Hello, I am new to this forum and relatively new to heating with wood. I just installed a summer's heat add on furnace in the basement of my new construction home. The flu from the stove is connected to a masonry chimney with 8x12 clay flu liner. There is a fireplace with the separate flu but same chimney directly above the stove. About four hours after the initial firing there was a smoke smell around the fireplace in the floor above the stove. My chimney is probably 40-45 feet tall my stove is in the basement, the fireplace is on the first floor there is a second floor Plus attic plus however much the chimney is above the roof. Finally my question is: could the smoke coming all the way back down the chimney or is it somehow leaking into the other flu on it's way up? Thanks in advance for any comments.
smoke smell from fireplace
- Thread starter Jarod
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You're gonna hafta add an Outside Air Kit (OAK) to your wood burner. It's drawing the air required for combustion from inside your home & that air has to be replenished somehow. That "somehow" is the flue for your fireplace, which is a fairly substantial sized hole to the outside.
Same thing will happen if you run a clothes dryer exhausting to the outside, kitchen or bath fan, central vacuum, power vented gas appliances, or natural venting appliances like in your case. Negative air pressure in the house has barometric pressure pushing down the chimney becoming your air intake. Cold air also wants to drop down chimney making an easy path. Closing off fireplace flue is only going to allow outside air to leak in where it can, causing drafts in the house. Like DAKSY said, an air intake close to the stove or appliance that requires air allows outside air into the burner without the cold air migrating through the house. Similar to a dryer vent terminating near the stove. Yes, you will feel cold air coming in it. It is being drawn into the stove, not cooling the home like it would coming down the chimney upstairs or from every crack it could find in the house, and moving through the house towards the stove. I've installed these to find the customer thought the cold air coming in was bad, and stuffed them shut.
Thanks for the replies. Would it work if I cracked open the slider door which is about eight feet from the stove until I bring in the fresh air the way you described?
SteveKG
Minister of Fire
Yes, try that slider door very first thing. You may find that it works and you don't wanna do anything else. It also costs nothing and takes no labor/remodel.
Thank you guys for the help. It is nice to know that there are people out there who are willing to share their knowledge to help others.
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