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Shoutout to the old guy at the hardware store in Springfield who changed my mind about chimney caps
I was picking up some new brushes last week and an older guy, a retired sweep, was talking to the clerk. He said, 'A good cap isn't about keeping rain out, it's about keeping the draft right. A cheap one can choke your fire and fill the flue with damp soot twice as fast.' I've been fitting the same basic mesh caps for years, mostly to stop birds. But after that, I went back to a job I did three months ago where the customer complained about smoke roll. Checked the cap, and sure enough, it was a cheap, small-holed model already clogging with light creosote. Swapped it for a better one with a taller design. Has anyone else found a specific brand or style of cap that really keeps the draft strong and the buildup slow?
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juliadavis2mo ago
Honestly, I've used those basic mesh caps for ages and never had a callback. Tbh, it sounds like a problem if your flue is already that dirty after three months. Maybe the issue was the install or the type of wood they were burning, not just the cap.
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troyp372mo ago
You mentioned the type of wood they were burning. What exactly are we calling "bad wood" here? Is it just wet wood, or are some species way worse for creosote even when seasoned? Like, is pine in a wood stove a guaranteed clog in a few months, or is that overblown?
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henry1012mo ago
Yeah, and I bet @troyp37 is right about the wood, but my flue cleaning skills are so bad I'd probably clog it with dry oak.
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