Fireplace?

[Steely]

When you light the fireplace,should there be any trace of wood smoke smell?I watch the smoke go up the chimney but the house smells like wood smoke.

[morrowsmowers]

Is the damper fully opened? Has the chimney been cleaned and inspected recently. Could be leaking smoke back inside the wall. Do you have a window open to allow a flow of fresh air into the house and up the chimney?

Haven't had a fireplace for years but they are pretty to watch. Not great for heating the house. I wish we had a wood stove now.

Ken in Glassboro, NJ

[moopups]

Smoke and odor are two separate items, smoke is a physically present item, odor is at a molecular structure level. Not the same weight or density. Of course they are parallel in the presence of both, but they are not the same thing. There is no currant way to separate such.

[Steely]

Originally Posted by moopups

Smoke and odor are two separate items, smoke is a physically present item, odor is at a molecular structure level. Not the same weight or density. Of course they are parallel in the presence of both, but they are not the same thing. There is no currant way to separate such.

Wha???

[Steely]

Originally Posted by morrowsmowers

Is the damper fully opened? Has the chimney been cleaned and inspected recently. Could be leaking smoke back inside the wall. Do you have a window open to allow a flow of fresh air into the house and up the chimney?

Haven't had a fireplace for years but they are pretty to watch. Not great for heating the house. I wish we had a wood stove now.

Ken in Glassboro, NJ

Yes,we have cleaned the chimney,filled all the spaces in the firebrick.We even added two more feet to the chimney to give it more air to draft out.Should I have to leave a window open?

They are nice and warm when sitting right in front of it.We had a wood stove in our previous home.It was messy but I've never felt such warm comfortable heat.

[Cabin Fever]

You should start by first starting the draft by burning a piece on rolled up newspaper placed as near to the top of the fireplace/stove as possible. If you do not get a draft started this way, the fireplace/stove will down draft into the house when getting the fire started.

If your fireplace/stove does not use an outside source of air for combustion, leave a nearby window cracked opened...at least when starting the fire. Many homes are under a slight negative pressure (ie, vaccum) when all the windows are closed. This condition can cause a slight downdraft...and thus, smoke in the house....when starting a fire.

Another thing you could be experiencing. The air in your home is constantly being exchanged (or replenished) with outside air whether you have a window open or not. If the outside air has an aroma of woodsmoke, the inside air may smell like smoke too.

[BlueFlames]

Originally Posted by Steely

When you light the fireplace,should there be any trace of wood smoke smell?I watch the smoke go up the chimney but the house smells like wood smoke.

I've never been able to keep mine from putting some smoke into the house on occasion, especially if the wind is blowing hard outside.

I keep the fire to the back of the fireplace so the smoke has more chance of making it up the chimney before it can sneak out of the fireplace into the room.


We have a blower kit on the fireplace insert so we do get a fair amount of heat from it, although a woodstove would do better. I bought a woodstove, but there isn't room for it, so unless TSHTF it will stay out in the garage.

We really enjoy reading by the fireplace or just kinda snuggling on the sofa in front of it.......

[tamsam]

My exprence with a fire place was it heated the room it was in really well but the rest of the house was chilly. I even had a duct ran in the ceiling above the fireplace to the back of the house with a blower in the line. Helped some but still pulled the heat from the rest of the house. If it were me I would put a good quality insert in so you can still enjoy the fire and make it worth while. Sam