Barometer in the storm

[tagh]

Never seen the barometer so low!

[L Austin France]

Never seen the barometer so low!

Nor the thermometer. Minus umpteen C is mighty cold.

[tagh]

Stand on your head ad lean over, it is ok then! Dunno why the foto came out like that when posted.

[Blaze]

We went down to 963 near Saint Malo. Apparently Plymouth went down to 953 (where the eye of the storm went).
Looking at old barograph records, whilst this is the lowest we've ever had, the pattern is very similar every year at this time.

[Headers]

We have been unable to get our log burner going for the past 3 days. Well not strictly true, we light it, the smoke pours out into the house, we open all the windows.
The chimney was swept in July. I now conclude this was too early and something must have taken up residence but when I talked to our chimney people they said that it is possible that the really low pressure has affected it.
I’m not convinced but we won’t try and light it again until the pressure comes up. We have a tiny altimeter / barometer which shows 29 for the pressure which is really low. It’s supposed to rise on Sunday. Brr brrr brrr till then.

[Polarengineer]

Headers, the downdraft you are experiencing can be cause by inverse temperature. If your room is colder than the outside temperature it becomes difficult to get the fire draft to go up the chimney. To get he fire lit, you need a smoke free source of heat. A gas poker (or similar) blast up the chimney is require to warm up the stack and start the updraft

[Bayleaf]

The chimney was swept in July. I now conclude this was too early and something must have taken up residence but when I talked to our chimney people they said that it is possible that the really low pressure has affected it.

I would definitely get it checked for blockages if I were you.

[Headers]

The chimney was swept in July. I now conclude this was too early and something must have taken up residence but when I talked to our chimney people they said that it is possible that the really low pressure has affected it.

I would definitely get it checked for blockages if I were you.

I am lighting the fire again when the BP goes up partly to prove to the chimney people that they need to come out and redo the flue sweep. We believe there s a build up of tar at the very top which they didn’t shift when they did it in July. Learning point for us, don’t let them sweep until October next year and don’t leave it so long before doing a trial fire light.

[Loup-garou]

Polarengineer does have a point though.

Very occasionally one of our burners does not draw and I stick a lighted blowtorch into it for about 3 minutes.

[Blaze]

Polarengineer does have a point though.
Very occasionally one of our burners does not draw and I stick a lighted blowtorch into it for about 3 minutes.

Totally agree, ideally you need to warm the flue. We put a long bit of newspaper up the chimney and light it - same principle as the blowtorch. I forgot the other day and ended up with smoke oozing out of every crack. We think the flue isn't quite high enough as it's in the lee of a chimney stack so if the wind is in a certain direction, it doesn't draw as well.