Smoke in the room with open fireplace and outdoor air - HELP

[Dejan Gambin]

Hello,

I have seen many posts regarding the smoke going into the room. I have an open fireplace and I have outdoor air brought to fireplace. But the smoke is still coming into the room. If I open a window (located on the other side of the room) just a little bit, everything works fine. The problem is that I don't want to have the window opened, and I brought the outdoor air to the fireplace just because of it.

Does the direction and/or location of outdoor air income influence the draw? Why?

Thanks in advance

[default]

Some, but mostly smoke comes into the room because it's easier than going up the chimney. If you've got an air supply feeding the combustion chamber anyway, consider sticking a tempered glass front on the fireplace. That will keep the smoke on one side, and your expensive heated houshold air on the other.

[Dejan Gambin]

Thank you very much on your answer. It is an old traditional hearth that needs to be opened. It doesn't serve for heating, just for preparing some traditional foods on it. Many people have such a hearth and some of them experience the same problem, the others don't. I tried to do everything to avoid it. My chminey is wide and tall, the outdoor air is coming directly to the hearth and it can be seen that the air is coming because when I open the air door, the fire gets bigger and stronger. But the smoke is still coming into the room (not very much but enough to feel unpleasant sitting in the room). And if I open the window, then there is a air flow between the hearth and the window and is not very pleasant too.

I don't know what could I try else, if you have some advice, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks again

Dejan Gambin

[TimS]

No offense intended, but in my limited experience, chimneys need to be started. I will build my fire, small, medium and large wood, and with my first piece of newspaper, establish a 'flow' (kinda like a siphon) thruogh the chimney, well above the combustibles. Just before the newspaper goes out, I will light the small wood. Really seems to improve my percentage of woman-impressing fires.

Tim S.

[default]

Well.. if you're not concerned about heat-loss, you could try throttling back the outside air supply that's feeding the fire. That should force it to suck air out of the room in order to feed the chimney.

Other than that, I think you're stuck with draconian solutions like re-building the combustion box, or flue, or pressurizing the room... You're not running fans or anything to pull air out of the room through doors and windows, are you?

If you stick a wire flyswatter near the flue opening while the fire's going, are you getting a good draft?

--Goedjn

[WARRENRN1]

it seems as tho there is not enough draw to pull the smoke up the chimney.... had a similar problem... turned out to be a broken flue damper....when i

*opened* the flue, it was only opening a mere 1-2 inches..not near enough for a good draw...since it was made of cast iron, i opted to put a new chimney top flue damper in place.... stainless steel cap and springs..... now my wife has returned to being her pyromaniacal self...