johnnyr@ihu1n.UUCP (John R. Rosenberg) (12/02/85)
About a year ago we bought our first house. The fireplace was equiped with a removable gas burner and "brick" logs. We used this set-up all of last winter, and while it was very nice and kept us warm, we decided to take it out this year and try burning wood. The problem is that the chimney draws poorly both during the lighting period and after the fire is established, causing more than a little wood smoke to billow into the room. I should mention that the fireplace is built into a brick wall forming the hypotenuse to a corner of our family room, and has both a metal screen and glass doors. When the doors are closed, the fire burns better (hotter), and the flue draws well. When I open the glass doors to add wood, or let more heat into the room, then in comes the smoke. The flue appears clean, both from looking up the chimney, and looking down it from the roof. Anyone out in net.land know how to improve the draw in a chimney, or possible causes of poor draw in general. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks... John Rosenberg AT&T Network Systems ihnp4!ihu1n!johnnyr
elliot@well.UUCP (Elliot Fabric) (12/04/85)
To improve draw, either add a chimney extension, prefabricated units are sold, or decrease the size of the opening into the fireplace (opening between living space and fire box). A steel bar horizontally over the top of the opening works, so does glass doors. A chimney service can do all of these things.
suze@terak.UUCP (Suzanne Barnett) (12/04/85)
> ... > The problem is that the chimney draws poorly both during > the lighting period and after the fire is established, causing > more than a little wood smoke to billow into the room. "Warming" the chimney should help. Do this by crumpling some newspaper slightly, lighting it and holding it up close to the damper, or as far up as you can reach. Do this while in the early stages of lighting the fire, before its gotten well started. > a metal screen and glass doors. When the doors are closed, the fire > burns better (hotter), and the flue draws well. When I open the glass > doors to add wood, or let more heat into the room, then > in comes the smoke. I don't know what to do about this other than possibly placing the wood farther back into the fireplace or setting it on a higher cradle. -- ************************************************************** Suzanne Barnett-Scott uucp: ...{decvax,ihnp4,noao,savax,seismo}!terak!suze phone: (602) 998-4800 us mail: CalComp/Sanders Display Products Division (Formerly Terak Corporation) 14151 N 76th street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
earlw@pesnta.UUCP (Earl Wallace) (12/04/85)
The fireplace in the house I was in last week would fill the room with smoke when we first started the fire. It was a great way to get a headace. The cure seemed to be leaving a door cracked open to the outside until the fire got hot enough. Maybe you have a similar problem. It is possible the house is too air-tight? -earlw
ray@othervax.UUCP (Raymond D. Dunn) (12/05/85)
In article <301@ihu1n.UUCP> johnnyr@ihu1n.UUCP (John R. Rosenberg) writes: >........ >Anyone out in net.land know how to improve the draw in a chimney, or >possible causes of poor draw in general. Any advice or suggestions >would be appreciated. Several devices can be bought which work equally well. All operate on the principle of using the wind to reduce the pressure in the chimney. The two main styles are: a) An "inverted L" shaped extension to the chimney which has a vane on it and can rotate, so that the open end is always kept pointing down-wind. b) A spinner type device on top of the chimney (known as a "granny" in my native Scotland), which rotates in the wind, and sucks air up the chimney. This device can sometimes become annoyingly noisy. These are often also seen as attic forced ventilators. Before installing such a device you should consider other factors. Is your chimney too wide? This can also affect its draft. Perhaps the installation of a chimney "damper" would do the trick. Test this by partially blocking the chimney (something non-combustible of course!) If your chimney is in the wind shadow of an adjacent taller building, even adding a straight extension pipe to the top could be effective. Ray Dunn. ..philabs!micomvax!othervax!ray
hankb@teklds.UUCP (Hank Buurman) (12/06/85)
In article <2921@pesnta.UUCP> earlw@pesnta.UUCP (Earl Wallace) writes: >The fireplace in the house I was in last week would fill the room >with smoke when we first started the fire. It was a great way to >get a headace. The cure seemed to be leaving a door cracked open >to the outside until the fire got hot enough. Maybe you have a >similar problem. It is possible the house is too air-tight? > >-earlw The problem is the temperature of the flue. When you start your fire, burn a couple of sheets of newspaper on top of your wood. The sudden heat up the flue will get it to start drawing. -- Hank Buurman Tektronix Inc. ihnp4!tektronix!dadlac!hankb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Firey, the angels fell. Deep thunder rolled 'round the shores, burning with the fires of Orc." -- Roy Baty, Nexus 6, Combat Model, N6MAA10816 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
dugdale@camlot.DEC (Susan Dugdale CSSE MKO1-2/K13 264-4824) (12/10/85)
>The fireplace in the house I was in last week would fill the >room with smoke when we first started the fire. It was a great >way to get a headace. The cure seemed to be leaving a door >cracked open to the outside until the fire got hot enough. >Maybe you have a similar problem. It is possible the house is >too air-tight? > >-earlw Hmm, I concur with everyone who has suggested that heating up the chimmney with burning paper will help establish a draft. However, it has occurred to me that I can always get my coal stove lit (you need a good hot wood fire to ignite coal) on the third try -- after I have filled the house up with smoke and opened the slider to help air it out. Next time it goes out (hopefully not until next spring) I plan on testing the theory by opening the door first. By the way, I am new at heating with coal and am so far very impressed. I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who has helpful hints to offer. Susan ....!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-camlot!dugdale or (I think) dugdale%camlot.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
jss@ihu1e.UUCP (Smith) (12/12/85)
/** burn this **/ > > a metal screen and glass doors. When the doors are closed, the fire > > burns better (hotter), and the flue draws well. When I open the glass > > doors to add wood, or let more heat into the room, then > > in comes the smoke. Try to make sure the the doors are all the way open. If you open them part way they act like a chimney drawing coold room air from the bottom and expelling smoke from the top. (We had some that were a bad design so that when they were open the glass part always extended. We got Sears to exchange them.) -- J. S. Smith AT&T IW There are lots of opinions around this place, but these are mine and no one else's (pitty the poor soul if they do share mine.)