[FBtquXT8]

Me and my uncle made an conservatory with a aopen fire. Recentley we have been having problems with smoke not getting drawn out the chimdy correctly and some smoke is entering the room, obviously very dangerous.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? my guess was the chimney is too short or we could do with a new one the same lenth but thicker to allow more smoke to exit.

heres 2 pics

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2

[FBtquXT8]

Bugger, could a mod move this to Gen forum please. Thanks.

[mussmicky]

my guess was the chimney is too short

That and the chimney is "outside" so the retaining air inside will be at the same temperature as the air outside - therefore when you light a fire, you will a large mass air at quite a low temperature making it difficult to force the whole lot up the chimney. Although the chimney height doesn't look to be too short (difficult to tell from the pictures), if it's less than ten feet you'll need to try lighting the stove with something that will burn very quickly and very hot, that will fit part way into the chimney - a full newspaper rolled up might work well. The heat it generates should be sufficient, if stuffed slightly up the chimney, to shift enough of the air to create a proper draft.

Edit: I forgot to say that you don't want to be making the chimney wider: that will just increase the amount of cold air near the fire that you will need to shift - i.e. it will just make your problem worse.

[FBtquXT8]

That and the chimney is "outside" so the retaining air inside will be at the same temperature as the air outside - therefore when you light a fire, you will a large mass air at quite a low temperature making it difficult to force the whole lot up the chimney. Although the chimney height doesn't look to be too short (difficult to tell from the pictures), if it's less than ten feet you'll need to try lighting the stove with something that will burn very quickly and very hot, that will fit part way into the chimney - a full newspaper rolled up might work well. The heat it generates should be sufficient, if stuffed slightly up the chimney, to shift enough of the air to create a proper draft.

Edit: I forgot to say that you don't want to be making the chimney wider: that will just increase the amount of cold air near the fire that you will need to shift - i.e. it will just make your problem worse.

I did give that a thought, but we can have the fire burning the for the entire day/night ans it will start doing it all of a sudden, after a few hours burning there should be suficient heat to make the smoke clear?. Also i gave wind a thought, but then gusting of wind across the top of the chimney should help draw the smoke out.

[NerbuitW]

How many doors do you have into and out of the room?

My folks have an open fire, in a room with 3 exits (2 on the same wall as the fire, one on the opposite side of the room).

We found that if the door on the other side of the room was left open (even slightly), then smoke would spill into the room instead of drawing up the chimney. The two doors on the same wall as the fire made no difference if they were open or closed.

Try first closing all the doors into the room, then if that does not work, try different combinations until you find one that works. If nothing does, then it might be a chimney / flue issue....

Looking at your photos, the chimney also looks quite narrow and small. Was it fitted professionally, or is it a DIY job?

[12Cickprior]

Answer is simple. To have a draw of air up the chimney to remove the fumes, you need a flow of air into the conservatory to replace the air taken up the chimney by the heat. I have a open fire, and with the doors all closed and since having draught proof double glazing installed, smoke spills out of the fireplace setting off the mains powered smoke detector that is also linked to the smoke detector upstairs!! Leave a door or window open, and the smoke goes up the chimney fine, albeit with a cold draught coming into the room, but theyre is nothing you can do about that! Have you got a air brick in the wall near the fireplace?

[Teprophopay]

Seems we're all on the same page - to let the smoke out, you have to let air in.
You may also want to experiment with the spacing of the cap on the top of the chimney.

[FBtquXT8]

Seems we're all on the same page - to let the smoke out, you have to let air in.
You may also want to experiment with the spacing of the cap on the top of the chimney.

Had to take the cap off because it doesnt let enough smoke out. problem wasnt there for about a monthe then all of a sudden its started happening. door , window combinations arnt working, i thought that the chimney was too smal and not capable of clearing enough smoke from the fire, we are going to try bring the fire forward so the smoke will get sucked into the flew instead of lingering in there.

[mussmicky]

Looking at your photos, the chimney also looks quite narrow and small.

The size of the chimney has to be in proportion to the dimensions and type of fire being used: you don't automatically want a wider chimney as this will simply increase the amount of cold air that needs to be raised out of the chimney for a proper draft to start. Height is probably the most fundamental design, as well as having air circulation (as pointed out by others): by law, new houses are supposed to have vent bricks in the walls of the same room as the solid fuel fire.

[verizon]

lol **** me it looks like something out of Auschwitz

you might wanna have that flu fan assisted old chap

[FBtquXT8]

lol **** me it looks like something out of Auschwitz

you might wanna have that flu fan assisted old chap

LOL [thumbup]

Yeh the fans are £100 tho, and if that doesnt solve the smoke problems then its £100 wasted

[FBtquXT8]

We have fixed the problem, had to rasie a few thigns, i will add some pics in a while.

[verizon]

We have fixed the problem, had to rasie a few thigns, i will add some pics in a while.

I bet you raised the seat of the fire so it could draw air

[FBtquXT8]

I bet you raised the seat of the fire so it could draw air

No. The big steal flu part needed raising up, and we re bricked a section on the sides on the inside.

[12Cickprior]

Pics? [thumbup]