Last night {saturday} I had the woodstove going and I got a smell of burnt wood in the living rm [the stove is in the den appox 20' away}.... I checked the woodstove connections and all was good and I have a CO alarm in the living rm and it didnt go off .I went outside with a flashlight and can see the wind was blowing the smoke from chimmey directly towards (hitting) the roof turbine which was spinning as it was a windy night.The unfinished attic is accesable by a door to a stairway adjacent to living rm that leads up to attic,, that night the door was slightly opened and it is closed mostly all of the time to keep heat from going up to attic.Im wondering if some smoke could have been pulled down from attic threw the roof turbine into living rm ???.I opened the front and rear door of house which got air moving threw house ,closed attic door and smell was gone within a hour.....Im about to start woodstove up for this evening and made sure the attic door is closed .Will check wind direction after it starts going... Thanks for looking ...Mario in Va ....BTW I found on line NOT to block opening of roof turbines in winter.I have two at appox. each end of house.
roof turbines
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The scenerio sounds confusing. Do you mean the roof turbines are made to bring in outside air? If so where does it exit. My new carriage house from 2005 has a ridge vent and soffit vents and my 1870's house has retro-fitted old style lovers in the peak of the house on each end. If the turbine is supposed to pull air out then there is no air getting in or you have low hanging smoke that is getting to the air inlet.
No ..If they are spinning I would think no smoke would get in as it is drawing air out of attic but if it slows or stops maybe smoke can be drawn down to the woodstove as it is pulling air to itself.
How does the air get in to feed the turbines? What is the source of make up air?
ArsenalDon
Minister of Fire
Those turbines are meant to vent the attic...not likely the direct cause but could you have other leaks that the smoke could have come into? or had an open window? Sometimes when we do a burn we can smell it inside a bit even though the house is pretty tight.
Well as of the last couple of hours I have a good burn going in the woodstove with secondarys going good and there isnt any burnt wood smell anywhere and everything looks fine .It really wasnt a "strong" smell of burnt wood the night before but after 3 years of useing the woodstove it was the first time it happened ...likely never figure it out ...LOL...Thanks for input mario in Va
Mario....
I Form your description, it sounds as if wood smoke entered into your attic through the turbine vents, and this would be possible if the attic were at a lower pressure than the outside air. This could happen if the house were sealed up and the wood stove drew its combustion air from the only opening in the house... the attic vent. The open attic door provided an easy path for the stove to draw air through past of least resistance... the attic vent.
You might consider bring in an outside air source for the stove.
John
I Form your description, it sounds as if wood smoke entered into your attic through the turbine vents, and this would be possible if the attic were at a lower pressure than the outside air. This could happen if the house were sealed up and the wood stove drew its combustion air from the only opening in the house... the attic vent. The open attic door provided an easy path for the stove to draw air through past of least resistance... the attic vent.
You might consider bring in an outside air source for the stove.
John
My thought was if the air inlet into the attic plugged or too small then the turbine will draw air in where ever it can find it includinging the wood stove. I think very tight houses that do not have a outdoor air kit will at some point have a mystery smell..
nate vignola
New Member
- Jan 27, 2013
- 29
another scenario- if the turbines are venting the attic, creating a lower air pressure in the living space, it's possible that as the wind blows hard over the top of the roof, the backside of the roof becomes a low pressure (airfoil) and smoke is carried down to the ground and then into the living space.
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