Cold draft inside the house under FP30 Pacific Energy

[Rogerius]

We have our house built with ICF which resulted in a very air tight house. This is the third winter with our FP30 Pacific Energy fireplace and we have all the time this annoying situation when if we open the fireplace to reload and one of the windows or doors in the house is open, the smoke from the fire place is coming aggressively inside the house. I assume no solution for this as the air will follow the most unrestrictive path.
We have a 4" air intake for fireplace so the fireplace takes fresh air from outside but because of that, when the fireplace is not in use a huge cold air draft is coming inside the house from below the fireplace. Looking from where the air is coming, I see is coming through the slot in which the damper lever is running. Anybody have a safe solution to cover that slot somehow and not impede the functionality of the damper lever? The surface is quite hot so need something to not melt/outgas. Also, how to installed as the esthetic grill is right in front of it.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Do you open the air up before opening the doors? I assume the smoke is coming out the door and not in the window? How tall is your chimney?

 

[begreen]

There are a couple of solutions if the outside air duct can be accessed. One is to put a cold trap loop (inverted U) in it. The second is to put an air valve on the outside air.

Does the house have an HRV? If not, what is used for fresh air supply in the house?

 

[Rogerius]

Do you open the air up before opening the doors? I assume the smoke is coming out the door and not in the window? How tall is your chimney?

If a door/window in the house is open and we open the fireplace door to load, the smoke is coming out in the room. The chimney is 20ft tall I believe.

There are a couple of solutions if the outside air duct can be accessed. One is to put a cold trap loop (inverted U) in it. The second is to put an air valve on the outside air.

Does the house have an HRV? If not, what is used for fresh air supply in the house?

Yes, we have access to the outside air duct but the cold trap loop or air valve will not obstruct the flow required for fireplace?
Yes, there is an HRV system but that is balanced air: how much air come in it will go out so I can't see how that will prevent the smoke to not come out through the open fireplace door when the draft is created through the house door/window-chimney instead of outside air - chimney. It's good for get rid of the smoke but that is taking some time

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Your chimney should be drawing really well. Smoke shouldn’t be coming out. Check your chimney and cap to make sure they don’t have excessive buildup.

After that, when you go to reload, make sure your primary air is open all the way and then open the door a crack. This should kick the draft up and should pull the smoke up. Open the door slowly.

 

[moresnow]

Turn off the HRV 10 minutes before loading as described above. As an experiment.

 

[Rogerius]

Turn off the HRV 10 minutes before loading as described above. As an experiment.

No change, same think happen. HRV doesn't have any effect.

 

[Rogerius]

Your chimney should be drawing really well. Smoke shouldn’t be coming out. Check your chimney and cap to make sure they don’t have excessive buildup.

After that, when you go to reload, make sure your primary air is open all the way and then open the door a crack. This should kick the draft up and should pull the smoke up. Open the door slowly.

I cleaned the chimney and cap in the fall so that should be fine.
Yes, having the air opened all the way helps a lot. Also, we have to stop the fireplace blower and that will no suck any smoke out.

 

[Stanger12GT]

I had a FP30 installed this past fall and I also had cold air pouring in where the level controls the outside air intake when the weather finally turned cold.

The installer used metal gas flex venting and piped it directly in with a short run less than two feet since the hole was already there from my previous fireplace. The only way to stop it was by blocking it from the outside so it was definitely coming from there.

I removed the metal flex and replaced it with a longer run of insulated flex duct and did the inverted U and that did the trick. When set the air on full high o don’t get any air coming in. If I turn it all the way down I can feel a little air coming in. Not sure why the difference but when not in use I just keep it on full air which would be the case anyway.

Also the new insulated flex does not condensate like the metal flex was doing.