Removing clean out plug from chimney in off season

[magna85]

Hi folks

We had a hearthstone castleton installed late this winter. Now that we are finally in the off season, we are getting a smoke smell in the basement family room from the stove. There is a negative draft coming down the chimney and entering the room. This happened with our previous home and even my childhood home but it seemed occasional and more weather dependent. Our new house has an exterior class A chimney running up and outside wall, with a clean out tee to go through the wall to the stove. I found I can eliminate the smell by simply removing the clean out plug at the bottom of the chimney (the downdraft then seems to escape through the clean out and not enter the house). Ill reinstall of course when using the stove, but is there any down side to keeping the clean out open all summer?

 

[MongoMongoson]

A raccoon would make for a fun addition to the "what is in your stove right now?" thread. Not for the raccoon, though.

I don't think there would be any harm except for possible animal ingress. Maybe cover the opening with hardware cloth.

 

[gthomas785]

Not really. A couple of possible minor downsides:

• Animal enters (as above)
• Cap gets lost
• Another user tries to light the stove without reinstalling the cap
• You forget to reinstall the cap
• etc

 

[begreen]

Screen the cap opening, hang the cap nearby, put a note in the stove to replace the cap, run the brush up the chimney in the fall before burning to clear out unwanted visitors (bee, bird, or spider nests).