chimney balloon substitute??

mrs_baggins

Hi everyone am hoping someone can help. I am convinced my house is haunted as its so bloomin cold!!! Mind you having laminate flooring all downstairs doesnt help! Got the man out to insulate the cavities and apparently I already had it!! I have a fireplace in the living room with a gas fire (flame effect) that I never use so am thinking of blocking the chimney on a temp basis as heat must be escaping up there. the chimney balloonsa re about £18 not a huge amount but could I do something myself? have tries shoving newspaper up but I can seem to get that right and jusy keep stuffing more and more up to no avail?

Mr_Warren_2

If you light a fire with a chimney balloon up the conduct....guess what......??? The balloon will go POP !

bob_a_builder

Improved loft insulation, better windows, heavy curtains closed after dusk...they all help

But aren't going to compensate for a 9" diameter hole in the ceiling.

I have a black bag stuffed with loft insulation up mine. but no gas fire and only have a fire at christmas after the 'removing of the bag stuffed with loft insulation' cermony

Sparky_Mike

A bin bag stuffed with loft insulation! Of course!

Cheers Bob, that's just saved me £20 a pop for each chimney. Those balloons aren't cheap!

Sparky_Mike

The 'bin-bag blocker' works a treat! However I would recommend sticking a 2" pvc pipe along side the bin-bag to allow some ventilation into the room.

Oliver27

mrs_baggins wrote: »

I have a fireplace in the living room with a gas fire (flame effect) that I never use so am thinking of blocking the chimney on a temp basis as heat must be escaping up there. the chimney balloonsa re about £18 not a huge amount but could I do something myself? have tries shoving newspaper up but I can seem to get that right and jusy keep stuffing more and more up to no avail?

Make sure you get the fire disabled by a corgi engineer
if your going to do this!

There was a local report a few years back of a babysitter
who had died after turning on the owners gasfire, it turns
out the owners knew the chimney was blocked but just
forgot to tell the babysitter not to use it

Even if don't have kids the above could still happen if you
have friends or family staying and you forget or don't get
chance to warn them not to use the fire

bobdauilda

Oliver27 wrote: »

Make sure you get the fire disabled by a corgi engineer
if your going to do this!

There was a local report a few years back of a babysitter
who had died after turning on the owners gasfire, it turns
out the owners knew the chimney was blocked but just
forgot to tell the babysitter not to use it

Even if don't have kids the above could still happen if you
have friends or family staying and you forget or don't get
chance to warn them not to use the fire

Urban myths again?:eek:

bootman

I used to stuff an old bed pillow up my chimney that used to work well for me.

Nicholas_Arnold

bobdauilda wrote: »

Urban myths again?:eek:

Not so much of an urban myth as you might think. When we moved into our current house (built c. 1825) there was a gas fire in the kitchen, which we used a lot in the early days of renovation. But we all kept getting headaches and feeling off. Finally, when we re-fitted and decorated the kitchen we had a stainless-steel flue fitted. The builders put it down the only open flue. It wasn't the kitchen. The kitchen flue had been capped, despite a working gas fire. The carbon monoxide, etc, was trapped and had been seeping into the house (at bedroom level!) through the old brickwork of the flue. Only the fact that the kitchen was below the bathroom had saved us from something worse than headaches. So - be careful! Still, a great tip about bin bags.

maypole

We have used the "inner" foil bag of an empty box of wine, make sure that you place it so as you can see it though, as it is easy to forget it is there, I am on my third one:o. I lit the fire and it just went pop and fell on to the hearth. Luckily being made of foil it didn't burn. I wouldn't use anything that might burn. Also make sure you have vents elsewhere.

theoretica

An old pillow in a bin bag for me. I like to assume any visitor to my house who is so minded to take the tape off the tap for my gas fire would bother to read the note tied to the pipe next to the tap...