Not BS content but figured there might be a lot of expertise here regarding this subject.

 

For those of you who have fireplaces and use them with some regularity, how are they capped so rain entry is reduced and smoke draw still effective?  We live in Central Texas so the fireplace doesn't get used like up north but our old house is drafty and a nice fire is welcome on cold evenings.  That being said, our chimney stack goes straight up with no cap and is about 10x14 on the opening (house was built in 1972).  The chimney has an understructure of fire brick and clay flue; all covered with natural stone for the veneer. 

 

It's never been capped and none of our occasional monsoonal rains (including those 26 inches we got in 1998 over 48 hrs) have leaked into the house - but I do get bats or squirrels living in there from time to time.  I was considering an expanded metal grate with no cap but figured I might as well plan for a rain lid if I go to the trouble of building something from scratch.

 

I used to install boilers in a previous life and we made "coolie hats" that had a small cone inverted inside a larger cone.  The small inner cone tended to split and divert the exhaust rather than making it roil but those systems had a fan to pressurize the air flow and my chimney will rely only on draft.

 

Thoughts and ideas based on experience are appreciated...

 

Thanks, Hollis

In West Texas my biggest issue with chimney caps is the sound of the wind blowing across it. With the damper closed in the firebox it still gets louder than I would like. I would like to change my existing cap to one of the ones you can close from the top like these. I’m not sure if the wind is a problem where you live or not.

 

http://www.homesaver.com/locktop_fireplace_damper.aspx

My current house doesn't have a fireplace but growing up we had a wood stove with a flue in the center of the house. The flue cap had 4 legs the set inside the opening. The cap extended about 3" on all sides with a slight downward bend. The cap was about 12" above the top of the flue and had wire mesh with about 1/2" openings to keep out the critters.

Well, now that is an interesting thought - just plug the flue when not in use. Thanks for the idea, and yes, wind can definitely be a problem here - it's howling right now.