Smoke leaking inside the house.

[Dantheman300z]

Hey, looking for a little guidance. Now that it is the shoulder season again, we aren't needing fires as often but wanting to take the chill off happens on occasion. I have been noticing that from our single wall to double that smoke has been leaking when I have the door open during a start up. Wondering why this is happening now as it never did before. Any thoughts? Here is a pic of where I am getting the smoke.

It is leaking out at the first two double wall seams.

 

[CenterTree]

Draft will often decrease when the weather gets warmer. The "draw" will not be as strong.

 

[Dantheman300z]

Yeah I understand that but it will leak at the pipe joints? That doesn't seem right to me.

 

[Heftiger]

Last time I had smoke leaking from the joints my cap was plugged. Does smoke come out of the door?

 

[Dantheman300z]

Yes there is smoke that comes out of the door when I open it. That would make sense but I am still able to get a good fire, well I am not using it until I get it cleaned out now.

 

[webby3650]

I'd say your cap is partially plugged up, it's pretty common this late in the season.

 

[kennyp2339]

Clean your cap and chimney pipe, make sure your baffle boards are out when doing that if you have them, I once made that mistake..

 

[Dantheman300z]

Haha alright. Thanks guys. Plan on buying a sooteater this week.

 

[begreen]

The sooteater may not be able to do as good a job on the cap screen as pulling the cap and brushing the screen clean.

 

[heavy hammer]

As Begreen said a light brush will clean the cap nicely. After the burning season I pull mine an give it a nice once over the garbage can cleans almost as good as new. Just be gentle, the hard stuff use a small flat screwdriver or butter knife once again slow and easy. It will be as good as new.

 

[Parallax]

After dealing with major leakage from day one, we've replaced the cap with one that can't clog and resists down-drafting. That's helped a lot. We still tend to get some leakage, which we've now pinpointed to the door gasket, but it's far far less than it had been. So little in fact that many people wouldn't even notice. My wife has a really good nose so I know it's not perfect. But few things in life are.

 

[Dantheman300z]

Yeah I can understand the sooteater not working on the cap screen. I just meant that when I clean the chimney I will clean the cap too.

 

[Kevin*]

Get the fire hotter faster is the only thing I have found that helps