Newby with grate heater question/smoke

[rick clifford]

Great web site and hope for some help. Until I have enough $ for an insert I currently have a grate heater in my fireplace (which I bought used) which seems to work fine with the blower and all until I close the glass doors and then the room begins to fill with smoke. (Not visually but i smell it badly) I can not tell where its coming from. And yes my doors are not great and this is a very general discription but if there are any suggestions I would appreciate it. There are no holes in the unit either. (No burn thru) THX

 

[begreen]

Was the chimney cleaned this year? Is the wood being burnt fully seasoned?

 

[rick clifford]

I haven' used it yet this year but this was my experience last year and the wood was seasoned for over a year.

 

[begreen]

If the wood is good and the chimney is clean, it could be a poorly designed fireplace. How tall is the chimney on it?

Tell us more about the grate heater too. Are you trying to run its blower with the doors closed? Pictures always help.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I haven' used it yet this year but this was my experience last year and the wood was seasoned for over a year.

There is that term, "seasoned" again. And just how was this wood seasoned? Did you buy it? If so, there is a pretty good chance it is not dry enough. Did you cut it yourself? When did you split and stack the wood out in the wind? Wood will not dry until it has been split so if sellers say it has seasoned a year, that means it was cut a year ago. Chances are it was split just before delivery.

This is probably why you have smoke when you close the doors. The only way the wood will burn is to have excess draft and when you close the door you are closing off some of the draft. And of course, if you have to burn with the doors open, you are probably wasting dollars because it is sucking air from the house and sending the heat right up the chimney.

 

[rick clifford]

There is that term, "seasoned" again. And just how was this wood seasoned? Did you buy it? If so, there is a pretty good chance it is not dry enough. Did you cut it yourself? When did you split and stack the wood out in the wind? Wood will not dry until it has been split so if sellers say it has seasoned a year, that means it was cut a year ago. Chances are it was split just before delivery.

This is probably why you have smoke when you close the doors. The only way the wood will burn is to have excess draft and when you close the door you are closing off some of the draft. And of course, if you have to burn with the doors open, you are probably wasting dollars because it is sucking air from the house and sending the heat right up the chimney.

The chimney is about 20 feet or so. Never measured it but I live in a typical up and over cape cod. Wood was split and covered outside but I cant say for sure if it was over a year. I did buy it before last season and still have some remaining covered from last year. I am certain that which remains is seasoned oak for more than 1 year. Suspect I will wait until its cold enough and try it again. I forgot the name of the unit manufacturer but its quite heavy, appears well made and was told they went out of business. I suspect either they dont work or they didn't make any money on these things. Thx for the help