The Claim
Simple and effective, The Chimney Balloon is the must-have for every energy-conscious home. Specially engineered, it stops warm air going up your chimney and draughts coming back down. What’s more, it’ll pay for itself within 3 months.
How does it work?
A chimney balloon is an incredibly simple concept, it is simply a balloon is inflated up within the chimney flue where it sits in position preventing the draughts. Normally chimneys allow cold draughts to enter properties and hot air (produced expensively by your heating system) to leave the home. The chimney balloon limits the movement of air through the chimney, helping to keep cold air above it and preventing warm air rise up out of the chimney.
How did it work for me?
When we moved into our new homes we had two open chimneys. One was in the lounge where we decided to put a wood burner, however the other one was located in the bedroom. Although unlikely we are ever going to light a fire in the bedroom, never say never so we thought it would be more prudent to temporarily block the chimney with plastic bags to help keep the draughts out.
After complaining for the hundredth time to my wife that the chimney was still draughty I tool to the internet to try to find a better solution. I quickly came across the chimney balloon and thought I would give it a try.
So the balloon arrived and I opted to get the inflation tube as well since I had little interest in putting my head right up into the chimney. Obviously chimneys come in all different shapes and sizes so they do a whole range of balloons to fit different sizes. After measuring the flue with a tape measure we opted for the middle size (60cm x 30cm).
Attaching the inflation tube to the balloon you need to inflate it a little which allows you to get a rough feel of the shape it will eventually become. Once partially inflated, I positioned the balloon into the flue and fully inflated it, which holds it into position and then simply turned the tap to prevent the air leaving the balloon. They mentioned in the instructions that it might need a bit of topping up once the air had cooled down, but actually we didn’t find this at all.
They give you a little reminder card to make sure you don’t light the fire with the balloon still in place. I haven’t tested the result of lighting a fire with the chimney balloon in place, but not sure the result would be pretty to be honest!
We have had the chimney balloon in place since February and it has made an massive difference to the warmth of our bedroom, gone are the days of the howling gales flying down the chimney. It is difficult to gauge the bill savings from just this measure, as we are also putting lots of other measures into practise, but despite the extended cold winter we used 10% less energy than last year for the like for like quarter.
No Comments yet! Be the first one.