Gas fire flue cover

[daginge]

Is there a potential for trouble if I drill a hole in a flue plate to see if it has water lying on it? My gas fire has been removed and the remaining fireplace hole covered with a painting, however I can hear water dripping onto the flue plate when it rains. I have had a roofer examine the roof and chimney and carry out some minor repairs, cracked ridge and other tiles also some repointing of the chimney. He says that the flashing is in order around the chimney and that there doesn't appear to be a further visible problem. The water is obviously coming from somewhere and leeching out through the chimney breast. This I believe prevented us from selling our property last year. Any advice or suggestions at all would be much appreciated.

[gucciman]

what do you mean by flue plate? do you mean you had a back boiler with a flue liner down your chimney and theres a metal square clamping plate just inside the chimney above the fireplace that holds the flue liner in place?

[daginge]

G
We had a gas fire that we never used, well maybe 3 times in the 7 years we've lived at this address, so we took it out to inspect a damp patch on the chimney breast , binned it and covered the resulting hole with a printed canvas. We had repairs to the roof carried out but the damp has got worse instead of better and I am now wondering if there is water lying on the "Clamping Plate" and that is what is causing the damp.
Again, any help is much appreciated as I am stuck and also loath to call the roofer out again as he has actually been twice. I know he should sort the problem he has been paid for but what if he has and can't do any more because the water is already there? If you get me?

[gasman]

If the Flue is now redundant then there is no problem of you drilling test holes in the clamping plate. it may well be sitting water that is causing the damp to appear. It may also be be that the terminal has not been capped so rain water enters the now unused flue and will not evaporate. check to see if the flue has been capped and also properly ventilated to prevent moisture occouring, you're roofer should be able to tell you over the phone if he has done this or not but it sounds like he has not and only done half a job.

[daginge]

Gasman
There is a cap thingy on the top of the liner, I can see it from ground level and the inside of the flue liner itself is dry and dusty so I rightly or not assume that the water is coming down the outside of the liner somehow?