house filling with smoke when lighting fire

[nono106]

Hello,

We recently purchased a home that has a fireplace insert/wood burning stove that is supposed to kick up enough heat to heat the whole house. We've just started using it and it works great and has been keeping us nice and toasty all evening long and into the night...our heat barely turns on at all! Our issue is that when we light it in the evenings when we get home the house fills with smoke. I have gotten far enough in my research to learn that this means we have a down draft and we need to reverse it and warm the chimney so the air (and smoke) will go up and out. We have tried the method of putting newspaper as high as we can in the flu and lighting it to heat the chimney, but this has not worked and we have had the same issue with smoke in the house. This seems to be the only suggested method I have found on line to reverse the draft. Is there another way to warm the chimney? Any thoughts on this topic would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Nono

 

[CK-1]

I'm not an expert.. but I will leave the fireplace door open 30min before I start the fire to let the warm air inside the house create a good draft up the chimney..

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

is the chimney lined? is the stove in the basement? how new is your home? do you have any exaust fans in the kitchen?

 

[nono106]

Chimney is lined, the stove is on our family room...on ground level and the house is about 90 years old...chimney is the original, but the stove was added (not sure when). We do have an exhaust fan in the kitchen above the stove...but its not usually on--unless we're trying to eliminate the smoke from the newly started fire!

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

how tall is the chimney and was it relined with the new stove purchase, if not, then what size is the current liner in the chimney?

 

[sgcsalsero]

I emphathize as I recently moved into a new house and had an insert installed in Mar 06. So am I learning a lot from this forum, mostly from searching threads. Did the previous owner leave any documents/receipts, aside what you can glean from here maybe you can find out who the installer was/is and give a call for an inspect.

Also, if your chimney is an outside one, like mine, then we share a constant challenge on chimney reversing.

Best of luck

 

[Andre B.]

Any large air leaks on the upper floors?
Old windows.
Upstairs bathroom power vent.
Leaks into the attic thru one of those pull down ladders can be major.

Air leaks on upper floors will compete with the stove for air and if the chimney is cold they will often win.

 

[tutu_sue]

We have the same problem due to negative pressure in our home and stove being in the basement and outdoor chimney. We purchased a small horizontal window fan from lowes and set it to blow air into the room from outside until we light the fire and no smoke!!

 

[ozarkjeep]

Mine does this as well, stainless 6" liner, 25' tall chimney, on the side of the house.

if im not quick with the lighter, and insert door, it will let some smoke into the room, a crumpled newpaper in the back works OK, I think an actual starter log or somethign that burns longer would help more.

I stuck a wad of newspaper into the flu, and lit it, it roared like a jet engine and I could hear it get suck all the way up!

I cleaned the flu later, and parts of that paper were blocking the flu cap. I dont do that any more.

 

[stoveman]

are you burning with the doors open or are you lighting it and closing the doors and the smoke is coming out?

you need an anti down draught cowl.

has the chimney been swept recently? maybe its clogged up?

if your burning with the doors open it could be that the flue is not big enough to handle the fumes, when you burn with the doors open you need a bigger flue.

if you are burning with doors open you should not do this for at least an hour to let the chimney heat up as it wont pull.

 

[velvetfoot]

Mine does this too. I don't light a fire if I feel the cool air coming down the chimney. I can't figure out why either (new house, insulated chase, 1st floor location, 2 story stack).
I crack open an adjacent window and light some newspaper.

 

[ozzie]

Re: House filling up with smoke, we had the same problem.
Your house is likely airtight. You have to open a window to break the vacuum effect.
Open a window/ door, light the fire , close the door/ wndow. That will allow the hot air to ecape up the flue and start a draft.
We fortunately had a window right beside our wood stove.
Good Luck

 

[Gooserider]

Some folks with similar problems have reported getting a draft going by using other stuff to get the air in the firebox heated. It really doesn't matter what you use to warm the air and get the flow going in the right direction, so choosing things that don't make smoke may help.

Some suggestions included electric hair driers or (better) heat guns.

Propane torches, either the little pencil jobs or one of the big flame wand types if the small one didn't work.

Single burner propane stoves - particularly there is a cheap model that screws onto the top of one of the short / fat style propane cylinders.

The toungue in cheek method is to get a politician to come give it a speech....

The basic idea is anything that will get the chimney warm, so however you do it may be enough, although hopefully you can find a better solution that will keep you from having to fight that battle every time you want a fire.

Gooserider

 

[citizanken]

Maybe crack a window in the same room before lighting the fire to aleviate any negative pressure issues, just until the draft gets going, and install a chimney cap if not already using one.

 

[sgcsalsero]

Goose, thanks for the propane torch idea, I mentioned it to my wife and she thought I was nuts. Next house, no outside 30' chimneys please . . .

 

[kevinmoelk]

You may want to look into installing an OAK. My 2 cents.

-Kevin

 

[recppd]

I had the same problem only weeks ago and found my chimney cap was plugged thanks to the wise folks here on hearth.com!