Cold bedroom due to chimney vent

xyz123

Hi


http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b576/lat321/Mobile%20Uploads/20160320_192936_zpsm9gymecy.jpg

Would appreciate some help with a problem please.

Our 1950s semi have a fireplace in living room with chimney breast going through upstairs bedroom.

The fireplace is not used. In living room the opening is closed by putting a decorative type electric fireplace (which is not working and I have no intention of ever using the fireplace for burning wood or gas). Upstairs in bedroom the previous owner seems to have put some plywood to close the fireplace opening and then put a plastic grill. I think its plywood purely based on sounds made when I knock on the area.

Chimney is open with cowls fitted at top.

The problem I have is that the bedroom and to an extent living room are really cold all day. The ventilation grill means Bedroom practically has a small window which is open all the time. So cold air is coming in all the time. I am attaching couple of pics for this.

What can i do to improve this? I was thinking of putting a chimney balloon (chimney sheep) but I don't know if it's worth the money and effort. So would appreciate if someone can share any advice.

Secondly if I were to put it, do I put two of them, one in dining room fireplace and the other in upstairs bedroom. A daft question but I am not sure if the chimney is common between living room and bedroom. I doubt it will be common as otherwise it would have meant all smoke from living room fire when it was used would end up in bedroom. So i need to somehow open the grill opening and squeeze a chimney balloon through that. Looking at the pics, it looks like it was put on way using silicone rather than any screws.

Any other suggestions?

Ta

Procrastinator333

in our last place we had a fireplace we were never going to use. Common advice seemed to be that you should not totally block it up - if there is zero ventilation it can cause damp issues. So we had a roofer put chimney caps on and i then bricked up the fireplace and put an air brick in it. It was then plastered.

There was still a bit of air movement as it was. But not enough to make the room cold. I dont know if this was all good practice or not. Bit it did the job for us.

dominoman

That tiny grill is unlikely to be the cause of the cold room. For a start it is at floor level so the air going through it will be cold air. I expect you need larger radiators or better insulation above the upstairs room.

If you wanted to block it, why use a chimney balloon. Simply remove and cover the vent. But it's not a good idea to do. You could end up with damp in the chimney. Having said that, our house had all the chimeys blocked up in the 70s and no vents were put in (and the chimney wasn't blocked at the top). I've been re-opening and haven't spotted any problems with damp - but that's just good fortune I expect.

Best way is cap the chimney at the top. A simple job for a man on a ladder. Will cost you £50-100 max to do.

Smiley_Dan

Yes, this will be a source of heat loss. However if the opening is sealed, then covered with a grill, it won't be ventilated heat loss, it will be conducted heat loss through the skin of the chimney.

Best thing to do, if you never want to use the chimney again, is to fill it with insulant up to the extent of the thermal envelope of the house (e.g. up to where loft insulation is, or up to the roof it's a warm roof). Then, place a vent just above where the insulant stops.

Best of all is to remove the chimney, but multiple reasons you might not want to do that. Chimneys are always compromises in a houses thermal design. They are best left to the 1800s.