My daughter and her husband have a new home with a basement playroom. There is an VC Aspen that is stubbed into the chimney in the fireplace. I am thinking of installing a liner, but if that is not going to solve the backstream of air I dont want to waste the money. There is no device on that is drawing air out of the house, like a dryer, there just seems to be a constant stream of air coming down the chimney. The chimney has two flues, one for the basement and one for the first floor fireplace. The flue in the basement fireplace is all the way over the left hand side, and seems to almost exit at a 45 degree angle before going up. Anyone ever run across a setup like this?
Air blasting down chimney
- Thread starter chumscrubber
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It is a small stove sitting in a fireplace, and the stovepipe was stubbed up into the flue. I know thats not good, but when the pipe is removed, air comes blasting down. I dont want to install a 6" stainless liner and still have the same problem.
You know for sure it's air coming down and not up? I had the cleanout door open on an unused flue my basement and it felt like a vortex when I put by hand by the opening.
Stack effect in the house is the likely culprit. Warm air exiting the upper level through un-sealed attic access, light fixtures in the ceiling, and leaks around windows draws in air below the 'neutral pressure plane,' including pulling air down the chimney when it is cold.
The solution would be to seal those, then put in the liner with a block-off plate above the stove and stuff insulation around the liner at the top. It might still draw some cold air down the liner when the stove isn't running but it should be reduced.
This site has a lot of good info, if you poke around: https://woodheat.org/all-about-chimneys.html
The solution would be to seal those, then put in the liner with a block-off plate above the stove and stuff insulation around the liner at the top. It might still draw some cold air down the liner when the stove isn't running but it should be reduced.
This site has a lot of good info, if you poke around: https://woodheat.org/all-about-chimneys.html
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