Cowls
 

OK, so, many people ask me why their cowl is not suitable for their fuel effect gas fire, when they have been told by the builders merchants, when they bought it, that it was!

Well, here is the criteria, hopefully in an easy to understand form!

If the cowl has a top, then the free area for the fumes to get out at the sides, has to be TWICE the cross sectional area of the chimney....... ok....not that easy to understand! so










                         Good Cowl                                            Not Good Cowl

ALSO........pot inserts are not allowed. Difficult to see in the pictures, but the one on the left has a diameter of 9 inches, the same as the chimney, the one on the right is designed to sit inside the existing pot thereby closing the opening down to about 5 inches.

Here are some examples of good cowls:













And here are some examples of NOT good cowls:








This next type of cowl is ONLY suitable for fires that incorporate a draught diverter, such as radiant gas fires and some HE gas fires.








And this next cowl can be used on a gas fire ONLY if the flue is lined all the way up and must be a minimum of 125mm diameter. They can only be used with a Class 2 fire and must not be used with a Class 1 fire (refer to manufacturers literature).








Hope this helps.

Finally.... some of my favorite Chimney pots!