I was considering a chimney cap for my house. Our chimney is only connected to a oil furnace. I live in New England and we get heavy snow. I'm concerned the chimney cap will get clogged by snow. Are chimney caps a bad idea for my situation?
Never had a problem in 37 years. Oh, make that 36. The chimney did not have one when we moved in but after getting the squirrel out I put one on. Get stainless steel or you will have rust running down the chimney in a few years.
Agree. Hard to imagine a chimney cap could get clogged by snow, especially with an oil furnace putting out hot exhaust. Even without the furnace running, it has big openings on the sides, any snow that blows in is going to go down the chimney. I suppose you could come up with some pathological scenario with the perfect ice storm, the furnace not running, etc., but if that happens, I've never heard of it.
Thank you for your replies. Were there any downside to having a chimney cap? I'm really on the fence. The cost isn't a big deal. My house was built in the 1950's and never had one. In fact, I notice most chimneys in New England don't have them.
Our upstate-NY house was built with a fireplace, but no chimney cap. First time we lit a fire, the house filled with smoke. They put on a chimney cap which cured the problem by preventing down drafts.
The chimney cap in no way ever interfered with the fireplace function regardless of weather, including once a three-foot snow fall.
-dan z-
I have one for the fireplace and one for the oil furnace. Just be sure to put the snow on top of the cap and not in it.
If I recall correctly, aspects of oil combustion are corrosive to metal flues** and adding water just makes it worse. **Not sure how much. I think mine is galvanized and it's 44 years old. Stainless is also resistant. I had a chimney sweep who tried to get me to replace the whole flue with stainless, which I might need to do someday but that was
10 years ago and everything is still fine, cough, cough.About questions like this, what do your neighbors say? They know more about local things than we do, and if you don't know them, this is a good way to meet them.
When I moved in, I found two birds in the attic looking up at me from the pink insulation. Ithink the screen over the soffitt was messed up at one end enough for them to get in but they couldn't find their way out. Oh, yeah, they were dead, but they had buried all of their bodies but their face within the insulation. Either they did it themselves or other birds did and then left.
I had friend that lived in an old farm house with a huge fireplace. Right after they moved in they installed a coal burning stove in the same large living room. The coal stove was used to heat the house and during their first fall and early winter, it worked perfectly - other than having to feed it 3 times a day.
I was there for their first Christmas party during which they built a huge fire in the fireplace for ambiance. As the evening went on, it started to get colder and colder in the house. The owner checked the coal stove and noticed that the temperature had dropped significantly.
Not sure what was happening, he decided to open the stove and check things out. He was instantly covered in coal ash, as was the carpet and everything within 5 feet of the stove. What a mess!
Turns out the fireplace had such a draft going that the coal stove had stopped drafting and was going out. When he opened the door, the sudden down draft blew the black ash all over the owner and the room.
Once we sure that he was alright, much, much laughter ensued. ;-)
Yup. The combustion air for the fireplace is coming from the preheated air inside the house, and all that heat is being blown out the chimney at a great rate. Basically a fire in a fireplace is a net loss of heat, although as you say the ambience is nice.
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