The previous owners had chimney guys install a new damper and chimney cap. The damper is near the top of the chimney. Now that it is finally cold in the northeast, I wanted to start a fire on a really cold night but the damper wont open. I know I tested this a few times successfully after we moved in. A day or two later (a little warmer day) after trying to start a fire, the damper opened. I have a feeling that there was moisture that fell down the chimney and sat on top of the damper. When it got really cold, the moisture froze which prevented me from opening the damper. Shouldn't the cap prevent moisture from falling into my chimney and possibly freezing my damper? Is my assumption correct or could it be something else? What could we do to prevent it from freezing if that is the problem? Is there such a thing as a damper cap?

I recently purchased a new gas fireplace (Hearthrite) with a mechanical control. It has a thermostat control valve (SIT 545) with a remote thermostat bulb. The bulb is just sort of sitting in the bottom of the unit underneath the firebox, but that does not seem like a useful location to me. The manual has no info about setting up this thermostat. The bulb has a copper connection (tube? wire?) that is about 48" long. As received, it is just coiled up at the bottom. It seems to me that this should be located outside the box where it can measure the room's ambient air temperature. Do I understand the principle of operation correctly? Anybody have any experience or advice about where to locate this thermostat bulb? Rick