It seems like every time I start a fire in the fireplace it starts smoking up the room after a short while. I had a hard time getting this one started tonight and suddenly it’s really smoky in here. And yes, the flu (sp) is open. I checked that first thing.
My husband has looked up the chimney and doesn’t see anything, and we’ve done the chimney cleaning log and such. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong, but I’m about to pour water on this fire I’ve got here.
Santa?
D0 you have a cap on the chimney? If not, my guess is chimney swift nests.
PS, it’s flue, unless it involves aches, fever, and sore throat.
No cap, we have had many successful fires this winter. I don’t know why they are suddenly doing this. Maybe we have bad wood?
If the air in the chimney is cold, it will create an inversion layer and keep the not-quite-hot-yet air from rising. The temperature gradient is not large enough to make the density difference significant to force the warm air up the flue. As you light the fire, try putting a burning piece of paper (1/2 a newspaper page should suffice) at the opening. If you kinda crumple it up so it’s about a foot long, and about an inch diameter, it should give the extra kick you need to get the smoke flowing up and out, instead of pouring in (I bet it looks like its pouring in, upside down, from the top edge of the fireplace opening?)
No, it wasn’t pouring in or the whole room would be cloudy. It was going for about an hour (it takes me awhile to get a fire going) and then just as the log was really catching it seemed to get really smoky in here.
I spread out the coals and now it’s cooling down. Screw it. Now I’ve got a headache and feel nauseous from the smoke. Wah. I had other plans for that fire tonight. :mad:
Hey! That happened to me the last couple times I have lit a fire. My whole apartment was full of smoke and it took a week or two to get the smell to go away. It never happened last year; do you think that the newspaper trick would work? I am avoiding my fireplace because I don’t want to have to deal with smelling like a campfire.
My parents had an exhaust fan in the attic, and it had to be turned off if the wood stove was in use. It drew in air through the wood stove’s flue pipe under the right conditions, and badly smoked up the house one night. We had to piant the walls and have somebody deep clean the furniture and rugs. A well sealed house and a fan drawing air could be pulling in air through the flue if it’s open. Somtimes a wind from a certain direction and speed can cause the chimney to fail to draw.
I don’t know an exact cause, but for whatever reason, you’re not getting enough draft through the chimney. It might be worth $150 to have it swept and inspected.
My wood burner backs up like that the first few minutes after lighting; once it gets going, the draft is strong enough that I have to make sure no cats are nearby when I open the door to fiddle with the fire.
Afterthought: NEVER build a roaring fire, and then throw on one of those chimney sweep logs. I got called to a fire a month ago when a moron did that, and nearly burned his house down after the chimney soot caught. Him-> :smack:
Ditto.
My friend lost his home (and pets) due to an uninspected chimney. It’s worth the $50-$80 to have it checked out.
I agree with all the above analyses, especially Harmonious Discord. Your furnace may also be causing that problem. When the flue is closed, your furnace may be drawing in outside air from cracks and crevices around doors and windows and is not particularly noticeable. When the flue is open, it becomes very easy for the furnace to draw in the outside air through the chimney. Was your furnace on when you noticed the smoke? If it is, then you’ll have to make sure to turn it off before you start the fire.
FWIW: I have electric baseboard heat as my primary, and a wood burner as the backup. Therefore, no backdraft from a running furnace.
My previous house had a gas fireplace. I had to shut off the furnace and crack a window whenever we lit it, or air would draft DOWN the bathroom exhaust fan and through the dog door. If the furnace tried to run at the same time, the dog door would open to 45[sup]o[/sup]. I’ll concur with cantata.
The last child they sent up there to sweep the chimney is stuck?
In that case, it sounds like the fire just wasn’t hot enough, and the log wasn’t combusting completely. Black smoke is a sign of incomplete combustion, and the blacker it is, the less completely it was combusted. Perhaps you can try with smaller pieces of wood, and get it going really good, before you put a log on.
I use several pages of crumpled newspaper and recommend you do do the same. A strong wind outdoors can complicate your efforts to get the proper airflow going up your chimney. Using more newspaper and small pieces of wood for starting your fire is the way to go.
You can get your own chimney-cleaning tool for US$80.00, or borrow one from a good neighbor like I do!
Provided you’re not scared sh%tless by the idea of being that far up in the air… :eek:
It smells awful in here today.
I will have my husband read your replies and see what he says. Maybe he can fix it.
With the mid-winter sudden shift, it’s probably not swifts. If you don’t have a cap, though, there are other wildlife (raccoons, opossums, etc.) that may have foolishly gotten in there, recently. If so, they’re probably dead on the smoke shelf just above the fireplace. That area needs to be clear, or it won’t draft right.