Fireplaces, Heating Stoves, Flues and Chimneys - Fireplace Stink

There is a smell of stale burnt wood emanating from our fireplace that fills much of our living room. I know its normal for fireplaces to smell but this seems like a bit much. I figured when we had a chimney sweep recently it would help but it didn't. The smell seems to be worse when its hotter out. The flue is closed. Is there something I can do to reduce this smell?

You probably have a flow of air down the chimney and into the room. Do you have a "whole house" fan that you are using during the hotter weather? Or perhaps running kitchen range hood and/or bathroom exhaust fans?

Or maybe your house is situated where you can open a few windows and get "cross ventilation" from prevailing winds? Any of these could result in a "negative pressure" inside the house which will allow outside air to go down the chimney and into the room. Fireplace dampers usually do not do much to seal against downdrafts.

You could install a "top damper" on the top of the chimney. These seal far better than fireplace dampers. They are operated by a chain/cable arrangement from the inside of the fireplace. A good set of glass doors would also help.

no whole house fan... the sweep did mention that the chimney cap did not cover the chimney top entirely (incorrect installation)..maybe that is part of the problem the fireplace actually has glass doors that close pretty tightly...

Furd is on the right track. In addition, the comment that the cap may be allowing some rain down the chimney can be adding to the smell. A brick fireplace was never intended to be air tight and with any negative pressure inside the home the air inside the chimney will leak into the house, even tight glass doors are not air tight. If the mason who built your fireplace were to build a 4' square box using the same brick and mortar and then installed a pipe where air pressure could be applied to the inside of the box, like blowing up a balloon, it wouldn't be able to hold any pressure.

If you crack a window in the same room as the fireplace and feel air coming in, that is part of the same pressure your fireplace is dealing with. Furd's suggestion of a "top damper" or an air exchange system that adds positive pressure to the home are options.

GL
Bud

A couple questions...

I have central air, shouldn't that be pumping air into the home and balancing the air pressure? I cracked a window and didn't notice any air flowing in. We actually rarely have much of a breeze through the windows as we are surrounded by woods.



Is there anyway to combat his smell besides installing a new damper on top of the chimney?

Your central only circulates air within your house. It does not (hopefully) pull in outside air or exhaust it unless you have a designed air exchange system. The window is just a quick check, but all homes have a stack effect where warmer air leaks out the upper areas and replacement air seeps in through the lower areas. Whether your chimney is contributing to this can only be assumed because you are getting odors.

Another easy test would be to tape and seal as best possible the glass doors and the clean out access to see if that stops the smell.

Bud

Your central only circulates air within your house. It does not (hopefully) pull in outside air or exhaust it unless you have a designed air exchange system. The window is just a quick check, but all homes have a stack effect where warmer air leaks out the upper areas and replacement air seeps in through the lower areas. Whether your chimney is contributing to this can only be assumed because you are getting odors.

Another easy test would be to tape and seal as best possible the glass doors and the clean out access to see if that stops the smell.

Bud

Could the fact that the fireplace and living room area are on the second floor of the house possibly have anything to do with it?

When your AC is running it creates a slight vacuum also known as negative pressure that is trying to suck air in from the outside. If you've ever tried to come out of a store and had to push the door really hard to break the vacuum seal, this is what happens in homes sometimes and will suck air from any opening to the outside: kitchen and bath exhaust fans, slight gaps around doors and windows, you may not be able to feel it, but it happens.

Where are you located and how tight are your doors/windows.

When your AC is running it creates a slight vacuum also known as negative pressure that is trying to suck air in from the outside. If you've ever tried to come out of a store and had to push the door really hard to break the vacuum seal, this is what happens in homes sometimes and will suck air from any opening to the outside: kitchen and bath exhaust fans, slight gaps around doors and windows, you may not be able to feel it, but it happens.

Where are you located and how tight are your doors/windows.


Where am I located? The house is on a wooded acre, on a hill. Most of the windows are single pane, most are quite leaky.

I would like to add that I do have a bath exhaust fan (I forgot to mention this previously) I have taken two steps that seem to helped a little. I cracked one of the windows in the living room and we now leave the bathroom window wide open when we run the exhaust fan.

LMAO !!!! I ment what city, state are you located in.

With those things helping tells me that it is a negative pressure problem. Maybe you can post this in the heating/AC section of the forum. The AC guys may be able to solve your problem.

LMAO !!!! I ment what city, state are you located in.


:o:o:o Media,PA

With those things helping tells me that it is a negative pressure problem. Maybe you can post this in the heating/AC section of the forum. The AC guys may be able to solve your problem.

thanks

My husband and I had the same issue with our fireplace. We looked all over the internet for a solution. Since we are in Canada we found this site for chimney liners (http://www.chimneylinerdepot.ca). We contacted them and they were very helpful. In our case it was the fact our insulation adn liner were deteriorating and had to be replaced.

Your central only circulates air within your house. It does not (hopefully) pull in outside air or exhaust it unless you have a designed air exchange system. The window is just a quick check, but all homes have a stack effect where warmer air leaks out the upper areas and replacement air seeps in through the lower areas. Whether your chimney is contributing to this can only be assumed because you are getting odors.

Another easy test would be to tape and seal as best possible the glass doors and the clean out access to see if that stops the smell.

Bud

The glass door insert has some gray fiberglass-like substance pushed between it and the stone fireplace itself to help seal the gap between the two. Any idea what this stuff might be? I could probably use some more.

My husband and I had the same issue with our fireplace. We looked all over the internet for a solution. Since we are in Canada we found this site for chimney liners (http://www.chimneylinerdepot.ca). We contacted them and they were very helpful. In our case it was the fact our insulation adn liner were deteriorating and had to be replaced.

The house had the chimney thoroughly inspected last year by the previous owner. The report mentions gaps and damage at the clay liner joints but nothing else.

The report also mentions multiple issues with the smoke chamber and a crack to the chimney cap (mortar). Not sure if these could contribute to the smell issue.

I had a very bad smolly fireplace problem after i had the bright idea to burn some fresh unseasoned cherry wood. What a rude suprise that smell was!

What has worked for me to stop persistant fireplace smell problems is to put in a chimney balloon and then deoderize the firebox by liberally applying baking soda to everything in the firebox (south of the balloon) and let it set 2 days before vacuuming it all up.

The chimney balloon sealed off the chimney so it could vent to the outside untill the smell died down again. The baking soda nuetralized everything under the balloon. I was pretty proud of how well it worked and that made up for how stupid i felt for burning green cherry wood.