Chimney cowl

[Bogart]

Having the chimneys swept on monday. I have told the sweep that one of the chimneys has lost its cowl, a cone shaped wire affair. As we had something die up there this year and got a subsequent invasion of flies and latterly a young crow in the woodburner I suggested could he replace it at the same time as doing his sweeps. His suggestion is that with woodburners on a thatched roof having no cowl is the way to go. I know there is a opinion that with a woodburner a cowl can get coated in stuff that could pose a fire risk but as the cowl is stainless steel I would hope that problem would be lessened.
Finally can a normal roof ladder be used on a thatched roof?

 

[88v8]

Ahhh, the no cowl nonsense. I had this from the HETAS chap who installed one of our woodburners.

Well, I've had three or is it four cowls up there now, this is the latest. One blew off, one let the rain in, the next was a bit of an eyesore. This one is a variant on the Brewer UFO 2, with a custom larger bottom plate.



No cowl, down comes the rain and rots the stove. Piffle.
What you must avoid is having a spark guard, because the fine mesh clogs up. Just the bird mesh is OK.
And, no burning softwood, other than kindling. No pallets. No unseasoned wood. Then there will be nothing to stick to the liner or the cowl.

My insurers make a fuss about chimney height above the ridge - they want 6ft, which I don't have. But no problem with the cowl(s).

Ladder- what, you mean a cat ladder with a ridge hook? I don't think so. And the cross-pieces of a cat ladder will break the reed/straw. Normal ladder, turned over so it lays flat on the thatch, see.



Other than that, drop the ladder straight onto the stack. The rope is there because the ladder was so super-elevated I couldn't aim it, so while I tottered around at the bottom, the wife used the rope to drop the ladder onto the stack. That was the previous cowl, which was fine but a bit ott visually.



Or ask a thatcher about the ladder. Don't want numpties blundering around on your roof.

Ivor

 

[Bogart]

Thanks for the very detailed reply. My problem is I do not have any chimney pots up there just the stacks. This is the cowl which I assumed fell of the roof or is a replacement for the one that did and is identical to one already fitted to the other chimney. Most guards seem to have a fastening around the outside of a pot.I can see tomorrow if he is a bit heavy with his brushes the other cowl coming off too. I am not sure how one is supposed to clean right to the top with such a cowl as mine fitted. Mind you with your photo of your cowl how does he get a brush out of there? As regards the ladder can understand it messing the thatch up. How did you get the rope off the chimney when you had finished it or did you just cut it? My insurance by the way wanted 8ft from top of thatch to top of "chimney". I have around 6ft. I may well get around to fitting pots and hence be able to fit decent cowls.
One final thing I am not sure what price I should be paying for an inglenook chimney to be swept. I had one guy quote £50 per clean but when he arrived said " I do not do thatch". The guy tomorrow is double. When I asked him why he said because he does thatch and knows what he is doing. We will see :wink:

 

[88v8]

Hurr.
That's not a cowl. Just a bird guard. Presumably sprung into the flue liner?
Nothing at all to keep it in place when sweeping.
What twit put that up there?

Can you post a pic of your chimney?

8ft ?? Hahaha. We have about 4'6" and that's a good deal more than when the previous owners lived here.

Off-season, we pay £35 per chimney, time to get sweeping done is early summer, it's cheaper.
Here
http://www.stroudchimneysweeps.co.uk/
Check the music :}
He's very thorough. He sweeps Gatcombe, amongst other places.

The brush doesn't come out of the top of our cowls. It reaches the top and that's it.

You should have a rain/bird cowl, as we do. You have a 6" water pipe leading straight into your stove.

The rope around the stack .......... was just to ensure the ladder didn't move while I was working up there. I untied it when I was done.

Ivor

 

[Flyfisher]

This Norfolk thatcher seems to be happy to use a normal ladder. His dog doesn't seem to mind either . . .

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-17814451