What's Included

Fitting a top damper to your Kolokee chimney

Rain protection while the damper is open

Not every top damper is a rain cap. The Lyemance listing points out that its original damper does not extend above the flue and offers no rain protection when the damper is open, and it sells an optional cap with a screen for that purpose. Other designs build a cap into the damper.

Where a rain cap is installed, Florida's residential code (section R1003.9.3) wants the net free area beneath it to be four times the flue outlet's net free area or more. For your Kolokee chimney we explain whether the proposed damper covers the flue when open and price a cap separately if it does not.

Screens that pair with a top damper

Some top dampers are paired with a screened cap. If that cap doubles as a spark arrestor on a masonry chimney, Florida's residential code, in R1003.9.2, sets its free area at four or more times the flue outlet and keeps any sphere over 1/2 inch from passing through the mesh.

A screen also keeps birds and larger debris out while the lid is open. Our team matches the screen and cap to the damper and the flue on your Kolokee chimney, so the parts work together and the lid can still open fully.

Closing the air path through an idle chimney

An open or leaky damper leaves a path between the room and the outdoors. Warm air rises out of the flue, and at other times outside air sinks down it, bringing the smell of the chimney with it. A top damper that seals at the top closes that path whenever the fireplace is not in use.

Our team tests how well the existing damper in your Kolokee fireplace closes before recommending a replacement. If it still seals, you keep it. If it does not, the top damper's gasket gives the fireplace a proper closed position again.

Knowing open from closed

With a throat damper, the lever near the opening usually shows whether it is open. With a top damper the lid is out of sight, so the handle and chain do that job. On the Lyemance design, the handle locked in its bracket holds the damper closed, and releasing it lets the lid open.

Our team walks you through the positions on the damper fitted in your Kolokee fireplace and writes them into the record of the work, so anyone using the fireplace can check before lighting it.