Smoke filling room hours after the fire goes out

[BigWilly]

I recently purhcased a house that has a great cast iron wood burning fireplace. It's one that fully closes. I've managed to master the art of lighting the fire without smoking up the room, however recently I've noticed that sometimes, hours after the fire goes out there is still smoke left in the fireplace if I open the door and at times the smoke will even start leaking out of the fireplace even up to 10 -12 hours after the fire has gone out the next day.

There are still sometimes some small burning cinders in the fireplace, but I'm wondering how can I stop this from happening.
While the fire is burning all the smoke goes up the chimney and has no problems clearing out, but a few times now I'll come back hours later or wake up in the morning only to notice the room is now filled with smoke.

Any ideas?
I have noticed that when this happens, if I open a window or door so cold air from outside fills the room the smoke stops leaking out of the fireplace.

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

Can you post a picture or two of the fireplace? Is this a Franklin stove? What you are describing sounds like draft reversal. This can be very dangerous and life threatening. Is there a CO detector in the room?

 

[BigWilly]

Sure. I have used the fireplace a fair amount and this wasn't happening originally but only started more recently I've noticed.

I used to have issues with draft at the start of lighting a fire but I've managed to avoid that now but now after I think the cast iron cools it has a back draft I think. I do have a carbon monoxide detector in the room and a few others in the house.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the pictures. This is a conventional wood stove installation. It's steel, not cast iron. Is it installed in a basement? If not, is the house very tightly sealed?

 

[jetsam]

Put up some photos of the flue from outside the house too... I would not burn that stove until you get the reverse draft sorted out.

Are you sure your CO detectors work? I don't see how they could not be going off if the stove's full of coals and it's venting into the house.

Have you cleaned chimney the cap or swept the flue yet?

 

[BigWilly]

Sorry, steel, thought it was iron, but i'm definitely not an expert on these by any means.

This is the flue from the outside of the house. I had a chimney sweeper check it and clean it at the start of the season a few months ago in September. This problem wasn't really happening until a few weeks ago, or at least that's when i first noticed it will leak from around the door and the air vents in the side. Also I don't have a backdraft when the fire is burning, only after the stove goes out; is that normal?

It isn't in the basement, it is in the living room. I've used it probably hundreds of times but this has only started happening the last 3 or 4. I've noticed if I throw water on everything at the end so absolutely nothign is smoldering while the stove is still hot it tends to not happen.

As for the room being well insulated or sealed, it definitely isn't. The rest of the house is usually very warm due to heating but that one room is always quite cold and very drafty until the first is going and roaring.

As for my CO detectors, I think they're working. They're not battery run, they plug into wall, when i hit the test button it beeps and the alarm goes off, but so far it's not rung outside of the test button yet.

 

[CRJ700]

How much have you burned this season? If your saying this is a new problem I would have it cleaned and inspected again before using it.. If you have a blockage in the pipe it could be causing this.

 

[jetsam]

Given that it used to work and now it doesn't, and that the stove is in a leaky room, I am thinking that maybe you have very poor draft, not a draft reversal.

The cap's not plugged. It is possible that you either had very rapid creosote buildup in the flue (doubtful because you'd see lots of crud on the cap), or that you have a squirrel or a bird in there.

Also possible that whoever swept it last swept the vertical parts only, leaving a big pile of crud in the horizontal section?

Is your house in a valley?

My next step would be to look inside that horizontal section of pipe, and also inside the the flue collar on the stove. Look for anything that would restrict airflow (piles of sweepings, fried squirrels, etc).

 

[firefighterjake]

Given that it used to work and now it doesn't, and that the stove is in a leaky room, I am thinking that maybe you have very poor draft, not a draft reversal.

The cap's not plugged. It is possible that you either had very rapid creosote buildup in the flue (doubtful because you'd see lots of crud on the cap), or that you have a squirrel or a bird in there.

Also possible that whoever swept it last swept the vertical parts only, leaving a big pile of crud in the horizontal section?

Is your house in a valley?

My next step would be to look inside that horizontal section of pipe, and also inside the the flue collar on the stove. Look for anything that would restrict airflow (piles of sweepings, fried squirrels, etc).

+1 . . . and doing it sooner rather than later would be advised.

Also, to reply to the OP . . . When the test button on CO detectors, much like smoke detectors, is pressed they really are only testing for two things: power and the audible alarm -- it does not test the actual sensing unit (which is why we recommend replacing smoke detectors every 10 years and following the CO detector manufacturer's specific change out recommendations as I have seen these be as much as every 3 years to every 7 years.)

 

[begreen]

Weak draft is definitely a possibility. The stove wants about 15' of flue. There are two right angle turns in this flue system which slows down flue gases and effectively reduces the height by about 4-6 ft. If the chimney outside is only ~12' then adding 3-4' of chimney with a brace at 5' above the roof edge brace and it should perform much better.

What is the stove make/model?

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

View attachment 223316

Sorry, steel, thought it was iron, but i'm definitely not an expert on these by any means.

This is the flue from the outside of the house. I had a chimney sweeper check it and clean it at the start of the season a few months ago in September. This problem wasn't really happening until a few weeks ago, or at least that's when i first noticed it will leak from around the door and the air vents in the side. Also I don't have a backdraft when the fire is burning, only after the stove goes out; is that normal?

It isn't in the basement, it is in the living room. I've used it probably hundreds of times but this has only started happening the last 3 or 4. I've noticed if I throw water on everything at the end so absolutely nothign is smoldering while the stove is still hot it tends to not happen.

As for the room being well insulated or sealed, it definitely isn't. The rest of the house is usually very warm due to heating but that one room is always quite cold and very drafty until the first is going and roaring.

As for my CO detectors, I think they're working. They're not battery run, they plug into wall, when i hit the test button it beeps and the alarm goes off, but so far it's not rung outside of the test button yet.

I think you're getting some good advice regarding the potential causes.

I'd just add that perhaps if you open the air up toward the end of the fire, you can get a better draft and stop some of the smouldering.

I'd also caution you against throwing water into the stove. All kinds of stuff can go wrong doing that.

I wonder if your chimney damper might have something to do with it. Does it turn freely?

Are all the joints on the chimney pipe inside the house still tight and sound?

 

[jetsam]

It occurs to me that sweeping that particular flue with a sooteater would probably also plug the horizontal section eventually, so even if you sweep the whole run, it's going to plug if you don't get in there and get the crud out of the horizontal section.