Expert: James Ball - 2/7/2011

Question
Last week a chimney repairman replaced our old metal damper with a chain pulley damper. He also installed rain caps on top of our chimney. We used the fireplace and pulled the chain shut when the fire was done, and everything seemed to work fine.  A week later, the pulley would not open.  We got over a foot of snow and it looks as though the top of the chimney was buried under quite alot of snow.  Would that account for the damper not opening?

Answer
Hello Marylou,  it does sound like it is snowed closed, I have never heard of a "chain pulley damper" could it be that it just has a chain hanging in the firebox and if so try yanking it a few times it might open, if not call the sweep back to see what is wrong.
James