Fireplace odor in the house, please for my sanity help me!

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sandman512

New Member
Aug 10, 2010
20
NY
Hello everyone, yes fireplace dilemma in the summer. First, let me say is has been extremely HUMID here in the Northeast. Here's the deal.
1) 2 story home
2) 1st floor has fireplace
3) 2nd floor bedroom has fireplace. This room is above the room with the other fireplace.
4) House has an oil burner.
5) All have their own flues, all in one chimney stack.

PROBLEM:
On these hot/humid days and other days for that matter, the house can smell like fireplace(sooty smell for the lack of better words). The first floor(den) we can deal with it. The 2nd. floor fireplace is in a bedroom, and it smells there also. So, flue closed, no good. Bought and installed a draft pillow, can still smell. Ok, so now I bought and installed a damper on the top of the chimney. Just went into the room and I thought I smelled something. So, I open the fireplace and it was pretty warm in the "firebox". Still smell in the firebox. Thoughts, advice? THANKS!

PS: Sorry for the long post!
 
If your home has negative presure from a bathroom fan, dryer, or water heater it can pull air down the chimney...
 
Re-read my post, central air should not create a negative preasure. The only way to resolve is a box of arm and hammer in the fireplace and a fresh air intake to the cold air return....
 
I had a similar problem and installed a top damper like you but also installed air tight fireplace doors and never had that smell again. By the way, a good set of air tight doors can be spendy but will eliminate the smells and also help stop the cold down drafts in the colder months when the fireplace is not in use.
 
burntime said:
Re-read my post, central air should not create a negative preasure. The only way to resolve is a box of arm and hammer in the fireplace and a fresh air intake to the cold air return....
Ok, how does one get fresh air intake to the cold air return...

Todd said:
I had a similar problem and installed a top damper like you but also installed air tight fireplace doors and never had that smell again. By the way, a good set of air tight doors can be spendy but will eliminate the smells and also help stop the cold down drafts in the colder months when the fireplace is not in use.
I do have fireplace doors on there, they are from the big box store, so I don't know of that helps. Where can I get air tight ones?
 
I think you have a downward draft in the chimney(s) that is producing the odor. In order to truly eliminate the odor, you must eliminate the source of the downward draft. I feel near certain this is a situation of negative pressure. We like pictures. Could you post a picture of your home and it's chimneys? Maybe something is going on that a member here will be able to help you with.
 
ansehnlich1 said:
I think you have a downward draft in the chimney(s) that is producing the odor. In order to truly eliminate the odor, you must eliminate the source of the downward draft. I feel near certain this is a situation of negative pressure. We like pictures. Could you post a picture of your home and it's chimneys? Maybe something is going on that a member here will be able to help you with.
Will snap some pics and post them in a little while. Just a quick question, even with a damper in place on the top, I can still have this problem? THANKS!
 
Here are some pics.

Front view

DSCN0396.jpg


Top of the chimney

DSCN0395.jpg


Side view

DSCN0394.jpg
 
Sandman I'm not sure this will help you but to stop odors I stuffed a plastic trash bag full of old clothes and pushed it tight into the stove pipe. It helped tremendously. Also cracking a window while the air conditioner is on will allow the return to pull fresh air through the window easier than through your stove.

good luck.
 
Chettt said:
Sandman I'm not sure this will help you but to stop odors I stuffed a plastic trash bag full of old clothes and pushed it tight into the stove pipe. It helped tremendously. Also cracking a window while the air conditioner is on will allow the return to pull fresh air through the window easier than through your stove.

good luck.
Thanks for the reply, I actually bought a "fireplace pillow" and inflated it and stuffed it in there. Today. I will be purchasing some baking soda and trying that. Once again, thanks for the advice!
 
I just want to add, there is a fan in the attic, not a big one by any means. Also, just this afternoon I went into the room in question and it had that smell in there. We did have the door closed, I also spread some baking soda around as well as leaving two bowls of baking soda in there. Thanks!
 
In my fireplace [no doors but a tightly-closing damper], we get a smell if the fuel did not completely burn to ash, sometimes anyway. I thought about trying to build tightly-closing doors, but before I got around to it, I discovered that if I leave the damper open for a few hours the day after we burned, the smell is gone, obviously traveling up the chimney with some interior air. After a few hours, I can close the damper and be ok. I am talking about that odor of partially-burned firewood. And the amount of it left unburned can be only a couple handfuls and we get the odor. Or, we can. I've never built any doors, the technique with the damper is too easy and, yes, I know we are losing a bit of warm air up the chimney when I do this.
 
newer construction? looks like it (nice house BTW) negative pressure likely culprit try cracking a window closest to the fireplace (not much just an inch at most) and see if the symptom goes away. if it does look into a passive air exchanger like the condar ASV-90 (you can google it) nice product. anyway draft is generated by air inside the flue being warmer than the air outside , so naturally this draft is not going to be present (or at least it will be dramatically reduced) when its hot outside and cooler inside. couple that with negative pressure inside the house and you have downdrafting. by removing the negative pressure you take away part of the cause and usually the rest of the cause (IE low draft due to small temp differential in the flue to outdoors) is not signifigant enough to cause downdrafting.


hope this helps ya
 
Thanks for the reply. The house was actually built in 1968. This particular house was built by a well known builder in this area. Pretty solid house with all new windows, so this house is tight. I will try the window trick and see what happens. Will this affect the central A/C at all and the temp in the room(sons room)? Thanks!
 
Hi

I had the exact flue and house setup.

We had the problem of the smell. What we did was to put a fireplace pillow in the 2nd floor fireplace and changed out the main floor fireplace to wood burning insert.

It is defanitly a down draft problem.

We also had a sewer gas smell in the laundry room it was also a draft problem as when the drier was on it pulled sewer gas in thru the drain line of the washer.

Fixed that problem with rags around the drain hose.

I would try two fireplace pillows or some other way to stuff the flues to stop the air flow.

Hope this helps.

Neal
 
Neal,
Thanks for the reply. I have a Flue damper on top and a pillow in there and today the smell was present, pretty strong I might say(humid here in Long Island, NY). I now have the door open and the smell seems to be disappearing.
 
sandman512 said:
I just want to add, there is a fan in the attic, not a big one by any means. Also, just this afternoon I went into the room in question and it had that smell in there. We did have the door closed, I also spread some baking soda around as well as leaving two bowls of baking soda in there. Thanks!

That fan in the attic may have more of an effect than you think. When that thing is exhausting air, it's pulling that same volume of air from somewhere, very well could be down that big chimney opening. Sometimes a house itself actually acts like a chimney, air rising through the interior of the home and venting out the top ya see. Maybe try and shut that fan down a few days to see what happens. Or think of sealing the door to the attic airtight so that fan can't pull air from the top floor of the home.

Also, kitchen appliances, stove exhaust fans, dryers, etc. all move decent amounts of air, and that air comes from somewhere, often a chimney that's open.

I think if you's seal the chimney at the top, tight, it would solve that problem, but ya gotta remember to open her up if/when you get ready to burn in the fall.
 
Do you have a pillow in each fireplace? Not just the room that smells.

Any item that blows air outside is drawing air in from somewere.

If the draft has started it will take an efort to reverse it or stop it.

Im cofident that you will find the best solution for you home just don't give up.

Neal
 
Neal,
I have a pillow in the upstairs fireplace, not the bottom one since that is the one I will be using. I should mention, when using the downstairs fireplace during burning season, there will be a hint of smoke/smell in the upstairs bedroom. THANKS!
 
BTW, I don't like those caps which cover multiple flues - they tend to allow the smell and/or smoke from one flue to go down the other one!

See: http://extendacap.com/mia.html

As to the smell, there are lots of solutions which work partially or fully. Try the special (rutland) fireplace deodorant. Also, go to our QA section and search on chimney smell.
 
sandman512 said:
Thanks for the reply. The house was actually built in 1968. This particular house was built by a well known builder in this area. Pretty solid house with all new windows, so this house is tight. I will try the window trick and see what happens. Will this affect the central A/C at all and the temp in the room(sons room)? Thanks!


if it does it will be negligable i suspect, BTW i missed the part about the attic fan , its going to intensify the problem until you get the pressure issue figured out. the Condar product i mentioned would be more controlllable and less invasive due to its filters. and no i do not sell them though i have recommended them to folks who have had draft issues in homes with non-OAK capable stoves with good results it may even help if you have startup issues with the fireplaces if you use them

here's a link: http://www.condar.com/asv_homegarden.html
 
Webmaster said:
BTW, I don't like those caps which cover multiple flues - they tend to allow the smell and/or smoke from one flue to go down the other one!

See: http://extendacap.com/mia.html

As to the smell, there are lots of solutions which work partially or fully. Try the special (rutland) fireplace deodorant. Also, go to our QA section and search on chimney smell.

So, can I remove the chimney cap and will that be safe. Not that it matters, BUT when I bought the house, I actually installed the chimney cap thinking it was the appropriate thing ie: rain, animal. etc... Thanks!

EDIT: Any sponsors/recommendations to buy the deodorant?

EDIT EDIT: Two more quick questions?
1) Would a picture of the crown on the chimney help?
2) Why is the odor present in the upstairs bedroom with the fireplace if that flue has a damper on top and a pillow on the bottom?
THANKS!
 
WARDNEAL said:
Hi



We also had a sewer gas smell in the laundry room it was also a draft problem as when the drier was on it pulled sewer gas in thru the drain line of the washer.

Fixed that problem with rags around the drain hose.


Neal



At the risk of thread creep, let me quickly throw in here that I helped a neighbor with laundry-room sewer gas. I am not a plumber, just handy. I found that there was no trap in the washing machine drain line, the standpipe the machine's drain hose hangs in. I cut the standpipe, added a $5 trap, problem solved. A retired plumber told me that it was more common than one would think that there is no trap on a washer drain. Some of them, he said, are enclosed in the wall and you have to tear open the drywall to add the trap.

Weird. [Sorry in advance for the non-wood/stove/etc-posting.]
 
I have a similar problem caused by the attic fan. The attic doesn't have adequate soffit venting, and only gable end louvers and no ridge vent. The fan pulls air down through the chimney, and up the many non-airtight recessed lights.
My solution was the bottom of a plastic bucket that just fits in the chimney top opening for the off season.
 
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