We have a large'ish open fire and I'm tempted to make, or to get made, something to close-off the chimney when the fire isn't in use (which is most of the time). Has anyone here done the same?
(Yes, I know I could fit a wood burner but it's a large fire in a formal room and it just wouldn't look right - according to SWMBO)
they seem to do the job (keep the draughts out). They may be something of a gimmick (cue sheep jokes) and I have no idea if there's a better option, but they tick a few boxes for me. I have no connection with the company mentioned other than as a buyer of their products.
Thanks, but I'd ruled-out a DIY version of those because of the problems of storing a big sooty thing, and crud falling down when it's pulled from the chimney
I discounted chimellas and balloons because they're only slightly better than a made-to-fit DIY wooden panel (and it's quite a large fireplace) - storage and crud being the main problems. I'm thinking of a metal frame with a pivoted metal plate, similar to these:
Irrespective of any mode of blocking you are going to get the crud that has fallen on the blocking mechanism dropping down when opening up again, otherwise where do you expect this crud to disappear to?
Even with a bespoke fixed design consider how it is to be cleaned.
A crow fell down my chimney that is lined with a stainless steel double insulated liner.
Normally they fall down the open fire flues, shit on everything and fly out of a window.
But this one came to rest against the rotating chimney damper of the wood stove, where it couldn't get out and I couldn't pull it down either. After a week the noises stopped, but the damper was jammed.
Eventually, come this winter, I lit a fire.
That cleared the blockage.
Obviously you get the chimney swept *before* you install a blocker. Then it won't drop soot when you take it out for the winter
And the crows instead of flying out of the open fireplace, will simply die, instead.
Ha! I'll wait until after Christmas to make any changes ;-) Fortunately our Covid isolation ends at 1 second past midnight on Christmas day, so we'll be able to welcome him/her/it.
(and the fact that we have a large stone fire surround that I do not intend to disturb). The fire opening is over 1m wide and nearly a metre high, reducing to a good-size square flue - there seem to be several fixing good opportunities for fixing points.
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