[Homestead] MagicHeat

Warren mogrits at gmail.com
Tue Nov 20 17:11:31 EST 2007


>   Hi Warren...me thinks you have a serious problem with your
> chimney if it smokes like you say it does. I would have a mason
> check it out...sometimes an old chimney will partialy cave in
> blockin' the flue...or sometimes you can cure your draft problems
> be adding a few feet to the top of your chimney. Anyway It
> doesn't sound normal to me. I really don't think you would want a
> fan in/on your chimney to induce a draft. A good sound chimney
> should pull a draft when alittle heat is introduced to the inside.Franklin

First of all- the fan was installed on a friends decorative fireplace in his
restaurant. It was basically a 4' x 8' firepit with a hood arrangement over
it and exhausted by a 12" double-walled flue. In short- it was improperly
engineered and wouldn't draft without a LOT of heat. So for him, a fan was
the only solution because he was more interested in having the fire viewable
from all sides. Ambience, don't you know.

As for the rest- my flue is metal, and it's clean as a whistle and straight
as an arrow and as tall as a Georgia pine. The fact of the matter is there
are weather conditions we have at these lower latitudes where wet air lies
heavy or even falls towards the earth, and you can't induce a draft without
a lot of heat, a fan, or a healthy dose of smoke. It's just the way of the
world here. We survive, even without draft fans.

Warren




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