help with smoke coming out of fireplace

[codydemmel4]

I had my chimney inspected and cleaned around 1 month ago. I have burned a couple fires since then and every time I am getting a lot more smoke then I should be getting inside my house. It’s not just me who notices it, but also company when they are over. It almost smells like we were at a big bonfire but inside my house.

I make sure the flue is wide open, but still see smoke coming out of the fireplace and onto the mantle. Can even see smoke marks on the white mantel from the 3 times I burned the fireplace. What is the best way to go about this? I am assuming if there was something wrong with my fireplace the technicians would have said something during their inspection but they said everything looks great.

 

[begreen]

There are lots of possible explanations that would not necessarily show up in a chimney cleaning. It could be that the fireplace design is poor or the chimney is too short or poorly located. Or it could be negative pressure in the house. The latter is more common with some basement fireplaces.

Cold chimneys on exterior wall fireplaces can be particularly hard to start without smoke spillage. Sometimes lighting balls of newspaper above the damper area can help with balky starts.

 

[codydemmel4]

There are lots of possible explanations that would not necessarily show up in a chimney cleaning. It could be that the fireplace design is poor or the chimney is too short or poorly located. Or it could be negative pressure in the house. The latter is more common with some basement fireplaces.

Cold chimneys on exterior wall fireplaces can be particularly hard to start without smoke spillage. Sometimes lighting balls of newspaper above the damper area can help with balky starts.

it is on the fire floor in my living room. it is on an exterior wall, thing is its not just when I start the fireplace but the whole time it is burning which sometimes have been 3-4 hours.

 

[jatoxico]

It's not too uncommon for an open fireplace to just not perform well. You could give some specifics like chimney length, flue size and opening of the face of the fireplace and possibly there will be a solution. Possibly adding glass doors could help. It may also be that other appliances like dryers and other venting systems are causing an issue.

I can tell you before I added the wood insert my fireplace was similar. Just didn't exhaust the smoke that well.

 

[begreen]

Can you take a couple photos of the fireplace and post them here? Include one, looking up toward the flue from the interior of the fireplace.

 

[Simonkenton]

Have you ever burned this fireplace before? If so, how well did it burn then?

It might be that you need an outside air intake. Try opening a window and see if it stops smoking.
Otherwise it is possible that the fireplace opening is too large for the chimney. You need to measure the area of the fireplace opening, and get up on the roof and measure the area of the chimney pipe.
The chimney should be 10 percent of the fireplace opening. If the fireplace opening is 900 square inches the chimney should be 90 square inches.

 

[Squisher]

Are you burning on a grate in this fireplace?

 

[codydemmel4]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I was exteremly busy yesterday so I didn't get to take any pictures but I will when I get home today. I also will measure the fireplace and the flue.

I am burning on a grate, and all the way in the back.

 

[Destructor]

Unfortunately some masons don’t build a proper throat and smoke chamber which funnels smoke smoothly to the flue, definitely try the cracked window, also get a picture of the outside including the roof.