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This morning, I found the cowl for one of our chimneys in the back yard, deposited there one would assume by the fairly lively winds overnight.
Now, we have two chimneys, one of which is used by the log burner and one that is an old redundant one. I don't know which is which (although I can obviously work it out by burning something smokey in the woodburner).
We've got a chimney sweep coming in about a month, and he says he'll be able to refit the cowl whilst he's here. In the meantime, do I need to worry that it's cowl-less? If it's the 'used' chimney, I'm not worried tbh, as I guess that using the log burner will sort any dampness from any rain that's got in. If it's the unused one, I'm kinda hoping/guessing that any dampness from rain will sort itself out after the new cowl is fitted, am I right?.
My sister in law was living with the same when she moved into her flat, no real ill effects unless you get a windless downpour, even then it should dry out.
Is it two chimneys joining into the same stack? Or is your house so big you can't spot the chimney from the ground 😉 ?
Either way, I agree, it should be fine. Just done some repointing on mine as it's been leaking a bit, but with no major ill effects.
If it's on the unused chimney your biggest issue is crows building nests in it come the spring - until then I'm sure it will be fine.
Is it two chimneys joining into the same stack?
Er, this is where I show my lack of knowledge of chimney terminology. On the roof there's a big box shaped thing, on the box shaped thing there are two chimney pots. One of the cowls on one of the pots has come off. I'd always assumed that the burner only used one of them, maybe it uses both.
I got one of these to fit to a redundant chimney, cheap, easy to fit and stops water getting in.
I guess it depends where you live, but we live in a Victorian Terrace, surrounded by other similar streets and 90% + chimneys are cowl-less. Our house has four chimneys, all naked....
But, SE so doesn't rain that much...
You can have multiple flues in one stack and they should be completely separate. the big box thing is the chimney stack. One pot / flue will be for downstairs the other for upstairs probably or one each side of the downstairs wall. Because I live in the attic of a big old building I have 5 stacks on the roof with around 25 - 30 flues
Re the cowls - if its off the log burner flue it could be to prevent downdraft so if you have the burner lit and no anti downdraft cowl you could end up with a downdraft blowing all the smoke into the room if the wind is in the wrong direction. the cowl on the unused flue should be a ventilation cowl ie enough airflow for ventilation but not enough for a fire. You might not need a downdraft flue tho - depends on the design of the roof and stacks
Light the fire and dry it out just before the chimney sweep arrives. If the missing cowl is off the 'live' side then it will definitely dry it out, if the missing one is off the redundant one, it should still radiate enough heat to dry out any damp that has got in.
You can have multiple flues in one stack and they should be completely separate. the big box thing is the chimney stack. One pot / flue will be for downstairs the other for upstairs probably
That would make sense, there's a disused fireplace in the bathroom (the room above the lounge).
if its off the log burner flue it could be to prevent downdraft so if you have the burner lit and no anti downdraft cowl you could end up with a downdraft blowing all the smoke into the room if the wind is in the wrong direction.
I guess there's only one way to find out... (there is a damper on the logburner flue, so we can shut it all off if needs be)
If the missing cowl is off the ‘live’ side then it will definitely dry it out, if the missing one is off the redundant one, it should still radiate enough heat to dry out any damp that has got in.
Smashing, that matches my thinking.
My gut feeling here is that your biggest threat is water ingress, but for the sake of a month you'll probably be fine.
For a quick and easy test as to what chimney/cowl has blown off - chimney smoke bombs are super cheap and are easy to use for exactly this purpose;
My gut feeling here is that your biggest threat is water ingress,
Water down a chimney is not an issue and not what cowls are fitted for TBH (although they do prevent some water going down cowls are generally to improve the draw up a chimney - or to stop birds nesting)
Yup, mostly to stop birds nesting, but some designs account for adverse wind effects on the fire below.
you can get chimney caps in various shapes and sizes to completely stop anything (including rain) getting in.
Our chimney was ‘open’ for a few years. This is with a log burner. No real problems, except that it got progressively more difficult to light the fire and stop the house filling with smoke. Then the sweep came and dislodged a very large carbonised crow, which must have been slipping further down the flue as it disintegrated!
Put a cheap metal hat thing on to prevent recurrence, and has also massively improved the draw. I don’t think it will last more than a couple of years but good in meantime.
No.
I don't have any (live a few miles from footflaps though, so relatively dry here).
I do however have a gas fired back boiler under mine which apparently had some corrosion on the tank last service, it getting serviced again tomorrow so I'll see if w cowl would be a good addition as from time to time on a wet evening you can hear drops hitting something metallic in the chimney.
If it’s on the unused chimney your biggest issue is crows building nests in it come the spring – until then I’m sure it will be fine.
They're quite happy to have a go at building one on the chimney you do use.