Although Chicago is known as the Windy City, it is in fact less windy than many other major American cities. Average wind speeds range from 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) in late summer to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) in spring months.
A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors.
Once you have primed the flue, you can light the fire. If you have a severe cold-chimney problem, and the newspaper trick doesn't seem to be working, try leaving the damper open for half an hour or so, allowing heated room air to gradually reverse the flow. Yeah, that's a lot of cold air coming down.nce you have primed the flue, you can light the fire. If you have a severe cold-chimney problem, and the newspaper trick doesn't seem to be working, try leaving the damper open for half an hour or so, allowing heated room air to gradually reverse the flow. Yeah, that's a lot of cold air coming down.