Does anyone know how to use a fireplace without making the house smokey?

Question

We had it inspected and cleaned because the house is quite old, and it was fine. We use seasoned, dry wood. But last night we had our first fire of the season after making sure we did everything right, and the house still became smokey, and today I have a killer headache. What are we doing wrong? It would save us so much money on heating if we could figure out how to use it without smoking ourselves out.

Of course the damper is open.

I said that I had it cleaned and inspected, and everything was obviously clean and in working order. I also said that the damper was open.

Answer 1

RL and surelynot have your answer. The colder outside the more paper you'll want to get burning to heat the air in the flue. I light alot of paper under the wood and several crumpled pieces in my hand , held as high up the flue as I can reach. The trick is to have the paper under the wood lit as you're holding the paper up the flue without singing your arms. This never failed me, no matter how cold in Minnesota.

Answer 2

Sometimes the design of the fireplace is wrong.

A chimney lifts air & smoke by the hot air rising and pulling the smoky air up. If the opening is too large, it won't draw well but smoke will pour into your room

In that case, you would need to decrease the size of the fireplace. Here are 3 ways:
You can install glass doors to reduce the amount of your fireplace opening facing the room.
Or lift your fire higher into the firebox - raise the iron grating on top of a layer of fireclay bricks.
Or lower the top of your fireplace opening with a metal curtain. To test that approach, take a piece of heavy cardboard wider than the fireplace opening and hold it in front of your fireplace when you start a fire. Raise and lower the cardboard to adjust the draw. Then have a custom metal panel (curtain) fabricated and installed in your fireplace at the best height determined by your experiment with the cardboard.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does anyone know how to use a fireplace without making the house smokey?
We had it inspected and cleaned because the house is quite old, and it was fine. We use seasoned, dry wood. But last night we had our first fire of the season after making sure we did everything right, and the house still became smokey, and today I have a killer headache. What are we doing wrong?...

Answer 4

There is a "damper" in the chimney that can be opened or closed from the inside or on the front of the fireplace. You need to open this then slightly open a door or window in the room when you are lighting the fire, you should be able to see the smoke start to "draft" up the chimney. Once it starts to draft really good you can close the door or window. If it doesn't draft then you might not have the damper opened correctly, if it persists call a professional before you build another fire, you could potentially start your house on fire. By the way, I hope you have a fireproof rug on the floor in front of the fireplace, and doors or a screen on the front of the fireplace for safety reasons.

Answer 5

Sometimes it takes a while to get the smoke going in the right direction in the chimney. I used to live in a place like that, and what I did to get the air moving correctly was light a piece of newspaper and hold it above the wood, just under the flue. The air rising from the flame on the paper would heat the air in the chimney so that the cold air on top did not hold down the hot, smoky air on bottom. Then, when the fire was lit at the same time, the air would draw correctly.

Answer 6

Since you've stated that you have had your fireplace and chimney inspected and cleaned the problem must be in technique. Open a window near your fireplace to provide replacement air for combustion. Light your wood, then use a bundle of burning newspaper held as close to your open damper as possible to get the air moving up the chimney. Remember you will have to keep the window open to provide fresh air. It sounds like you may have got Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Do not go to bed and let the fire burn out on its own, as the fire dies down and starts to smolder the warm air going up the chimney starts to cool and may eventually start to come back down the chimney and into your home bringing carbon monoxide gases with it. Check with a local fireplace company for complete instructions on properly lighting and using a fireplace to heat your home.

Answer 7

make sure the flew(sp?) is open. i had a problem with the flew at my old house. the lew itself was fine, but there was a gap where the flew met the indide of the chimney. the smoke was not going out through the flew, it was going into the ceiling (or the floor of the second story). i little bit of mortar fixed my problem. may be worth a look.
there are a couple things you can do to trouble shoot. start a small fire and follow the smoke. is the smoke being drawn away from the flew by some other leak in a wall, door, window, etc; does it go up the chimney but doesn't make it out; can you see smoke anywhere else in the house as the fire gets started?

Answer 8

when you said - "had it cleaned" do you mean you cleaned the chimney as well? the firebox might be clean but the chimney could have alot of built up soot, creosote and other toxins which could be why you have a headache. In addition, did you check your flue and flue mechanism? If that's not secure the heat might close it. Finally you might want to adjust WHERE in the firebox you set the fire. It might be too close to the front and there might not be enough draw up the chimney to pull the fire up. You also might want to put a fan at the top of the chimney to draw the smoke up and out.

Answer 9

I always try to light a piece of twisted paper and allow in to burn above the wood, holding it up in the entrance to the chimney area to establish a good updraft before I light the fire. Usually the start of the fire is when you'll get smoke as the down draft of cold air from the outside tries to come down the chimney.
The other times you might get smoke in the house is if it is really windy outside (or even just big gusts) or if your chimney design is lacking.

Answer 10

Depending upon where in the room your fireplace is located, it's possible to cause smoke to come back down into the room every time you open an outside door in that room.