The chimney breast in the bedroom has been bricked up where there used
to a gas fire, and white ventilation grill thingy fitted.

The trouble is on windy days there is a distinct chimney soot smell in
the room around the chimney breast. I have thought of using masking tape
over the ventilator but the this would defeat the true purpose of
having one.

Is there anything I can do about this?


Kind regards,

Saeed

sr_ng 786

"Saeed" wrote in message
...
The chimney breast in the bedroom has been bricked up where there used
to a gas fire, and white ventilation grill thingy fitted.

The trouble is on windy days there is a distinct chimney soot smell in
the room around the chimney breast. I have thought of using masking tape
over the ventilator but the this would defeat the true purpose of
having one.

Is there anything I can do about this?


Kind regards,

Saeed

sr_ng 786

Don't block the vent. It allows air up the chimney to carry out the
condensation and rain. You'll get wet breasts!

Its likely that the flue was not properly swept and rain etc is bringing
down some soot. You could cap the pot. Make sure you fit it properly. There
is nothing more annoying than finding the cap lying in your garden after a
gale. I'll be doing mine this week and am going to pop rivet some aluminium
strips to the cap and then to a sleeve round the pot.

Good luck

Peter Scott

Don't block the vent. It allows air up the chimney to carry out the
condensation and rain. You'll get wet breasts!

Alternatively, consider having the vent on the outside wall of the chimney
instead of on the inside.

Christian.

Capping the chimney at the top is the best solution. The stack will take
some time to dry out and then the smell will cease. I had a similar problem
with an open fire that has only occasional use. As the chimney is live it
can suffer from weather penetration and an unpleasant sooty smell can fill
the living room. I overcame this by fitting a removable register plate to
the fireplace. In this plate there is a quiet computer fan to draw a modicum
of warm dry air from the room to ventilate the flue and prevent the smell
descending. The fan I chose has a nominal 12V supply requirement. By
experimentation I found that a 3V supply was enough to provide a small flow
of air up the chimney in complete silence. Weird but very effective :-)

Richard.




"Saeed" wrote in message
...
The chimney breast in the bedroom has been bricked up where there used to
a gas fire, and white ventilation grill thingy fitted.

The trouble is on windy days there is a distinct chimney soot smell in the
room around the chimney breast. I have thought of using masking tape over
the ventilator but the this would defeat the true purpose of having one.

Is there anything I can do about this?


Kind regards,

Saeed

sr_ng 786

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 17:39:50 +0100, Saeed
wrote:

The chimney breast in the bedroom has been bricked up where there used
to a gas fire, and white ventilation grill thingy fitted.

The trouble is on windy days there is a distinct chimney soot smell in
the room around the chimney breast. I have thought of using masking tape
over the ventilator but the this would defeat the true purpose of
having one.

Is there anything I can do about this?


Kind regards,

Saeed

sr_ng 786

Sounds like the usual builder job of bricking up the fireplace without
brush-cleaning the flue first.

Also, be sure to check the flue is capped with a 'pepperpot' or
similar to allow ventialtion but no water ingress.

HTH
Rob


Replace 'spam' with 'org' to reply

"Saeed" wrote in message
...
The chimney breast in the bedroom has been bricked up where there used
to a gas fire, and white ventilation grill thingy fitted.

The trouble is on windy days there is a distinct chimney soot smell in
the room around the chimney breast. I have thought of using masking tape
over the ventilator but the this would defeat the true purpose of
having one.

Is there anything I can do about this?

When I suggested capping I didn't make it clear that the cap should allow
air circulation. The ones I use have a shallow cone over the chimney pot and
a gap for the air to leave. This is why the wind catches it and sometimes
sooty blackbirds fall down it into my stove (unlit!)

Peter Scott