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Chimney Pots
Decorative chimney pots also extend the chimney height and may improve draft

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Chimney pots & decorative tops:

This article describes chimney pots: the decorative and also functional topmost extension of (usually) masonry chimneys and flues. The page top photo illustrates a complex of 18 close-set chimney pots and chimney tops on a London (England) building.

This article series discusses chimney cap & crown types, choices, & defects, and we cite pertinent chimney top cap / crown building codes & standards for fire and other safety concerns.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Decorative Chimney Pots also Extend Chimney Height

Decorative chimney pots in Boston MA (C) Daniel Friedman Decorative chimney rain caps / crowns (C) Carson Dunlop Associates

As we defined at CHIMNEY CAP & CROWN DEFINITIONS, the term "chimney pot" is used to describe a decorative rain cap assembly on the top of a chimney, covering its flue and in some cases covering both the flue itself and the entire chimney top, including the chimney flue and chimney cap/crown. Typically the chimney pot also adds height to the top of the chimney flue and it may improve chimney performance as well.

Our photo (above left) of a Boston Massachusetts chimney top and Carson Dunlop Associates' sketch at above right illustrates a typical chimney pot design, a decorative treatment used at the top of (usually masonry) chimneys.

A chimney pot is often cast of concrete or constructed of fired clay in a decorative design as we illustrate further below.

What is not clear in the Carson Dunlop sketch but what you will see in our photographs below, is that most decorative chimney tops, caps, or crown assemblies cover the flue and include rain cap protection as part of their design.

Also see Ceramic Roofware in our references section at the end of this article. [24]

Decorative chimney pots atop the Gaudi apartments, Barcelona (C) Daniel Friedman Birds atop a chimney pot in Oxford in the U.K. (C) Daniel Friedman

From the ground we cannot ascertain the condition of the rain cap, actual flue vent opening, nor how well the chimney crown/cap is sealed around this pair of metal chimney extensions.

At above right, magpies are inspecting the chimney pots atop a chimney at Somerville College in Oxford, U.K. Or maybe they were warming themselves in the chilly morning air or perhaps just enjoying their commanding view of Somerville College.

Our photos (above left and below left) of decorative custom-cast concrete chimney pots or decorative chimney crowns (in some people's usage) illustrates the combination of rain-cap and complete chimney flue and crown covering offered by chimney pots designed by Gaudi and found on the top of the Gaudi apartment house in Barcelona, Spain.

Decorative chimney tops at the Gaudi Apartment building in Barcelona (C) Daniel Friedman

Those "eye' shaped openings visible in these decorative chimney crown assemblies are the actual vents, while a domed top offers rain protection for the chimney flue. The decorative chimney top design used here overhangs the entire chimney side, providing good drip-edge protection for the chimney top and sides. - Photos ©DJF.

Decorative chimney pots / crowns / caps in Boston MA (C) Daniel Friedman Chimney pots on a Maine home (C) Daniel Friedman

The chimney pots at above left, located on a Boston MA building, illustrate a crowded, possibly multi-flue chimney serving multiple apartments in a building. These chimney tops and pots are touching, crowded, some not even vertical, raising a several worries:

Either of these may in turn lead to unsafe chimney flues.

At above right are more distantly-spaced chimnneys and chimney pots on a home in Maine.

Below is a simple chimney pot installed on a New York home in order to improve chimney draft.

Chimney pot addition to an existing masonry chimney © D Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Also see CHIMNEY HEIGHT EXTENSIONS for other methods to extend the height of a too-short chimney.

Question:

(Dec 3, 2014) Tony said:
We installed a triple walled metal chimney 12'run of pipe straight up from the top of our woodstove to 3' above the roof line. We burn our stove almost constantly at 250F-400F.

We don't see any creosote buildup when inspecting and cleaning the chimney, but are plagued by soot collection in the top 3'-5' of the chimney.

There is no chase surrounding the exposed section of the chimney, would an insulated chase eliminate this problem? Or are there other solutions? I'm getting too old to keep climbing up on the roof all winter.

Reply:

Tony I'm not confident I can safely diagnose and recommend for this concern. Light soot from a woodstove at a chimney top may be ok but if soot blocks the cap, screen or flue there are indeed safety hazards.

I agree that depending on the chimney height, enclosing the flue increases its temperature - but in wood burning I'm not sure what that does to soot at the cap.
I would feel that you are safest getting onsite advice from a certified chimney sweep. Do keep us posted.

Question:

(Feb 2, 2015) Eva said:
Do you need licence to produce Chimney caps in nyc?

Reply:

I'm not sure Eva, if you need a special license to produce chimney caps but selling them would be another question: certainly you'd need to get your chimney caps listed by UL or another accepted authority before they'd be code-approved and thus legal to install.

Question:

30 March 2015 chris said:
what is the minimum clearance between the top of the flue liner and the bottom of the chimney cap

Reply:

Chris this question was answered just below in a reply to ANON - thanks for asking, I'll also add that text to the article above.


...

Continue reading at CHIMNEY SHROUDS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Chimney Top Cap, Crown, Rain Cap Articles

Suggested citation for this web page

CHIMNEY POTS & DECORATIVE TOPS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to CHIMNEYS & FLUES

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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.



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