Comments on: My fireplace smokes while in use

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:26:05 +0000

Sounds like the liner is too small. C
Check what size is reccomended and measure what size was installed and let me know.
Dave

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:55:36 +0000

We have a wood add on furnace that we connected a few years ago to already existing chimney in our old farmhouse. The chimney was brick with terra cotta liner. We never had any smoking problems. Then last year a few terra cotta liners cracked and fell down so we had a professional install a steel chimney liner. The day the liner was installed our smoking problems started. It smokes EVERY time we load, or add wood and smokes BAD. The professional came back to check it and says that we need to add a smoke plate to our stove, empty the ashes more, and do all kinds of things that did not seem to effect our stove operation before. Can you tell me what could be the problem? I am obviously not a professional but the only thing I can think of is that the liner is too small for our house (though they had a really tough time pushing it in the existing chimney).

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:44:18 +0000

The burping is usually tiny explosions caused by unburned gases igniting inside the stove. A technical rep at Vermont castings might have suggestions as well. I’m not sure what you mean when you say your flue is usually closed. If you have a round, inline damper in your stove vent connector, opening that may help. If you have a secondary air intake ( My VC Defiant Does) opening that some may help. Adjusting the lever that controls the air intake with the chain a little more open may help as well.

Dampering down a stove is done for 2 reasons. One is to heat less. This can be done by building a smaller fire or by burning wood with a higher moisture content. If it is too moist, your stove will produce a heavy creosote build up . Another reason people damper the stove way down is to conserve wood and/or increase the burn time. This can also greatly increase creosote build up. Call VC and see if they have any specific suggestions for your stove and let me know their response. I and all of our readers would greatly appreciate that. I think it is most likely going to take adjusting the flue damper and intake(s) to determine how you can damper the choke the stove down a fair amount , yet still provide enough air to prevent the burping..

BE SURE ALL OF YOUR VENT CONNECTORS ARE SECURELY FASTENED TO THE STOVE, EACH OTHER AND TO THE CHIMNEY. THESE BURPS CAN PUSH APART THE VENT CONNECTIONS IF THEY ARE NOT SECURE!

Dave

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:33:54 +0000

Dave, I have a Vermont casting wood burner, (vigilant is the model name I believe) I have ben having issues with it “burping” regularly after hours of burning. I use it to heat, so my flue is closed for the most part and I adjust the air intake on the back accordingly, It has a chain system on the vent that when it heats up it expands the chain and closes the vent and vise versa when the chain cools and contracts (opens the vent for more air). The issue seems to be when it is all closed down and the flue and vent are both closed. It “burps” out the top lid and the rear vent. I had a professional cleaning in november, and am not sure how to proceed. I presume the burp occurs becasue of a lack of air flow. but am not sure how to address the situation. Please advise.

Thanks,
Matt McGuire

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:49:40 +0000

Odds are you are experiening a downdraft. This is cold air comming down the chimney and pushing the smoke out into the room. Do not start a fire, Now try opening your wood stove door and feeling for cold air dropping down the chimney. if you feel a lot of cold air dropping you will need to warm the flue. If you do not feel cold air dropping down the flue, you need to look up and/or down yhe chimney for a nest or other blockage. Pushing a chimney brush through the chimney is one method of “proving” the flue is clear. There are also video cameras available, Hopefully you can see all of the way through the chimney with a powerful light ;

If you do feel a downdraft, the cause is a difference in pressure between the inside of your home at the stove area and the pressure at the top of the chimney. Turn off any fans (bath room fans, kitchen fans,etc-yemoroarly cut back your forced air heayers as well) Try cracking a window a few inches or more in the lowest level of your home and then build a fire with several individually and very loosely crumpled up pieces of newspaper. Before lighting the fire, feel for cold air again. If it is still present with the window open, light the paper as quickly as possible and then shut the door quickly. After 5 to 10 seconds, open he door slightly for a couple of seconds then close it again. Continue to open the door slightly at these intervals, This gives the paper oxygen, yet forces the heat to find a way up the chimney. If all goes well, the smoke will start upwards and if you can maintain the flow with more paper and eiither kindling, fat wood or firestarters and gradually logs, your good to go. Close window and check to see if it is still functioning properly,

I personally will crumple 15 eo 20 sheets of paper and have several dozen more on hand for extreme cases of down draft,
IF YOU DO NOT FEEL CONFIDENT OF YOU ABILITY TO DO THID OR IF YO ARE HESITANT TO SMOKE THE HOUSE UP OR IF YOU HAVE REPIRATORY ISSUES, YOU MAY WANT TO CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL.

It is a good idea, in situations like yours, to not biuld a fire unless you can keep it going for several hours. If you have a shorter fire, you may not have warmed rhe chimney thoroughly enough to maintain the heat neccessary to maintain agquatee draft as the fire dies out and smolders.

Good luck,

Dave

By: Lana

Lana — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:38:56 +0000

I try to start a fire in my napoleon wood burning insert, but the smoke enters my home so bad I had to stop trying. I built a fairly large kindling fire just to get it going still lotta smoke enter the home and I was forced to close the door, this in turn puts the flame out. What am I doing wrong or what could be wrong with the system. It is cold, -9.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:30:58 +0000

Try this test: Take a stick of incense and hold it at the top fo the fireplace opening. do not hold it inside the opening but about 1/2 inch away and flush with the top edge of the opening. Do this during the first several minutes, before you sense smoke entering the room. have a flash light handy to better see the smoke and follow it as you hold the incense on the far left, then the far right and then at the center. I suspect your fireplace smokes more from one side than the other Most fireplaces do. I also suspect your fireplace smokes during the first 20 minutes, though it may not be readily apparent. if the incense is pulled directly into the fireplace at all locations it is probably not leaking smoke out the front at that particular time. however, sometimes if you look closely, the smoke appears to be pulled in, but is actually rolling from one side to the other just barely inside the opening and a little bit leaks out as it does this. Over time the smoke builds up in the room. Another possibility is that the fire builds up intensity and/or the wood eventually shifts or the percentage of smoke vs flame increases as the wood charrs and smoke begins to enter the room. All of these issues mean your chimney is malfunctioning (has poor draft) and the fact that you have significantly reduced the opening and still get smoke is remarkable evidence of poor draft as well.

Have you ever had it inspected and tested by a very experienced professional? If so what did they find? Though it could be a negative pressure issue such as an HVAC system interferance, it could be a very short chimney, tall trees or an off set or a blockage. If your house is really that air tight, have you tried opening a door or window slightly? I just installed a wood stove and chimney and it would not draw at all. We opened doors windows, turned off a kitchen fan and the furnace. Nothing worked. The fireplace was on the first floor of a 2 level home. Finally we cracked the basement door and away the smoke went! I figure warm air was leaving the house via air leaks from the upper level ceiling via bath fan, kitchen fan, attic and whole house fan-even when all were turned off. this air was being displaced by the wood stove chimney, meaning air was being sucked down the chimney because the air loss from the items I mentioned was creating a vacuum in the house. When we opened the basement door the chimney reversed flow since a lower air supply (the basement door) was created.

Houses function as a chimney and even air tight houses leak a lot. A very wealthy builder built himself a super green, air tight house. I know how rigid his standards were as I Installed a wood stove in his bedroom with an outside air intake. Every seam and every wall penetration had to be sealed with silicone and made absolutely air tight. before I ever started, i asked him if he ever had a suction test on his house. He said he had and the result was that it had approximately 1/2 the loss of the average new home constructed today-meaning it was pretty good, but nowhere near 100% air tight. Please do the incense test and door tests and let me know the results Also let me know if you”ve had it inspected and the findings.

The sizing of your firplace opening vs liner size is pretty far off for standard fireplace design. 36″ wide x 30″ tall is standard for a 13″ x 13″ liner. Rumsford designd require a Rumsford smoke chamber and throat and damper and very specific firebox design. When I alter a standard firebox to a Rumsford firebox, I use standard flue to firebox opening ratios if the chimney is not otherwise altered. On new construction, I recommend a Rumsford damper, with a precast fireplace throat and smoke chamber purchaseable online, or a complete “Belfyre” system from “Sleepy Hollow Chimney Supply which is designed to work a lot like a Rumsford. How did you construct your thraot and smoke chamber and what kind of and what size damper are you using?

Dave

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:30:34 +0000

Probably about 36″, but you have a very short chimney. Does it smoke now? What is your flue liner size?

Dave

By: al goetz

al goetz — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:51:08 +0000

I have had problem with a fireplace i built for myself for the last 4 years.
I have built several fireplace over the last 30 years with no problems. now i build one for myself and have smoke issues.
the fire place is 36″wide by 44″ high.I built it with a rumford design with a straight back wall hoping to defer more heat into the house.
the fire starts great, pushes heat into the room, however after 2 hours of a nice fire smoke starts to roll out the top and into the room. I cannot get it to stop. the chimney is 4′ higher then the peak of the roof, I have raised the firebox, no change, i have put a vacustack on it, no change,I put a wind deflector that rotates no change,I have put class doors on and the smoke comes between the cracks. I have put 12″ metal all around the sides, top and bottom to reduce the size of the opening no change, I have added fresh air intake under the crate, no luck,
I have a 13×13 flue liner. the house is very tight and to repeat the problem the fire starts great with a good draw. after two hours the smoke seems to work it way rotating down and out of the top of the fireplace opening which then fills the upper part of the room with smoke. when i do a smaller fire it seems to be ok but when the fire logs are bigger the smoke really increase. looking for any help on what the problem might be and how to fix it. sure would like to enjoy the fireplace, thanks for any help, Al