air is at a higher pressure. The air pressure of the room is higher than that of outside. Cold air isn't coming down the chimney.
 
If you think about it Horus, smoke is warm contaminated air. If the cold air was coming down the flue your room would be full of smoke.
 
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