Prevent The Smoky Odor Of A Fireplace

Written by Molly Webster Saturday, 28 May 2011 08:06

The winter has been a lengthy and cold one. So obviously, you have been regularly utilizing your wood fireplace to keep your den and living area warm. However soon after a few months, you have a smoky smell drifting through your household when there is no fire or wood in your fireplace, although you might have hardly ever noticed any sign of smoke coming into your living region when a fire is lit.

The winter has been a lengthy and cold one. So obviously, you have been regularly utilizing your wood fireplace to keep your den and living area warm. However soon after a few months, you have a smoky smell drifting through your household when there is no fire or wood in your fireplace, although you might have hardly ever noticed any sign of smoke coming into your living region when a fire is lit.

This can be a situation which is experienced by many following a lengthy winter. The fires will slow down, but there's still the unwanted smell of wood and smoke in your home.

First, you need to ensure that your fireplace is clean. From the bottom where you burn your wood to the top of the chimney, a dirty fireplace holds the smell of smoke and wood. If needed, a chimney sweep really should be hired to guarantee that the inside of your fireplace is clean. If the smell continues, there could possibly be other causes.

A fireplace is actually a main point of airflow in your home. While you burn your fire, an updraft is produced that presses the smoke and fire out of the chimney. Having said that, when there's no fire and, therefore, less updraft the airflow isn't pushed up and can truly reverse from other forces within your residence, bringing the smell into your livingroom. This frequently results in something called the "stack effect."

In taller, leakier homes or those with chimneys on outside walls exposed to outdoor temperatures, thermal influences bring a smoky smell into your household. As warm, lighter air rises in your household, it might get replaced by the cold, heavy air which is wanting to escape from your unused fireplace, allowing the smoky smell of wood creosote from your fireplace to infiltrate your living areas. Rainy weather can also increase the stack effect.

To stop the stack effect along with the associated smell, you'll need to create resistance to the flow of air from your chimney.

- Close the fireplace damper when you aren't making use of it, and check to make sure that your damper is not leaky.

- Add a tight-fitting glass fire screen. This can keep air from flowing in from your chimney.

- Mount a top-sealing damper at the top of your chimney. These are opened and closed by a cable through the inside of the flue.

- Give a source of outside combustion air to your other combustion appliances, like your furnace, wood stove or water heater, to minimize the demand for replacement air.

You could invest in a deodorizer to temporarily rid your living area of the smell of smoke and wood. Even so, making a couple of small modifications will greatly lessen the chance of the smell returning to the inside of your residence, regardless of how often you use your fireplace next winter.