ENERGY BOOMER

SAVE ON YOUR HEATING BILL WITH A CHIMNEY BALLOON

If you have a fireplace in your home it is very likely that you are sending your dollars up the chimney. Most folks know that a fire in the fireplace looses more heat up the chimney than goes into the house. In spite of that, we still follow our family tradition of having a fire in the fireplace when we have visitors during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. But, what about the rest of the time.

If you have a gas log or wood burning fireplace, you have an opportunity to save a lot of money on your heating bill for a small investment in money and effort. I am talking about saving several hundred dollars by spending half a hundred on a chimney balloon.

I knew our fireplace damper was stuck open and that would add more than $200 this winter on our heating bills. I knew it was stuck partly open because I had made a half hearted attempt to close it. We had bird try to fly into the house after he made the trip down the chimney. Thank goodness that the glass doors on the fireplace stopped him from spreading black soot all around the house. Eventually the bird made his escape back up the chimney.

With the help of WD 40 and a hammer, I got the damper freed up so it will open and close. Using a mirror and a flashlight, I took a careful look at the edges around the damper. It will keep the birds out but it sure is not airtight.

I need a way to plug the chimney to stop warm air raising up and escaping out of the house. It needs to seal airtight and be easy for an old guy, like me, to put in place. I still want that holiday season fire so the chimney seal needs to be easy to remove and store without making a mess.

The Chimney Balloon is a very good solution. Stick it in place, inflate it and you have an airtight seal. Let the air out of the balloon and gently pull it out for a holiday fire.

Chimney Balloons are available in a wide range of sizes. Get one that is too big and you struggle to get it into place. Get one that is too small and it will not seal or stay in place. This means that you need to know the size of your flue. Precision is not a problem; the balloon will work if you are off buy an inch or two. It best to measure and get one the right size on the first try.

I bent my folding ruler into an elbow shape with a couple of joints out to one side. I poked the ruler up into the fireplace and quickly determined that the chimney flue was a square one measuring two joints by two joints. Ok the flue is 12 inches square. It turns out that a 12-inch flue is a very common size. The fireplace transitions into the 12-inch flue a couple of feet up from the top of the fireplace opening so I need the extender on the stick that the Chimney Balloon comes with. No problem the extender is a standard part too.

Using the Chimney Balloon is simple as blowing up a balloon, and you never have to climb up on the roof.

The Chimney Balloon, also know as a Chimney Pillow, is a unique durable device that stops airflow, bugs, bats and birds from flowing through your chimney.

The Chimney Balloon is made of tough stuff so it can be removed, reinstalled and re-used many times.

Click on this link to order your Chimney Balloon.

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IS MONEY GOING UP YOUR CHIMNEY?

This summer a small bird flew into our chimney at home. It flew right down into the fire place.

We would have had black soot all over the house if the bird had gotten all the way in. Lucky for us our glass fire place doors stopped that from happening. The bird did escape to share its adventure story with its friends.

This event revealed two problems. No bird screen on the chimney top and the fire place damper was open.

Chimneys are made to pull smoke out of the house using the draft caused by rising hot air. We know that a hot air balloon goes up because hot air is lighter than cold air.

Air heated by your home furnace will escape up your chimney if it can. If you don’t use your fire place plugging the chimney is a good idea. If you want it ready to use make sure the damper closes tightly. Glass fire place doors are a good way to control how much air flows up the flue while the fire place is in use.

Or, better yet, use a fireplace plug. Click here for more information on how to Lower Your Home Energy Bills!

Many folks have the same chimney effect at work. Hot air rises in the building and escapes out any opening that is high in the building. At work our “chimneys” are disguised as windows, vent fans, smoke vents, doors that open to the roof and any other hole or opening that allows warm air to escape in the winter.

Warm air escaping out the roof is a problem for two reasons. First, it is warm air that the company has already purchased the energy to heat. Second warm air going out the roof draws in cold replacement air at ground level where folks will feel the cold.

There is a natural cold draft of air coming it at ground floor level of the building. This unwanted cold air coming in makes us burn excess fuel to heat it to a comfortable temperature. Stopping the warm air from escaping also stops the unwanted cold air from coming in.

Keeping windows closed, ceiling fans off, smoke vents closed all help to keep the building more comfortable and to keep. Stopping the waste of energy is good for the environment and good business.

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