Wind howling in Chminey

DaBreno

Hi folks, We're having a small problem with our chimney. The Wind is only howling down it as it blows by. This also seems to induce a similar reaction in our sitting room door: when we close it on a windy night, it howls too and we can feel a bad draft coming in.
Is there anything we can get for the top of the Chimney to cut out the wind noise? (Its a small solid fuel fireplace)
Thanks in advance.

Tabnabs

My parents used a polystyrene board to great effect for years, now the fireplace wasn't in use anymore, but if you only use it occasionally then this may be a solution.

Essentially the board goes up just inside the flue and blocks out the wind. Easy to remove, just don't forget about it!!

DaBreno

Im afraid trying to seal it up isnt an option, we light a fire most nights.

Tabnabs

It's out with the credit card and up on the roof for you so!
http://www.fireplacemall.com/Chimney_Caps/Vacu-Stack_Caps_with_Masonry_F/vacu-stack_caps_with_masonry_f.html

pjq

Imo you would be better off staying off the roof and put money into a stove with a door . We got one of these for €970- http://www.stovesireland.com/stove.asp?StoveID=1&CatName=Solid%20Fuel%20Stoves%20to%208Kw
The improvement is much better than we expected ;
1. the draft in the fire place is great , it lights with a ball of paper and a dry stick , every night .
2. Once the room is heated , the heat in the stove keeps the room warm for the rest of the night , uses a fraction of the timber we used before .
3 No more dirty , expensive coal . It will pay for itself one day.
4. No draft under the doors when its lighting , and better yet the heat does not go up the chimeny , the room is still warn next morning.

The stoves are a bit cheaper from UK inline sites .

PJQ

DaBreno

Some good ideas in there but herself doesnt want a burner in place of an open fire. My options are limited!
Someone I talked to yesterday about this mentioned a Chminey Cowel that sits on top of the chimney and regulates the wind coming down. Would anyone recommend that, does it sound like what I need?

KAGY

DaBreno wrote:

Some good ideas in there but herself doesnt want a burner in place of an open fire. My options are limited!
Someone I talked to yesterday about this mentioned a Chminey Cowel that sits on top of the chimney and regulates the wind coming down. Would anyone recommend that, does it sound like what I need?

Sounds like the wind is going up the chimney if the draft is coming in the door. A cowl would stop the howl, but it won't stop the draft. What is happening is that your chimney is acting like a pan pipe or blowing across a beer bottle and the cowl breaks up the flow of air over it, reducing the noise.
However, hot air rises and I would say that it is this convection that is causing the draft in the door. Would I be right in saying that this draft is worse when the fire is lit? This effect can also cool down the other rooms as it is sucking the air up the chimney, only to be replace with cool outside air. That why the swedish and all uber-enviro houses don't have an open fire.
But in saying all that, I wouldn't do without it, and neither would the good woman herself. ...cue the Marino Waltz

DaBreno

KAGY wrote:

Sounds like the wind is going up the chimney if the draft is coming in the door. A cowl would stop the howl, but it won't stop the draft. What is happening is that your chimney is acting like a pan pipe or blowing across a beer bottle and the cowl breaks up the flow of air over it, reducing the noise.
However, hot air rises and I would say that it is this convection that is causing the draft in the door. Would I be right in saying that this draft is worse when the fire is lit? This effect can also cool down the other rooms as it is sucking the air up the chimney, only to be replace with cool outside air.

Thats exactly whats happening! A neighbour of ours has a stove in front of their Chimney breast with all gaps bricked up and a single pipe going into the breast itself. Its a good job, their house always seems warm. We will definatley look into the Cowel anyways, we have to stop the Chimney noise.

KAGY wrote:

But in saying all that, I wouldn't do without it, and neither would the good woman herself. ...cue the Marino Waltz

You said it.

karltimber

Find any fix for this draft problem at all.

I have the same issue with a draft and hot air being swept up the chimney

Thx


k

It's a feature of open fires, they need lots of fresh air to burn.
It may be possible to run a vent pipe in from an external wall and it bring fresh air directly to the hearth thus stopping the draught coming through the room.
Can't stop the heat rising up the chimney though.

rf

check out http://www.chimney-balloon.co.uk/

GreeBo

The problem is that not only is the heat being sucked up the chimney, the cold air is also being sucked in from every possible gap & crack in your house to equalise the pressure.

An open fire is very inefficient, if you are lighting a fire to as your main hea source in the room then you deffo need to look at getting a stove or an e-box gas fire.
These are upwards of 85% efficient.
An open gas fire is about 20% efficient, Im not sure about a solid fuel fire, but it cant be much better.

KAGY

I was talking to my dad about this and he reminded me that in our old house (1970's build) the fire had a large hole under it with a bucket for collecting the ashes. It also had a vent running from the outside of the house to this hole so that the fire sucked the air in from the outside directly. It had a little flap on it so that you could regulate the flow of air somewhat.

I know it's not of much use to the current thread, but maybe if somebody is building from scratch again they could keep this in mind.

patrickolee

Try and convince herself that the stoves are a good idea! If you know anyone with one, bring her over to have a look. If she sees one, it might change her mind. I didn't like them either, I really like the open fire... until my parents got one at home. Little Oisin they call it (think that's a make). The difference is amazing and like the previous poster said it's still warm the next day. Takes very little to run considering the amount of heat it gives.

Thinking of getting one myself now.