Chimney Caps and Winter Weather
As you use your fireplace to warm your home this winter, sitting in front of a roaring fire and thawing out from being in the icy air, are you thinking about your chimney? More specifically, are you thinking about the lack of a chimney cap on your chimney? Probably not, but there are a variety of reasons that you should be thinking about chimney caps and winter weather. Let’s take a look at a few.
What is a Chimney Cap?
A chimney cap is a structure that affixes to the peak of your chimney to cover the flue. It looks like a cap. It has a cage around the structure to let smoke out and keep sparks in, appropriately named the “spark cage.”
A Chimney Cap Keeps Hot Embers In
The first benefit of a chimney cap is to keep hot embers from floating out of your chimney and onto your roof or a neighbor’s roof and igniting a fire.
Chimney Caps Keep Blockages from Occurring
The spark cage on a chimney cap keeps embers from escaping your chimney and other things out. Your warm, safe chimney is sometimes irresistible to birds, squirrels, raccoons, and bats looking for a cozy place to spend the winter. They will choose a chimney with no chimney cap to make their home. Chimney caps also keep out leaves and pine needles that would otherwise find their way into your chimney. A blockage is serious because it keeps smoke and toxic fumes from escaping. If carbon monoxide drifts back into your home, it could poison your family and pets, making them sick or possibly being fatal.
Chimney Caps Keep Snow and Ice out of Your Chimney
A chimney cap is essential to keep snow and ice out of your chimney during the winter. Ice and snow can be especially damaging. Both ice and snow will melt and flood your fireplace’s firebox and cause it to rust, along with the components in your chimney. Moisture from melting snow and ice can also cause other, no less serious, damage. In fact, it can cause much more serious damage to your chimney. When moisture is absorbed by your fireplace in the winter, it will cause the bricks to expand and contract, causing fissures to form and eventually crumble. Think about a liquid you put in the freezer to cool off and forgot about when you remembered it was frozen solid and expanded, causing its container to swell. It’s the same concept with water in your bricks. A chimney cap acts like an umbrella for your chimney, keeping ice and snow out in the winter and rain and hail out in the summer.
Chimney Caps Guard Against Downdrafts
Have you had issues with lighting a fire in your fireplace, especially in windy winter weather? Have you experienced a gust of wind blowing out your fire as you try to stop it? Have you had fires only burn for a few minutes before going out? A downdraft was most likely the cause of both issues. A chimney cap will keep Jack Frost from blowing down your chimney and causing problems with keeping your fire lit.
Let Burlington Fireplace Install a Chimney Cap on Your Chimney
Protect your fireplace and chimney from winter weather with a chimney cap. Our experienced and knowledgeable chimney sweeps can quickly install a chimney cap on your chimney and clean up after they have completed the job. If you are tired of snow in your firebox or downdrafts that keep you from lighting a fire, then get in contact with us today.
We will be happy to discuss chimney cap installation and maintenance of your chimney. Contact us today!