Cold air coming down chimney

[sherwoodforest23]

Does anyone know how you can stop cold air rushing down the chimney?

I know you can get balloons/other ways to block it off but we use the fire a lot so need to keep it open. But in the day time when the fire isn't lit it makes the room colder and smell of smoke with all the cold air falling down it.

I used Newspaper or an old cushion and took it out when I wanted to light the fire.

You need a "chinmey sheep" or if funds are tight use a pillow? (Obviously remove before using the fire that evening ...

www.chimneysheep.co.uk/

I have the same thing.
Currently have a plywood board which gets propped up against the fireplace using the fire guard turned around ( once it is cold) which covers the entire opening. Move it to the side when wanting fire.
If not going to use for a while ( autumn to spring) I use a ‘chimney sheep’ - available in the UK. A wool based wad that you stuff up the chimney. Gave up on chimney balloons as they take ages to blow up and can get punctures.
Leave open in the summer to ventilate the house.

You need a chimney balloon www.chimneyballoon.co.uk/

As above. Sheep aren't cheap though and they're easy to forget about when you light a fire. We have sadly lost a sheep in the past after forgetting:(

We had a chimney sheep and a little sheep ornament (cheap one). The 'rule' was then whenever the sheep was up the chimney the sheep ornament was placed in the fireplace so you have to move it to lay/light the fire and it acts as a reminder of the sheep up the chimney.

That’s very cute and clever.

I put a cushion in a plastic bag and stuffed that up there. Just took it out when we wanted to light it.

I tied a luggage label to the bag with string so it dangled down where it could be seen as a reminder it was there.

Thank you all, good ideas here.

I'm wondering how messy it is when you dislodge the chimney sheep/cushion in bag?

We light the fire probably 2 x a week so fairly often....and Im envisaging a big cloud of soot covering the carpet etc every time I pull it out!

If your chimney is that sooty maybe it needs a sweep? Especially if you are getting a smokey smell when the cold air comes down the chimney?

We have a chimney sheep. It has a little tag that dangles down so you know it’s there and don’t accidentally light a fire with it in. We have our chimney swept once a year, as we use the fire a lot and the “sheep” doesn’t dislodge anything when we remove it. We don’t call it a chimney sheep any more though. It’s known as the tampon in our house!

I mean we have it swept twice a year which I think is quite a lot. Just gets sooty pretty much as soon as we start using it.

At the moment, I have a large wedge of rolled up bubble wrap from the Xmas parcels up there, and a note pinned to the fire guard.
I sent away for a sheep but postal stuff means it isn't here yet.
But I shall be buying a sheep ornament, what a nice idea.

We ended up having ours lined and a big glass-fronted wood burner fitted. The wood burner uses a fraction of the fuel and throws out loads more heat.

I appreciate that it's an expensive solution to the problem!

When we had our fireplace re-done 30 years ago, the surround included a metal flap that fits across the flue. You just push it closed to shut off the chimney and pull it down to use the grate. Not messy at all.

Ok, yeah you'd think twice a year would be more than enough wouldn't you. Hope you get a good solution!

We have a chimney sheep and love it! It works perfectly and is easy to pull out or put back in between fires.

We light a handful of tea lights in the grate sometimes, it warms the air enough to stop the cold air coming down the chimney

We used to use the fire but found that so much cold air came down the enormous chimney flue that lighting the fire was basically just keeping the cold at bay rather than actively warming the room. Not to mention the grubby job of cleaning the grate each morning. And the air pollution we generated. So gave up and have now stuffed the chimney with the biggest sheep we could get hold of, plus mineral wool insulation to fill in the gaps. We also replaced our ancient boilers with a decent one, insulated the lofts and fitted brush draught excluders. Now we are much warmer and cleaner!

If you are sweeping twice a year and still getting lots of sooty crud coming down, perhaps your flue needs relining?

I've just looked for chimney sheep on Amazon so I can get one for our chimney.

It's so not what I thought it would look like. I was totally posturing something like a sheep teddy bear. 😂😂

Check the chimney sheep webpage as well. When I ordered the Amazon prices were alot higher than buying direct from chimney sheep.

Thanks!

I've never had an issue with dislodging stuff when taking the cushion out. I don't stuff it up very far, just enough that it stays put.