A heat exchanger for installation on the top of a chimney of a building includes a housing having a lower end receiving the top of the chimney and an upper end with openings permitting the escape of effluent from the chimney and a heat exchanger assembly disposed in the housing including a central chamber and a spirally arranged duct network defining an effluent spiral path between the top of the chimney and the central chamber and a fresh air spiral path between an inlet disposed at the lower end of the housing and the central chamber, the effluent and fresh air spiral paths being in heat exchange relationship such that air passing through the fresh air spiral path is heated by hot effluent gases passing upward through the chimney and the effluent spiral path for use in heating the building. A pollution trap can be disposed in the central chamber of the heat exchanger assembly for removing pollutants from the effluent, the pollution trap including a rotating cage carrying pumice stones for absorbing pollutants from the effluent with the surface of the pumice gradually ground off to reveal fresh stone as the cage rotates.