Sooty smell from ventilator fitted to chimney breast

The chimney breast in the bedroom has been bricked up where there used to a gas fire, and white ventilation grill thingy fitted.

The trouble is on windy days there is a distinct chimney soot smell in the room around the chimney breast. I have thought of using masking tape over the ventilator but the this would defeat the true purpose of having one.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Kind regards,

Saeed

sr_ng 786

Reply to
Saeed
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Don't block the vent. It allows air up the chimney to carry out the condensation and rain. You'll get wet breasts!

Its likely that the flue was not properly swept and rain etc is bringing down some soot. You could cap the pot. Make sure you fit it properly. There is nothing more annoying than finding the cap lying in your garden after a gale. I'll be doing mine this week and am going to pop rivet some aluminium strips to the cap and then to a sleeve round the pot.

Good luck

Peter Scott

Reply to
Peter Scott

Alternatively, consider having the vent on the outside wall of the chimney instead of on the inside.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Capping the chimney at the top is the best solution. The stack will take some time to dry out and then the smell will cease. I had a similar problem with an open fire that has only occasional use. As the chimney is live it can suffer from weather penetration and an unpleasant sooty smell can fill the living room. I overcame this by fitting a removable register plate to the fireplace. In this plate there is a quiet computer fan to draw a modicum of warm dry air from the room to ventilate the flue and prevent the smell descending. The fan I chose has a nominal 12V supply requirement. By experimentation I found that a 3V supply was enough to provide a small flow of air up the chimney in complete silence. Weird but very effective :-)

Richard.

Reply to
Richard

Sounds like the usual builder job of bricking up the fireplace without brush-cleaning the flue first.

Also, be sure to check the flue is capped with a 'pepperpot' or similar to allow ventialtion but no water ingress.

HTH Rob

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Reply to
Kalico

When I suggested capping I didn't make it clear that the cap should allow air circulation. The ones I use have a shallow cone over the chimney pot and a gap for the air to leave. This is why the wind catches it and sometimes sooty blackbirds fall down it into my stove (unlit!)

Peter Scott

Reply to
Peter Scott

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