# stop heat escaping thru chimney



## ShadyBrady (29 Nov 2009)

Apologies I posted this in wrong forum:

I have an open fire in my living room which I do not ever light. I have gas central heating but there is a breeze down chimney and heat escaping up. I was going to buy something like
http://www.woodiesdiy.com/productdet...&catid=103.4.0
and leave it in front of fire in the hope it would emit heat out towards the room and partially block heat escaping heat. I would like opinions. i am not very efficient in DIY sort of things and also considered the chimney balloon but with a postal strike in UK there may be delay


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## monascribe18 (29 Nov 2009)

You need to block your chimney with insulating fiberglass wool,that will stop the breeze and prevent heat escaping,


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## mickydisco (30 Nov 2009)

I just installed a chimney baloon - seems to work ok.
[broken link removed]


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## RMCF (30 Nov 2009)

ShadyBrady said:


> Apologies I posted this in wrong forum:
> 
> I have an open fire in my living room which I do not ever light. I have gas central heating but there is a breeze down chimney and heat escaping up. I was going to buy something like
> http://www.woodiesdiy.com/productdet...&catid=103.4.0
> and leave it in front of fire in the hope it would emit heat out towards the room and partially block heat escaping heat. I would like opinions. i am not very efficient in DIY sort of things and also considered the chimney balloon but with a postal strike in UK there may be delay



From thw wording of your post it sounds like you plan to still light the gas fire when your chimney is blocked off.

I'm no expert, but that sounds very silly/dangerous to me.

Heat is always going to escape up a chimney when a fire of any type is lit. If you plan to install a balloon then I'm guessing you couldn't light a fire after it.


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## ShadyBrady (30 Nov 2009)

RMCF said:


> From thw wording of your post it sounds like you plan to still light the gas fire when your chimney is blocked off..


No it is an electric fire at link supplied



> If you plan to install a balloon then I'm guessing you couldn't light a fire after it.


I know. Maybe I did not make it clear. I was thinking of placing the electric fire in front of the fireplace to heat  room and stop some heat escaping.

The baloon was an alternative consideration

Thanks for replies guys


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## ShadyBrady (2 Dec 2009)

As an experiment I put some bubble wrap around the firplace and it worked but looks bad. I am looking for a fireguard like
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Curve-Fireg...1_12?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1259771562&sr=8-12

to put around the fire and hide the bubblewrap. It would have to have a really tight mesh to hide the wrap. Bubble wrap is easy to partly remove at times to allow airflow/prevent damp


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## berlininvest (5 Dec 2009)

Can't see how the fire will block warm air going up chimney due to draught.

I use a black bin bag full of fibreglass stuffed into the chimney, with a small bit of tube at the side to ensure a small airflow to prevent damp build up. Seems to work in terms of cutting down heat loss, hard to quantify.


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## ShadyBrady (5 Dec 2009)

berlininvest said:


> Can't see how the fire will block warm air going up chimney due to draught.


yeah you are right really



> I use a black bin bag full of fibreglass stuffed into the chimney, with a small bit of tube at the side to ensure a small airflow to prevent damp build up. Seems to work in terms of cutting down heat loss, hard to quantify.


Good idea

As I said I put some bubble wrap around the firplace and it worked but looks bad. Also there is no airflow but the room is much warmer


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