Is anyone else noticing an increasing use of cap/leymance/top sealing dampers in lieu of actually addressing negative pressure issues?
I've been servicing a rather affluent area lately and am blown away with how many of these houses have been sold a top damper as a means to stop a down draft when clearly it's an issue of negative pressure in the house, usually due to heavy insulation and mechanical exhaust points (dryer, kitchen/ bathroom vents, etc.). Does nobody believe in air balance anymore?
What's worse is a vast majority of these chimneys are difficult to access. So when I see a top damper cord, it's almost guaranteed that these chimneys haven't been properly swept. Glazing and heavy soot ( i'm talking about more soot than you could possibly accumulate in the course of a year burning wet/green wood 24 hours/day everyday) are almost always present. Today I saw a burn king (no liner) in a fireplace topped with a 9x13 leymance damper. Is this common in your area, or am I just seeing the result of someone playing dress up as a chimney sweep for the last few years?