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Show Escape Up the Chimney It is not unusual to find a gap of an inch or wider in a fireplace whose damper is closed. This can create a major air leak when the fireplace fire-place is not in use, because the chimney itself encourages encour-ages a strong flow of air. One way to stop the leak is to stuff the gap with insulation, insu-lation, or, if it is too large to insulate, to cover it with a board. The stuffing or covering cover-ing obviously must be removed before the fireplace is used. In a cold climate, you can plug the damper and save $45 a year with electric resistance heat, $20 with gas heat, and $30 with oil heat, depending on where you set the thermostat thermo-stat and the size of the gap. |