Hi all

Looking at the roof yesterday I noticed that the area around the flue
terminal had no snow.
Obviously a likely scenario if we used the fire, but we don't.
So there must be some serious volumes of our expensively heated air
disappearing out of the roof.

The fire is a gas coal effect Kinder Nevada FWIW and I was thinking about
either:
Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

Any comments?

Phil

On 7 Jan, 12:21, "TheScullster" wrote:
Hi all

Looking at the roof yesterday I noticed that the area around the flue
terminal had no snow.
Obviously a likely scenario if we used the fire, but we don't.
So there must be some serious volumes of our expensively heated air
disappearing out of the roof.

The fire is a gas coal effect Kinder Nevada FWIW and I was thinking about
either:

Coal effects are never efficient:

http://www.allgasfireplaces.co.uk/kinder/big/nevada.htm

Heat input - high 6.5kW
Heat input - low 4.2kW
Heat output - high 3.5kW
Heat out put - low 1.5kW

3K to give you the glowing coal effect

Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

Any comments?

Phil

Guess depends how well your family are provided for.

CO poisioning is going to be unpleasant for someone to have to
discover....

Cheers
Adam

On 7 Jan, 12:31, Adam Aglionby wrote:
On 7 Jan, 12:21, "TheScullster" wrote:

Hi all

Looking at the roof yesterday I noticed that the area around the flue
terminal had no snow.
Obviously a likely scenario if we used the fire, but we don't.
So there must be some serious volumes of our expensively heated air
disappearing out of the roof.

The fire is a gas coal effect Kinder Nevada FWIW and I was thinking about
either:

Coal effects are never efficient:

http://www.allgasfireplaces.co.uk/kinder/big/nevada.htm

* * * * Heat input - high * * * 6.5kW
* * * * Heat input - low * * * *4.2kW
* * * * Heat output - high * * *3.5kW
* * * * Heat out put - low * * *1.5kW

3K to give you the glowing coal effect

Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

Any comments?

Phil

Guess depends how well your family are provided for.

CO poisioning is going to be unpleasant for someone to have to
discover....

Cheers
Adam

OOPs having just read that the fire is of course out of use, couled
you move it temporarirly and use a chimney balloon?

Cheers
Adam

On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 12:21:53 -0000, "TheScullster"
wrote:

Hi all

Looking at the roof yesterday I noticed that the area around the flue
terminal had no snow.
Obviously a likely scenario if we used the fire, but we don't.
So there must be some serious volumes of our expensively heated air
disappearing out of the roof.

The fire is a gas coal effect Kinder Nevada FWIW and I was thinking about
either:
Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

Any comments?

Phil


Blocking the flue doesn't sound clever in case someone in the future
uses or tries to use the fire without realising it has been blocked .

Covering the complete fire sounds a better idea although not
particularly attractive but I'm assuming you don't mind that .

On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 12:21:53 -0000, TheScullster wrote:

Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

Chimney ballon, either commercial or home made from a bin bag loosely
stuffed with newspaper.

Firmly attach a brightly coloured ribbon or something obvious that
hangs down over the "coals" to remind you that it's up there.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Usenet Nutter" wrote

Blocking the flue doesn't sound clever in case someone in the future
uses or tries to use the fire without realising it has been blocked .

Covering the complete fire sounds a better idea although not
particularly attractive but I'm assuming you don't mind that .

Whatever I do it will be clearly visible.
Whether I can get away with this aesthetically is another matter!!

Phil

On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:44:45 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 12:21:53 -0000, TheScullster wrote:

Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

Chimney ballon, either commercial or home made from a bin bag loosely
stuffed with newspaper.

Copies of L'Equipe for example ?
:-)

In article ,
TheScullster writes
Hi all

Looking at the roof yesterday I noticed that the area around the flue
terminal had no snow.
Obviously a likely scenario if we used the fire, but we don't.
So there must be some serious volumes of our expensively heated air
disappearing out of the roof.

The fire is a gas coal effect Kinder Nevada FWIW and I was thinking about
either:
Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

The flue outlet on that model appears to be high up at the back, can you
see it easily from the front looking up? If you can then you could cover
the opening with tape for winter. I've done this on one of mine with
some 2" wide pvc insulating tape. If it has a larger visible outlet you
could create a mat of tape from multiple strips. Parcel tape would do
but it will leave a residue when peeled off and smell when that is burnt
off.

Thinish tape will melt and burn off if the fire is accidentally lit,
highlighting the error from the smell (of burning plastic) and reopening
the flue to reduce the CO hazard.
--
fred
BBC3, ITV2/3/4, channels going to the DOGs

In article ,
"TheScullster" writes:
Hi all

Looking at the roof yesterday I noticed that the area around the flue
terminal had no snow.
Obviously a likely scenario if we used the fire, but we don't.
So there must be some serious volumes of our expensively heated air
disappearing out of the roof.

The fire is a gas coal effect Kinder Nevada FWIW and I was thinking about
either:
Fitting a cardboard cover above the coals to block the flue outlet
OR
Covering the whole fire place frame with cling film.

Any comments?

Some of the heat loss calculators allow around 1kW lost up an
open flue.

You have to ventilate a flue top and bottom, so you can't completely
block it. However, the methods you suggest probably wouldn't block
it well enough to cause problems. Given there's still a gas fire,
any blocking needs to be obvious and render the fire unusable.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]