"Summerizing" the flue?

[120inna55]

Since I have such easy access to my roof and chimney, initially I thought that here in a couple months when I stop using the stove, I should remove the rain cap and somehow obstruct the chimney opening to keep out birds and critters. I thought maybe thick plastic sheeting held in place by duct tape or bungee cords. Then, it occurred to me that ventilation may be necessary to avoid moisture collection. I will certainly give it a good cleaning at the end of the burn season as I understand stagnant ,old, soggy creosote promotes corrosion.

As far as a big piece of plastic covering the top of the chimney being an eyesore, that's not an issue. Due to the canopy of trees around my home, you can't see the chimney unless you climb up on the roof. If you stand far enough back away from the house to have the correct angle to view the chimney, the trees obstruct your view. When you get close enough to the house to get out of the canopy, the eaves of the roof obstruct your view.

So, how do you guys "summerize" your flue?

 

[Big Al]

I don't, but in never hurts to check for bird nests before the first burn of the season. I will give it a sweep this spring after the last fire.

 

[tcassavaugh]

not sure about the rest, but i just clean it when I'm done and its ready for next year, after visual inspection of course.

cass

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We've never had a bird problem but have had yellow jackets who like to build nests in the summer months. If you want to cover, I'd suggest going to the hardware and buying a small piece of hardware cloth to lay across the top of the chimney. It is cheap and would not cause a big problem if you happened to forget it in the fall before starting your fires then. You can cut it a bit larger than necessary and then just bend it down and that is all it would take to hold it in place.

 

[firefighterjake]

Never did anything to the chimney come Spring time other than do a final sweep and thorough cleaning of the stove pipe and stove several days to weeks after the last fire has gone out . . . so far, so good . . . I do however give the set up a quick check before start up in the Fall to make sure no critters are living in the pipe.