Draught down chimney

[Kroma]

Three days this week I've woken to find that the radiators in my lounge have been struggling to heat to the required temperature of 21 degrees because a cold draught has been coming out of the gas fire (from down the chimney). This doesn't always happen - only when the air outside is cold and 'still'.

It's easily remedied by turning on the (gas) fire for a few minutes. When turned off the cold air doesn't seem to return and the radiators aren't having to battle any more.

Has anybody got any tips on how to stop the draught?

Our neighbours told us that they stick screwed-up newspaper up their fireplace (they hopefully never light their fire). Is there such a thing as a cover to stop the draughts which looks nice?

Any advice gratefully received.

Kroma

[John]

Great - I have the same problem since changing from a radiant type fire to a real flame type. Really bad when the kitchen extractor fan is on.

I think I once saw a balloon (not a baboon) that you could put in the chimney. If you lit the fire it would burst of course. (fail safe)

[Huge]

I made a cover for our open fireplace out of MDF and covered it with the same carpet we have in the room. Then we have a rather nice 'art deco' glass fire screen my wife puts in front of that. You can omit that step, if you wish.

[adder1969]

Um, close the flue?

[Andrew Mawson]

Well flues often used to have a flop down door thingy in them to stop the drafts, but nowadays when common sense has been eliminated from the breed and everything is legislated for they are illegal under CORGI rules for gas fire flues.

AWEM

[Michael Shergold]

This happens because hot air is escaping from your house somewhere else.. Possibly a bathroom extractor or maybe your central heating boiler if it's not a balanced flue type or even an upper floor window on a landing or roofvent. Your heating is powering the airflow and pulling cold air down the chimney. This happened in our previous house and I solve the problem by providing a vent (through the wall) for and close to the boiler. It also meant we could have a kitchen extractor fan without sucking boiler fumes back. MS