Fireplace Damper Instructions

Set the damper in the fully open position as you start a fire in your fireplace. If you do not open the damper completely while lighting a fire, you will be closing the chimney flue and all of the smoke from the fire will flow into your home.

Monitor the way the fire behaves in the first few minutes after lighting it, particularly watching what the smoke does. You want the smoke to travel straight up the chimney and not into the room. As long as you keep the damper completely open, this should occur.

Close the damper slightly after the fire is burning strongly. Watch to see what the fire and smoke do as you begin closing the damper. Continue closing the damper just until the point where you notice the smoke starting to shift from traveling up the chimney and moving into the room. At this point, stop closing the damper and open the damper back up a small amount so the smoke moves back up the chimney again.

Close the doors on the fireplace, if possible, to help your fire burn more efficiently.

Monitor the fire and smoke at all times while you use the fireplace and adjust the damper accordingly. If smoke begins to back up into the room, you must open the damper more.

Keep the damper open as long as embers burn in the fireplace. When you allow the fire to burn down and die, do not close the damper until the fire goes out completely. Keep the damper completely closed when you are not using the fireplace to keep cold air from entering your home.