Square Chimney Pot Cowls

[Flyfisher]

Does anyone know of any suppliers of bird guard/rain hat cowls for square chimney pots?

I've found no end of suppliers of such things for round pots but none for square ones. Surely square pots are not that rare?

 

[Penners]

Scroll down the page on this site. There are a few.

http://www.thechimneypotshop.com/prod02.htm

 

[Flyfisher]

Thanks Penners. I did see that website but may have misread the info. A lot of the square inserts are specifically stated not to be used for gas or solid fuel - I guess these are intended to cap unused chimneys.

The "DFC insert" (what does DFC stand for?) is the sort of thing I'm looking for but has no mesh for a bird guard. Other similar units, with mesh, state that the mesh should be removed when using with solid fuel. Hmm - why is nothing ever easy! That'll teach me to go to loads of trouble to match the new pots to the original instead of just replacing them with simple round ones to match all our other chimneys.

 

[Penners]

The "DFC insert" (what does DFC stand for?)

Did you mean the "DFE Insert"? If so, DFE stands for Decorative Fuel Effect gas fires.

No, that information is not extracted from the Penners Knowledgebase (a slim volume) - it was cribbed from that website's technical information page.

 

[piper]

Two slates, leaned and wired together to make a little roof, and wired to the chimney pot, is the traditional arrangement round here, though it may look out of place in Norfolk. Some chicken wire pushed in the top makes an effective, traditional and cheap bird guard, though in twenty-three years living here without any in our chimneys, we've never yet had birds getting in, or trying to build nests there.

On our new chimney we re-used one of the original square pots off the tall chimney which the extension-building had to sacrifice. It's got pumice liners and LECA backfill inside it all the way to the top, leaving a much smaller round hole, invisible from below, and when it was built in the Summer we decided we could dispense with any cap. The infamous torrential rain in Cumbria of a few weekends ago (the rain which marooned all those fell-runners) put paid to that idea, resulting in a big damp patch on the chimney-breast (good thing it's lime plaster and clay paint) and the chimney now has a little slate roof to match the other chimneys on the house.

 

[Flyfisher]

The "DFC insert" (what does DFC stand for?)

Did you mean the "DFE Insert"? If so, DFE stands for Decorative Fuel Effect gas fires.

No, that information is not extracted from the Penners Knowledgebase (a slim volume) - it was cribbed from that website's technical information page.

Not only the answer to the question but the correct question as well. What excellent service. At this rate you'll be able to answer questions I don't even know I should be asking.

My apologies for not spotting the answer myself.

 

[Flyfisher]

Piper - thanks for the tip about the slates, I quite like that idea. I'm sure it would look better than a homemade metal-fabricated hat that was my fall-back option.

You're fortunate not to need bird guards. Our house suffered a chimney fire many years ago due to the accumulation of sticks (well, that and complete neglect to keep the chimney clean - before my time though). The result was a burnt out oak bressumer.

When opening up other, unused, chimneys we've found them to be totally blocked with bird detritus, including mummified and skeletal birds themselves.

 

[Penners]

At this rate you'll be able to answer questions I don't even know I should be asking.

1. Clay (except near Wisbech).

2. Tales From The Vienna Woods.

3. 42 (naturally).

 

[Nemesis]

A spot irrelevant but a pic of chimneys in Ambleside:

 

[Penners]

And a not-very-interesting PS: I had a half-round tile chimney cap fitted not half an hour ago - coincidence, eh?

Round pot, though. Easy-peasy.

 

[Flyfisher]

I was expecting '42' but I wasn't expecting you to finish my crossword. Well done.

 

[Penners]