Chimney Cowls

Chimney cowls, also known as chimney pot covers are fitted to the top of your chimney and are a proven method of improving the performance of the chimney. Whether your home features a gas or solid fuel fire, it’s vital to ensure that the smoke and ...

Chimney cowls, also known as chimney pot covers are fitted to the top of your chimney and are a proven method of improving the performance of the chimney. Whether your home features a gas or solid fuel fire, it’s vital to ensure that the smoke and gases produced can escape easily. If these harmful gases aren’t removed effectively by your chimney, it can lead to fires or serious health implications.

Chimney cowls are excellent at improving the draft within a chimney flue. They prevent harmful gases from entering your home, which is known as backflow. This helps to make your indoor fire not only comfortable to be around but safe; particularly from carbon monoxide poisoning, respiratory issues and eye or skin irritation.

Another way in which chimney cowls are beneficial is acting as a rain or bird guard over your chimney. This prevents water from getting into the chimney flue and dampening your fire. Chimney bird guards also stop large birds from entering the chimney space and potentially blocking the flue.

Chimney cowls come in a variety of styles and designs. These include spinning chimney cowls, capped designs and more. We provide chimney cowls in a range of stylish finishes, including terracotta, stainless steel and cream.

Benefits

Installing a chimney cowl onto an existing chimney is an incredibly cost-effective way to improve its performance and ensure your chimney flue is clear, efficient and safe. What’s more, it’s simple to do and shouldn’t require any specialist tools or hiring a professional.

Deterring Birds

One of the most common issues homeowners will experience with their chimneys is birds entering the chimney space and blocking the flue. This is because birds often recognise your chimney as the perfect place to build their nest. A number of issues can result from this, including the unwanted mess from their droppings, feathers and other items falling down onto your fireplace. Another scenario is birds unfortunately falling down the chimney and into the fireplace, which can cause serious distress both to them and to anyone at home.

Keeping Rain Out

Rain caps are a common feature on chimney cowls to prevent rain from entering the chimney. This is because one of the more frequent problems reported by homeowners is unwanted water ingress into their chimney flue. These issues can include rainwater dampening your indoor fire, however in certain cases rainwater entering your chimney can cause much more serious long-term issues. Many flue systems are particularly sensitive to moisture, which can cause rust or structural damage.

Eliminating Downdraught or Backflow

Another major benefit of installing a chimney cowl is the reduction in what is known as downdraught or backflow. This occurs when smoke or other gases produced by your indoor fire are pushed back into the home by air pressure. This can lead to discomfort, as well as a number of serious health implications from carbon monoxide and other harmful gases. Thankfully, a properly installed chimney pot cover will virtually eliminate this downdraught, by stabilising airflow and wind pressure, keeping smoke out of your living space.

Improves the Efficiency of Your Fire

Another great thing about chimney cowls is their ability to improve the amount of air drawn to the fire. This provides additional oxygen to fuel the fire, making it easier to ignite and keep going – lowering fuel usage and costs. A chimney cowl will improve the efficiency of your fire, and help to draw smoke and hot air into the chimney more effectively. You should, however be careful only to use a cowl designed to improve draw when you’re already experiencing issues. Installing one over a fire that already performs well could lead to overfiring.

Uses

Chimney Cowls for Wood Burners

If your home features a wood burning stove, it’s important to choose the right chimney cowl. Indoor fires that use solid fuels such as wood, oil or coal generate a large amount of smoke, and will need chimney cowls that are designed to manage this level of airflow. We stock a number of chimney cowls for solid fuels including Colt Cowls Econocowls. These specialised chimney cowls will increase the efficiency of your wood burner by effectively reducing backflow and improving the positive draw of air through your chimney flue.

Chimney Cowls for Open Fires

If you’ve got an indoor fire that openly burns solid fuels, your flue liner will need to be at least 8 inches in diameter to meet building regulations. An excellent choice of chimney cowl for open fires would be a spinning chimney cowl, as these most effectively increase updraught and air flow, ensuring that all smoke and harmful gases escape into the chimney and not into your home.

Have Any More Questions About Our Chimney Cowls?

If you’ve got any more questions about our range of chimney cowls, simply talk to our award-winning customer service team. You can get in touch with them on our website via livechat, or by telephone on 01295 565565. With over 40 years’ experience in all things DIY and roofing, they’ll be able to help you get your project completed on time at a great price.