Wood Fireplace and getting fresh air intake

[BurntTech]

I'm looking to fix some smoke issues with an existing wood burning fireplace by adding fresh air intake. I feel like this topic has been brought up alot of times but didn't seem to get a solid answer. Part of it be with inserts and or wood stoves in the mix. The previous home owner abated this issue by adding an insert. We would like the option to have the doors open and it burns poorly with the doors closed. Without a window or door open the fireplace doesn't draft and smoke comes into the house. It takes about 2-3 inches before it will suck air up the chimney. As for the air pressure in the house I tested with the furnace, water heater and dryer all off. So the air intake in the utility room might not be enough for the fireplace which is fine. I don't really want to add more fresh air make up to the utility room as all that cold air would come through the house when the fireplace is on. If windows and doors open fix the fireplace draft issue I should be able to conclude adding a fresh air intake in the fire box should fix this and keep cold air from coming in the house? I'm having a hard time trying to contractors to agree to do this which seems weird.

 

[sadpanda]

Please answer all of the following:

have you had a liner/cap inspection, what size liner, what stove, how many feet of pipe, what type of pipe, do you have a manometer, how many years have you been burning, what is your startup procedure, what temp was it outside when you tried to start up

most inserts do not have provisions for outside air.

 

[BurntTech]

Please answer all of the following:

have you had a liner/cap inspection, what size liner, what stove, how many feet of pipe, what type of pipe, do you have a manometer, how many years have you been burning, what is your startup procedure, what temp was it outside when you tried to start up

most inserts do not have provisions for outside air.

Sorry I miss stated, its a blower with glass doors for wood burning fires. Not a gas insert

9-10inch red clay and I think it was between 7-11ft of liner. We normally have fires early fall all the way to late spring 8 years in this house. The temps range from 50F outside to -20F for fires. This is not used to heat the house as a furnance. Normally using heart wood like Fatwood branded is the startup procedure after opening the damper. We have tested using a blow dryer to get the chimney warm as a start up but didn't change the smoke drafting into the house.

I might be missing the mark on the chimney size and air pressures? If I understand correctly the larger a chimney would be would allow it send more CFM of smoke up based on temperature differencess. Doesn't it still need the air make up from somewhere to support the combustion I wouldn't assume air could be coming down the chimney at the same time its going out.