Smoke Issue in House

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HisTreeNut

Minister of Fire
Nov 3, 2014
1,097
Burnsville, NC
We woke up to a house full of smoke the other day and are not sure where it came from...It only happened once, but once is obviously enough. Looking for some suggestions & advice about what happened. EDIT: The smoke in the house was as thick as a light fog you see outside.
I called the installer and they are coming by later today to double-check their install and to ensure everything is together as it ought to be. I have looked at everything that I can and do not see any issues but I am not an installer. Any advice on things to check will be helpful. Likewise, I have read everything I could find about backpuffs, smoke in the house, etc, that I could find here on the forums. The last two nights I have burned fires and have not had anymore smoke in the house. I have been getting up every 2-3 hours to check & make sure everything is working properly. The stove seems to operating as it ought to. Right now, it is ash and coals, which I am cleaning out so the installers can inspect a cool stove.
Based on what I have read, I have narrowed it to a couple/combination of things. My gut says we had a "perfect storm of events."
1) My first thought was to check the chimney and it was not blocked in any way [no nests, leaves, animals trying to keep warm, etc.]. Clear all the way down and no creosote since we have just started burning.
2) The door latches "hard" and if we are not careful, it does not shut all the way. Smoke seeps out if it is not latched tight [We triple-check that now every time we add wood]. That day, I ran to the stove and immediately adjusted the wood, the air, & blower to get it burning/drafting, and did not look to see if the door was fully latched. That could be part of the issue.
3) We have a large ceiling fan in the room and were seeing if it could help circulate the heat in the house. We forgot to turn it off when we went to bed. The room with our stove peaks at about 14' and the fan is centered in the room. The fan is about 8' away from the stove & has 2 speeds: fast and really fast. Could the fan combined with the blower [which was on a medium high setting] have created a "negative draft" of some kind, pulling the smoke back in the house?
4) It was in the mid 30's when we went to bed but the outside temp in the high 40's and it was foggy outside, when we discovered the problem. Could the weather have affected the draft of the chimney? I had several people tell me it was windy that night but there was barely any breeze at our house. [Our house sits back in a knoll of sorts and is surrounded by many tall trees. We are well protected from the wind].
Inasmuch as It has not happened since, I kind of feel it was a combination of the latch, the fan & blower, and the weather. As soon as the installers look it over, I will hopefully have a better idea. As mentioned, I appreciate any suggestions.
Almost forgot, our stove is a Buck 94NC. We have block off plates, some insulation, & 8" steel pipe in a clay lined chimney [roughly 12'x18"]. When building a fire, we start small and get bigger before we dial it back. Kindling & 2"-3" pieces of wood to start & to get a good coal bed. Then we add larger splits, stacked pretty tightly. We do not stack much above the firebrick on the sides of the stove, & let the larger pieces burn 15-20 minutes before turning back the air. We turn it back gradually so we do not choke the fire, about every 15 minutes. Been checking the wood as I bring it in and it ranges from 14% -18% moisture content.
The scariest part of all of this is that none of our smoke detectors went off despite having brand new batteries in August. I have since made a trip to the hardware store and we have new smoke detectors that do work very well now. Everyone is getting to that time when they burn 24/7, so do not take chances and make sure they work!
If you have not checked your smoke detectors & carbon monoxide detectors...check and test them!
 
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It sounds like to have a problem with poor draft when the weather is damp outside. You said it was foggy and that means less or no wind and if you fire is less than ideal, it can easily go from good draft to a bad draft as the fire smolders and dies. Basically, as the fire dies, there is less heat to force it up the chimney and the weather conditions outside are pushing air down and not allowing the smoke to go out.

Many of us run into this in the shoulder season, especially when there is fog, dampness, drizzle or no wind outside. The answer is that you need to keep the fire more active and it may partly be caused by buring wood that is not dry enough. In these conditions, you need the very driest wood. Adding chimney might help but not necessarily. You may need 3' or 20', just depending upon the house peek, location of nearby trees, hills, etc. I'd use drier wood, keep the fire burning hotter and it probably will solve the problem.
 
BTW, I have also had smoke and not had the alarms go off. Very uncommon but it can happen. If you try burning some newspaper, they should go off very fast.

A ceiling fan should make no difference. If your stove door was not latched fully, it is likely that if the stove is back puffing, it will push the door open. Back puffing can be either a very slight PUFF that is caused by poor draft or it can be a fairly violent poof. Either one will push a door open if not latched.
 
Humm, is this a brand new stove? If so maybe the paint was curing.
 
Did your primary heat come on in the AM maybe created negative pressure? Other sources of negative pressure? House fans/vents etc. May be you need another couple feet of chimney.
 
DougA--> Thanks. That is what I kind of suspected with the weather that morning. I have some pine and other assorted shoulder woods that we can burn right now. With my wood situation, I have to be careful about moisture content. I split a piece & check the moisture as well as tap test it. Everything I have tested has been between 14% & 18%, mostly towards the 14%-15% range.
The stove door was not "blown open" that morning. However, I can latch the door & have it not seal, if that makes sense. It needs a 1/4" tug once it is closed to seal.

Kennyp2339--> I thought about that but I doubt it highly. I did several fires in the Spring to cure it. The stove has gotten a little more dull in tone but there is not a strong paint smell at all. That morning, the smoke in the house looked as thick as a light fog outside. I appreciate the thought.
 
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Did your primary heat come on in the AM maybe created negative pressure? Other sources of negative pressure? House fans/vents etc. May be you need another couple feet of chimney.

The kids were just getting up and took baths the night before. Our "primary heat" is electric hot water baseboard heat. We have not flipped the breaker on to the system because it is so expensive. When we turned it off in the Spring our electric bill dropped $200.00 that month.
Given the trees and the hillside behind my house, I am thinking about adding another section of pipe, to be sure I get good drafting. There are a few trees I want down as well but I have to get a pro to do it. Beyond my wood cutting ability.
 
Sometimes atmospheric conditions just favor weak draft so another section could definitely help. Adding an OAK may also be in order. Is the stove on a lower level of the house?
 
Curing paint set my smoke alarms screaming so I doubt it is that too. There are a few times in the fall and spring when I just turn up the thermostat instead of using the stove. Even though I have great draft with my new stove, when it's a wet, damp, foggy day I just find it easier to avoid the problems. Best answer is to get a hot fire going in late afternoon and get the house warm, then let it die down before you go to bed. It's rare to have those problems on windy days or in the winter.
 
Jatoxico-->Single story ranch 2200'. It was built in 1972, not insulated real well, single pane windows. Air is not an issue...the old homestead is a bit of a fixer-upper and is pretty drafty. When we get to re-siding & insulating the house, putting on a new roof, & putting in new windows, might have to do an OAK.

DougA--> We have some portable heaters we use...will just watch the temperature outside. I appreciate all the advice.

Thanks!
 
You mentioned the installer was coming out, did he find anything?
 
Hey...it has been a crazy week at work with a manager resigning & the wifey's grandmother is not doing well...has stage 4 pancreatic cancer...but I digress. The installer came by as it was getting dark, & did visual inspection and he could not see anything wrong. Much like some of the other posters, he seems to think it was a drafting issue caused by the weather and possibly that the door was not latched tight. Did the dollar bill test to check the seal and he couldn't move it. We built a small fire & it drafted fine with no smoke in the house.
He is busy beyond belief [go figure..] and has made an appointment with me to come back and double-check during daylight hours to ensure everything is ok. I appreciate all the advice and will update after he comes back.
Thank you.
 
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