Hi Guys,
You all seem to have the answers for everything!!! My fireplace lets smoke inside the house.(not alot, but enough to rain havic). I am sending of few pictures. Maybe this can help you solve my problem.
please note: When I light the fire it eventually dies out and smokes, I open the vents on the door to feed the fire and it does not help. Yes I open a window Too.
Thank you and PLEASE HELP (the wifes getting antsie)
LOU CARABASI
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Replies
One of the first things you need to learn to do is resize pics . They wont open them that big.
Tim
I think I'd have a chimney sweep look at it first. It could be a build-up of soot, or critters making a home in there.
A chimney sweep will be reasonably priced and will offer you piece of mind as to the condition of your chimney.
Edited 11/29/2006 2:17 pm by doorboy
Take off the flue cap, loop a rope thru an old axe head if ya got one and drop it down, see if there is an obstruction (old critter nest). If so, you may be able to get it loose, get the gear to sweep it out yourself or bring in the pros. If there is no obstruction, call in an experienced chimney mason. Have you considered putting in an insert with a liner?
BTW, the cable guy who ran the wire over your shutter should be hunted down and shot.
You may wanna block & seal the fireplace opening to the room b4 heaving that ax head down the chimney, ya know?
With the wife's favourite white linens ...
Please, they came out last super bowl right before the came and ran a new line. It rained like an sob. The HDTV works fine!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll fix it in the spring
p.s. You sound like the wife.
Thanx, Lou
My guess is height of chimney or clogged which Im leaning on the first.
If its not clogged a cheap test is to set a flue tile on top of the existing and build a fire with out the the flue cap on a calm day.
Tim
Tim, I dont understand what you mean. Can you explain how to test again
Thank you, Lou C
Sure .
Go buy a flue tile the same diameter thats sticking out your chimney.
On a calm day with no wind , set the flue tile directly over the existing tile with out the presence of the flue cap and start a fire. The flue tile is heavy enough , plus it has enough base to sit up there by its self.
Code says you must have 3 ft above the highest point of your roof and you have 1. I happen to have 4 ft on mine and its a drawing sob. I believe the chimney in your house never drafted well. With the additional flue tile , you will be at a good height.
For sh^ts and giggles you could use some foil tape on the temporary joint .
That would definately seal off any air in the joint and might make you feel better about the flue tile not falling off which it wont with out the tape but doesnt cost much for that insurance. Id hate for you to have a rumbling flue fire with a loose flue tile. So I guess Id feel better too.
Tim
First of all I think that is meant for firewood not candles ;-)
that is meant for firewood not candles
Depends, don't it? On whether those are IRC or CABO rated candles <g> . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Get serious guys!!! I have to get this thing working soon!!!!!!
The candles look nice!!!! (or not) The wife likes it for now, Plus it buys me more time.
-Lou
Candles do look nice.
Get serious guys!!! I have to get this thing working soon!!!!!!
Oh, you're still new--this, occasionally, is as serious as we take things, sometimes.
That looks like a new front, is it jsut a front, or an entire firebox unit?
That damper looks suspiciously small--like a gas-only sized opening not modified to "wood or gas" dimensions (not that I've found where somebody listened to the sage wisdom of a big box employee or anything <sigh>).
Is your unit drawing outside air for combustion, or inside air?
I'm in this reply, so I can't go back to the original post--is the problem smoke in the house, or outside, that is the issue. Outside smoke is often an issue not of the exhaust of combustion products so much as condensing humidity becoming fog/clouds (that's because the weather "for a fire"--versus just for heat-- often contributes to that).
If it's smoking in the house until the flue warms, then it could be (I'm just a guess on the internet, after all) that the proportions of the chimney, height & flue area, are not matched to the firebox/insert dimensions. That gets you back to asking a local sweep, who might could tell you all you need is a smaller flue (more acceleration); or outside air for combustion, or some such.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
inadequate make up air and up air flow..
the damper is a choke point...
fire is burning too cold..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Capnmac, smokes coming in the house, cumbustion air is coming from inside the house.
Thanx, Lou
Hey Lou,
Did you "warm" the flue before you lit the fire. If not, it will definately not draw the smoke up and out the flue the right way.
If I misinterpreted your question, I apologize
yes, I did warm the flue. I've had fireplaces my entire life!!!
Its driving me crazy, maybe there are cracks and this things sucking air.
Thanx, Lou
I gave a try at looking at your photo. The smallest file was ten minutes to get a third of it, so I gave up. Make them a tenth of that size so the bandwidth can handle it. A lot of us are on dial up connections
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I will resize the pics, Sorry bout that.
Thanx, Lou
How high is that chimmey?
It looks like it might only be 2ft over the peak, if that much.
Don't remember the clearance, but that does not seem like much.
The height is around one foot above the ridge?
-Lou
add a stack to put it 2' or more above the ridge..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
OK lOu, now that I have seen pictures, I think I know what your problem is.What's the answer worth to ya?just kidding.first thing, the chimney is not high enough, but that would only be a problem on days when you have a low pressure system or the wind is from the right direction in some locales.The greater problem is that this is not a fireplace you are showing us. It is an insert. There are several things that can be wrong with an insert installation...
one is that the flue of the original chimney is sized too large for it. An inser toperates much like a wood stove and requires far less air than a fully open fronted frireplace. Put a unit requiring a 6" flue into a 12x12" flue and it will not draw well because it does not release enough exhaust air and heat to get the larger column of air above it moving. A temporary fix for that problem is to get a rip roaring fir of paper, cardboard, and kindling going to heat up the chimney at first, before tempering the fire for a longer burn. Without doing this, the mass of masonry is cooling the exhaust air faster than it is rising, and the cooled exhaust wants to fall again before clearing the top. The long term fix is to have a liner connected that will keep a proper size all the way up.Another possible problem is not one I can confirm with the three photos thus far. The type of insert you have shouild be connected to the old masonry flue via direct connect so no smoke is permitted to escape into the house. This is a difficult connection to do, and I would guess that a good 40% of trhese were not done right. if this is an older unit, it couled also have a rusted connector that is spilling exhaust gasses into the house. This is much more than an inconvenience, it is downright dangerous as it could be adding lethal quantities of carbon mopnoxide into your living environment.The third thing that comes to mind is that if this has been installed and used for a long time, there could be a buildup of creosote in the flue reducing the hole to almost nothing. That is an extreme case, but I have seen people manage to gum up a flue to finger sized openning in as little as a couple of months by burning green wood slowly.Finally, the interior design of this unit is not an efficient one. It is cheaply built with no smoke rise space allowed. There is a totally flat top except for the flue damper hole. it should be tapered up to that flue or have a smoke flap in the front at the least. I would expect it to smoke moderately at most times just due to the design of the box. do not use the fan until the whole unit and flue are well warmed up.There is my free advice on the smoke problem.
You are on your own with your wife. Good luck on both counts.;)
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Try again at this size:
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
By the look/age of the stove, I'd bet that your seals aroung the door and glass are shot.
Also, There are alot of these types of stoves that vent to the chimney without any pipe and they will backdraft back into the house, specially if the fire starts to cool down, or at the start when the chimney doesn't have enough heat to draw the smoke up and out.
I'd look into both of these, along with the other suggestion about a blockage.
Getting a sweep to check for obstructions and to advise on technical issues is a good way to start.
The suggestions that your chimney needs pre-warming to start the updraft (such as provided by burning wadded up newspapers - hold the first flaming wad up to the flue opening) are excellent.
You have an exterior brick chimney, which is a huge cold sink, and detrimental to the start of a good updraft, or the maintenance of an updraft if the fire is allowed to get too small. A fire set in a cold fireplace and flue will easily stall out as is happening to you.
Lou I'm with hartman,
The top of the chimney is supposed to be a minimum of 3 foot over the highest point. Per building code.
First I'd knock out the critters as suggested. (although the fireplace looks new)
Warm the flue with a section of the newspaperlit and held high. and see if it draws. a lit match outside the doors would tell you.
Last step would be adding on a section of flue to the top and recapping it.
Before that think of this. Doors are either open all the way or closed. If you have a half open setup the bifold of the doors will pull smoke into the room. It'd be obvious but think of that.
Last thought is the damper. check and see it operates fully. If it is one of the energy efficient top-of-the-flue dampers it could be messed up and not opening properly. Even a standard top-of-the-firebox damper could be misadjusted so it doesn't open fully and draw well or you could have something on the smoke shelf behind the damper. (I once had a duck fall down my chimney as well as a blackbird flew in there too.)
Happy hunting. PS the duck tasted foul. I guess it is important to clean them before you cook em.
Fires draw better,less smoke in room, when it is cold outside. Higher temp differential to make hot air rise.