Smokey living room days after fire - help please!

[afeddy05]

We recently switched from gas (propane) fireplace back to wood burning. Had it inspected and was told all is good

We lit a fire on Thursday evening, stayed lit, burned well, no smoke. Had a fire on Friday and Saturday, couldn't keep it lit and smoked. Now the living room stinks, bad and we can't get rid of the smell 3+ days later. It has almost a cigarette smoke stink to it. Now we don't want to use the fireplace for fear of making it worse!

Any suggestions? Looking for any help at this point...

 

[spudman99]

With regard to the smoke odor, you will need an oder neutralizer to help get rid of that, not something like febreeze. Try getting some Odoban from HD, you can spray the furniture, carpet, walls and drapes and that will help eat away the smell.

Your bad fire on Fri/Sat... probably due to wet wood, meaning high internal moisture content.

 

[afeddy05]

With regard to the smoke odor, you will need an oder neutralizer to help get rid of that, not something like febreeze. Try getting some Odoban from HD, you can spray the furniture, carpet, walls and drapes and that will help eat away the smell.

Your bad fire on Fri/Sat... probably due to wet wood, meaning high internal moisture content.

Ok, thank you!

Will leaving damper open help or will it just make it worse with downdraft?

I got “seasoned” oak wood and is what I used on Saturday. Is there a way to tell if it’s dried out enough to use?

 

[blacktail]

Moisture meters can be found under $20. Resplit a piece of wood and test the newly exposed face. Under 20% moisture is recommended.
This is an open fireplace, correct?

 

[afeddy05]

Moisture meters can be found under $20. Resplit a piece of wood and test the newly exposed face. Under 20% moisture is recommended.
This is an open fireplace, correct?

We have glass doors on it. We can take them off, is that recommended?

Doors were open while we had fire going

 

[Ludlow]

Is there chunky unburnt coals left in the fireplace? Clean out the fireplace well and see if it improves. Was the entire chimney professionally cleaned? With an open fireplace you need to burn hot and lively all the time. The ashes left should be like talc or it will stink.

 

[afeddy05]

Is there chunky unburnt coals left in the fireplace? Clean out the fireplace well and see if it improves. Was the entire chimney professionally cleaned? With an open fireplace you need to burn hot and lively all the time. The ashes left should be like talc or it will stink.

We cleaned the ashes out the day after because we thought that was causing the smell and it hasn't helped.

 

[Ludlow]

There may be excessive creosote in the smoke shelf. Again, was it professionally cleaned? Leaving the damper open will not make it better. The next day following a fire we always were reminded to close the damper because of the smell of downdraft.

 

[afeddy05]

There may be excessive creosote in the smoke shelf. Again, was it professionally cleaned? Leaving the damper open will not make it better. The next day following a fire we always were reminded to close the damper because of the smell of downdraft.

It was not professionally cleaned this season. I was told during inspection last week it was not needed.

We did have it swept in 2018 before we used it as gas fireplace, but since converting to wood burning this year, we did not have it cleaned. Last week was our first wood burning fire.

 

[SculptureOfSound]

some measurements that can tell us a lot about potential design issues with the fireplace:

height of fireplace
dimensions of the flue (you can either lean into the fireplace look up and measure or measure from the roof) (width x height)
dimensions of the fireplace opening (width x height)

my fireplace had a front opening that was too big for the flue and always had smoky fires. the fix then is to reduce the fireplace opening size (can use sheet metal as a temp fix or stone/brick for something more permanent).

we decided instead to switch to an insert and are much happier having gone this route. now i can heat the whole house while burning rather than actually losing heat with an open fireplace. (and dealing with days of smoke smell like you are)

 

[afeddy05]

some measurements that can tell us a lot about potential design issues with the fireplace:

height of fireplace
dimensions of the flue (you can either lean into the fireplace look up and measure or measure from the roof) (width x height)
dimensions of the fireplace opening (width x height)

my fireplace had a front opening that was too big for the flue and always had smoky fires. the fix then is to reduce the fireplace opening size (can use sheet metal as a temp fix or stone/brick for something more permanent).

we decided instead to switch to an insert and are much happier having gone this route. now i can heat the whole house while burning rather than actually losing heat with an open fireplace. (and dealing with days of smoke smell like you are)

Thanks. I can do that. A couple of questions.

Height of fireplace - is that total height of chimney?

Dimensions of flue - would this be the same as height of chimney or is this something different?

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Sorry was posting before coffee and was rather unclear. Yeah I meant height of chimney and the flue size would be the measurement of the opening at the inside top of the fireplace (for an open fireplace this will typically be rectangular clay flue tiles, mine were about 6x8 inches if I recall)

 

[Ignem]

Is it a smell because the stove isn't fired (it has gotten cold) and the downdraft flow is pumping air (being "filtered" through ash) into your house?

Or does the smell happen when you get the flue temps up and the airflow is going up and out?

A cold setup with downdraft can make it hard to light and consequently pump smoke into the room until you get the flue warm enough—and sure, that can make a smell until you get the flow going the right direction. But if you aren't running the stove at all and it is cold and you don't have an air block in place and you have ashes in the stove, it will pump that smell into the room. In that case, it is by actually running the stove and keeping the flue hot that you can eliminate the smell.