Expert: James Ball - 10/24/2010

Question
We purcahes a house that was built in the 1950,s
It has a heatilator fireplace - no fan system. The damper handle is intact but must be missing something. The handle can only be placed all the way open or all the closed.Do you know what might be missing ? The handle is bolted that has a small spring . I am thnking it has to have had sometype of "ratching" /locking  system to allow it to stay in different open positions
Thank You  

Answer
Hello Scott, most Heatilators are rusted shut or open, your might need to be tightened, 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. you might need a new top mount damper to replace the old one.
Hope this helps
James