Expert: James Ball - 4/14/2009

Question
Hello James
My brick fireplace has a pullchain operated damper.  The pass through for the chain is about 18 inches above the top of my air tight insert.  The damper usually causes tension on the chain, but now the damper is open too far and will not fall back to a normal position.  Bolted inside the fireplace above the top of the insert is a metal plate that holds the flue pipe and completely seals the chimney and blocks access to the damper.  Is there any way to restore the damper to an operable state?

Thanks for considering my problem.  Have a grest day.

Cheers,    Tom

Answer
Hello Tom, with out seeing it I can not tell what you have (most inserts have their own damper built in and you remove all other dampers)
I would have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have they should be able to help.
James