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Heating, Lighting, and Refrigeration: Hence

Usually the more crooked the flue the better the draught. A straight funnel does not usually draw well. To Cure a Smoky Chimney.-First note the cause. Either too much air is admitted below, or the draught is insufficient, or the wind blows down into the chimney from above. Hence, according to circumstances, contract the draught by narrowing the entrance to the grate or fireplace, or increase the height or crookedness of the flue and shaft, or place on the top of the chimney a wind shield or turn cap, which will revolve with the wind in such a way as to prevent the gusts from blowing down the chimney.

The draught is caused by the fact that hot air rises and tends to create a vacuum, which by suction draws cold air after it. Hence, anything that chills the column of air in the chimney tends to check the draught.

Therefore avoid admitting, across the top of the fire in a grate or fireplace, enough cold air to cool the flue. The fire should be located in such relation to the flue that the rising current of hot air will have the right of way and tend to fill the flue, to the exclusion of the cold air of the room; thus the latter will be sucked up through the fire itself, assisting the combustion and strengthening the draught.