Chimney Downdraught South Wind

[steph57]

Hello,
Not sure if this is the right forum for this? but worth a try. We have a woodburner with a Colt 2 cowl fitted to the chimney, most of the time this works absolutely fine, draws well, good heat all hunky-dory. Then last night we had a strong wind from the South with big gusts and the smoke kept getting pushed back down the chimney and into the room, we shut all the controls waited a moment and then opened up and it went OK again until the next big gust. Our house is on the top of a south facing slope and our roof slopes south and so we guess these big gusts direct from the South are creating high pressure around our chimney and creating a downdraught. As soon as the wind swings a bit to the West, as is more common, the problem stops and the woodburner works fine again.
Any thoughts on what if anything we can do to prevent these problems? Perhaps we should just not light the woodburner on the few days a year when we get these troublesome winds? There are various cowls about more elaborate then our colt 2 but whether they would solve the problem i do not know?
Thanks

 

[Burnerman]

Down draught is an age old problem and often can't be completely cured......it depends on what surrounds your property, really in the form of other buildings, trees and so on.
The Colt is an excellent cowl for what its designed to do, so have a look around and see what other people may be using, and also consult with a local stove installer to see what they recommend. Not all cowls are suitable for solid fuel!
I'd hate to recommend a cowl just for an experiment!
John

 

[WabbitPoo]

Our chimney blows down into the room every time the wind blows, from any direction! As we dont use the fire at all I have tried to block it with a blanket in a bin bag, but still get one hell of a draught. Are we saying this is just one of the prices to pay if you have a chimney?

 

[Burnerman]

In your case I'd seriously consider capping the chimney, but still allowing it to ventilate courtesy of an airbrick positioned in the side of the stack.
If you intend to close it off, its not a bad move to have it swept first.
John

 

[Nige F]

I had pretty good results with a colt top all purpose - near trees etc. Colt 2 looks like just a cap to me