Spinning Cowl

[diyeric]

Hi. I would be pleased of any advice that can be given. Last year I had a wood burner fitted complete with a spinning cowl on the stack to cure down draft and wall vented to the outside at the back of the stove via permanent open vent. Building inspector approved.
The down draft is caused by geographic siting of the house and not lack of chimney height (according to the building inspector). I could open and close the vents on the stove to control the burn rate, almost like turning a gas fire up and down. This year with stove vents wide open there is little up draft. I have noticed the spinning cowl no longer spins.
Having now read the small print which states the cowl should be serviced yearly preferably by sending it back to the manufacturers which sounds reasonable enough until one examines the yearly cost involved. Removal labour, scaffold tower hire, roof ladders, postage, manufactures service charge, re-installation labour. For economic reasons the cowl will need replacing.
I have tried to research as to what to replace it with, perhaps with just a wind direction cowl, but will this need servicing yearly as it has moving parts? Before the wood burner was fitted the fire place was an open fire with a cowl that looked like two inverted dishes with holes in the centre placed one above the other, I still got down draft occasionally and small birds would quite frequently drop down the chimney into the sitting room.
Has anyone any suggestions please. I am having the chimney sweep call soon, but he can give little advice on chimney cowls except to say they get in the way of his brushes.

 

[Nige F]

Maybe a H pot ? they used to be quite common.

 

[lostinthelight]

Maybe a H pot ? they used to be quite common.

Ive fitted quite a few of these and have never failed to stop smoke in the room.
My Son has one of these which seems to work ok

https://www.fluesystems.com/shop/Vedette_Cowl_Solid_Fuel_5.html

 

[foxhole]

How do birds and smoke enter the room , woodburner has doors?

 

[lostinthelight]

How do birds and smoke enter the room , woodburner has doors?

Smoke comes out through the door when opening to refuel and if enough downdraft it comes out of the air vents

 

[foxhole]

Smoke comes out through the door when opening to refuel and if enough downdraft it comes out of the air vents

Fire in stove should provide good updraft ? Maybe incorrectly installed ?

 

[lostinthelight]

Maybe incorrectly installed ?

Maybe but not necessarily so . Sad as it seems, Ive taken video of problem chimneys and seen smoke exit and travel 10ft in one direction then reverse 180° back past the chimney and fall down to ground level .

 

[foxhole]

Maybe but not necessarily so . Sad as it seems, Ive taken video of problem chimneys and seen smoke exit and travel 10ft in one direction then reverse 180° back past the chimney and fall down to ground level .

Problem chimney ? Inanimate object.

 

[lostinthelight]

Unless witnessed first hand it may not be realized how changing local conditions can affect stove intallations some of which may not appear for some time after fitting.

 

[Burnerman]

A personal recommemdation for the Vedette cowl.....succeeded for a neighbour where all else had failed.
Securely fixed, its not a problem for the chimney sweep (me!)
John

 

[lostinthelight]

How do birds and smoke enter the room , woodburner has doors?

Before the wood burner was fitted the fire place was an open fire with a cowl that looked like two inverted dishes with holes in the centre placed one above the other, I still got down draft occasionally and small birds would quite frequently drop down the chimney into the sitting room.
.

 

[foxhole]

Unless witnessed first hand it may not be realized how changing local conditions can affect stove intallations some of which may not appear for some time after fitting.

No expert but that stack look far to short , close to roof line .

 

[lostinthelight]

No expert but that stack look far to short , close to roof line .

Its the angle the shot was taken from, its 4ft above the ridge.
In an attempt to combat down draft the Previous occupants had the stack height increased to six foot with massive Marcone flanged pot on top which looked awful., It didnt work in all wind conditions , the room was covered in a layer of soot..they mostly burned solid fuel.
Just over a year ago I reduced the stack to its present height, topped it with the H pot and its been perfect since

 

[Diyisfun]

Feel for you.
Our wood burner worked great, I had a bird go down the adjacent pot (unused) so I put a bird cage on top.
Next winter we had so many problems with lighting the fire, then the room full of smoke (just after decorated it).
Called an installer round he asked if anything had been changed, I said add wire mesh, he said that's the problem, he removed it & hey presto all sorted.
So it can be just the smallest of things, that creates the problems.
Good luck.

 

[diyeric]

Thanks for all your replies, Foxhole, the small birds came down the chimney when the fireplace was an open fire with dish type cowl on the chimney pot. The current problem is the spinning cowl fitted when the wood burner was installed, has stopped spinning, I assume this stops or restricts the flow of updraft even when the fire is burning producing natural rise of warm air.

It seems I have to make a choice between a yearly spinning cowl service which is expensive, or try one of the recommendations you folk have made.

Many thanks for all your suggestions