Fireplace smoke in the house

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Hey ya'll,
Like the title say's I got smoke in the house everytime we have a fire in the fireplace. And before you ask, Yes the flue is wide open. We do have heater on at the same time. There's a return vent approximatly 25' from the fireplace. My theory is we're pulling smoke in while the heater is running. But what doesn't make sense to me is we can't have a fire while the heater is on? Do we need to purchase a chimmeny exhaust fan (Big$$$$$$). Any thought's on this would be appreciated.
Thanks'.

 

[74monster]

Have you cleaned your chimney lately? If so try shuting off the heater until the fire is lit and is drawing up . Then turn on the heater. Had the same problem this morning on our wood stove.

 

[surfpig]

Hey ya'll,
Like the title say's I got smoke in the house everytime we have a fire in the fireplace. And before you ask, Yes the flue is wide open. We do have heater on at the same time. There's a return vent approximatly 25' from the fireplace. My theory is we're pulling smoke in while the heater is running. But what doesn't make sense to me is we can't have a fire while the heater is on? Do we need to purchase a chimmeny exhaust fan (Big$$$$$$). Any thought's on this would be appreciated.
Thanks'.

That happens with us once in awhile, too. I crack a window near the fireplace to get a little extra airflow into the house.

 

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

check the chimney. clean it. You may be getting wind blowing across the chimney and possibly creating a positive pressure in the chimney causing it to back flow in to the house where the pressure is less.

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Chimmeny is clean as a whistle no blockages at all.
I'll try throttling the air flow with the windows, see if it helps.
it was windy last night but I was thinking it would act more like a venturi and suck smoke out?
I noticed we don't have any kind of cap or spark arrestor on top of the chimmeny would adding one help?

 

[peester]

Has it always done this? Chimney outlet height vs ridge height?

 

[Degnol]

Has it always done this? Chimney outlet height vs ridge height?

Bingo. Wind coming over the ridge will blow righ down the chimney. Do you have a cap? That may help, but not really solve the problem.

GL

Ed

 

[Scamper]

It's simple. Your chimney is cold, and the cold air in it is denser, making it fall down thru the chimney. If you're on the side of a hill, you may also have a downdraft making this worse. The way to get around this is to start a fast fire with newspaper to warm up the chimney and get that warm air moving up instead of having cold air come down.

Wad up a bunch of newspaper loosely (or anything else that will light up quickly and burn fast--but don't use flamable liquids!), then touch it off. Use a serious amount of paper, not just a few sheets. As the newspaper burns up, you can start your fire.

 

[trainrech]

Any trees adjacent to the house?

Ditto on checking chimney height - there is good info on the web about how tall the top should be above adjacent structures (i.e. roof).

 

[Landpimp]

might need a fan on the top of the chimney, the folks needed one on thier inside and outdoor fireplaces as the bank behind the house messed with the airflow

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Thanks' ya'll. Looks like I need to do some research.

 

[loeky]

sounds like you need to warm it up before going with a full fire. light a piece of rolled newspaper and stick it up the flu a little. this will warm the inside and begin the suction necessary to move the hot air up and out.

crack a window somewhere as well to give it a ventilation point.

 

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

Try something like this. Used to have a directional cap when I lived in Colorado. Worked pretty well.
http://www.famcomfg.com/Chimney Caps.htm

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Thanks' for the link.

 

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

ok

Thanks' for the link.

Not a problem

 

[lshobie]

Like the other guys said in the earlier posts- wad up paper and light it up - hold it up high in the stove so it starts its own draft - that's all it takes.

If it is a recurring problem after you try starting a draft - then have a chimney guy check it out- might not be high enough.

Regards,

 

[dgangle]

I design high temperature industrial furnaces for my day job and many of the same principles apply. I would try the open door and newspaper (warm the flue/induce draft by warming air first----hot air rises) tricks first. This assumes the flue is not plugged, restricted, undersized, etc.

My fist new house did this bad. The fireplace company the builder sub'd determined the flue was too short. They jury-rigged it of course because HOMEBUILDERS ARE LIKE POLITICIANS AND THEY ARE ALL FAWKING LIARS but that is the topic for another thread. Extending the flue is not the easiest thing to do but height increases draft and this solved my problem. Call a professional if no luck. When I built my newest house I went gas so I'll leave all the mess, stink and hassle of burning wood for campfires.


Did it always do this or is it a new problem?

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

It's only really bad when the fire isn't roaring. Forget about it as it cools a bit and smolders you can see the smoke rolling out of the fireplace into our living room .

 

[dgangle]

well that's a draft problem...think of the suction decreasing when the flow reduces. increase height or reduce restriction.....easeier said than done. You migh just have a s***ty design and have to live with it. call a professional.

You can always hang sausage in your living room and take advantage of the smokehouse effect.

 

[Capt. Jim]

Assuming your flue is clear and open, you are getting back-draft that is most likely caused by the negative pressuration of the interior of your house. Negative pressure means a lower pressure on the inside of the house as compared to the exterior.

Many things can cause negative pressure on a house. Any type of forced-air ventilator (bathroom exhaust fans, kitchen exhaust fan, clothes dryer vented to exterior, exhaust fans on gas/oil- fired water heaters, etc.) will cause air to be "pumped" out of the house and then require what is referred to as make-up air. Much of this make-up air migrates back into the house via poorly sealed door and window openings. Some comes in via the attic through attic vents and then through ceiling penetrations for lightts, etc.

Since you are having problems with back-draft only when the heater is running, I would highly suspect that you have a separated or unsealed duct somewhere on your heating system that is leaking into an attic space or crawl space. Your forced-air blower on your heater is acting like an air pump and may be sucking your interior air into your returns and pumping a portion of it out through the unsealed or separated duct, thus creating a significant negative pressure gradient that is causing your make-up air to enter via the open chimney.

I would check your ductwork first and make sure they are sealed tight.