? For those of you with fireplaces

[bodiesmom]

My living room smells like smoke. I've had the cleaner guy out to sweep the chimney and he said it didn't need to be done. Clean as a whistle. I've purchased an air purifier which does nothing to reduce the smell. It doesn't smell strong all the time, just particularly on cold, damp days. I'm in the PNW so basically just about everyday. I keep the damper closed when we aren't burning. I crack open the windows to create another avenue for the air to come in when the heater is on. It isn't smoky, it just smells like smoke (the kreosote smell I think it is?).

 

Anyone experience this? Any ideas to make it go away?

[Joker]

Have you changed your AC filter lately? Ours gets that way sometimes after using the fireplace but goes away if we replace the filter.

[bodiesmom]

Good point. My dh changed them about 4-5 months ago. They very well may need to be changed again. 😄 Thank you for the suggestion

[gardenmom5]

are  you in a house - or apartment?

 

does  your furnace vent through the fireplace?

 

do you have smoke smell if  the windows are closed?  or the damper open?

 

have you cleaned the ashes out of your fireplace?

 

how long have you been here?  were the previous occupants  smokers?   (it can get in everything)

 

just throwing out some things to think about possible sources.

[bodiesmom]

Great questions!

 

We are in a home

 

Furnace does not vent through fireplace

 

Yes, we do have smoke smell with windows closed, but having the damper open does seem to alleviate it...sometimes. The fireplace technician who came out said to keep it closed and that would help with the smell. I'm going to try and keep it open for a spell just to see if it does indeed help. It will be worth any heat being lost through the chimney

 

Ashes are cleaned out as well as burned wood that hadn't burned completely. It hasn't made a difference

 

We've been in the home since last summer, and the previous owners were not smokers. Besides, this is a campfire smoke smell, not a cigarette smoke smell.

 

Thanks! Gardenmom5- 😄

[chicagoshannon]

I grew up in a house with a fireplace.  We never had the smoke smell unless we actually had a fire going.  We hardly ever remembered to close the damper.  Our only issue with not closing it was getting birds inside. ;)

 

I'd just keep it open.

[bodiesmom]

Yeah, I grew up with a fireplace, and our home when we were first married had a fireplace, and I don't remember a smell problem like this at all.

I just opened the damper...hopefully no birds come flying down the chimney. Ha!

 

But seriously, this smell is awful. It irritates my asthma, and at times it makes my eyes burn. This certainly can't be good for long term lung health. Ugh.

[Critterfixer]

We have a screen at the top of our chimney that sometimes gets absolutely filthy with soot. Every time we have smoke backing up that thing is usually in need of a cleaning.

[Garga]

We had to stop using our fireplace because my husband and kids would get horrible coughs in the winter.  My dh didn't want to believe it, but it seemed to be related to the fireplace.

 

It would get a bad smell on days with a high pressure system.  The air was pushing down into the chimney and coming into the house rather than going up.  So, rainy days were bad and humid days. I wish I could help you.  We loved the fireplace before we realized it was making us hack for months at a time.  And that smell could be nasty and kind of get in the back of your throat sort of--an acrid smell.  We haven't had it ever since we stopped using the fireplace for a long time.

 

[zoobie]

I want to say we needed the doohickey on top of the fireplace replaced when that happened. Damper? Cap? So helpful...

[Carol in Cal.]

Old ashes smell really bad.

If you're going to keep the damper closed, you'll need to scrub out the insides of the fireplace very thoroughly.

 

If you open the damper, the smell should be drawn out with the natural flow of the air.

If it isn't, that usually means that the fireplace doesn't draw right.  I'm not sure how to address that, but getting that diagnosed would be the first step.

 

Also, do you have a screen (like window screen) in front of the fireplace? That helps a bit with the draw as well.

[bodiesmom]

Garga- you're right. It does get worse on rainy and humid days when that air pressure is pushing the air down, hence I guess the need for the closed damper. Sadly, I think you are also right in that we may need to not use it anymore. That truly breaks my heart but...I need to breathe.

 

Zoobie- you gave me a good chuckle. It does sound like we need to at least look into seeing if the damper (or flue? I keep wanting to say flute so I call it damper instead) needs to be replaced. I was also told about a cap that can be placed at the top of the chimney, but the chimney tech didn't recommend it.

 

Carol- we are far enough into spring where I think fire days can be over for the season so I'm going to take your advice and research scrubbing out the fireplace itself- not something I'm particularly looking forward to but again...mama needs to breathe. The air should flow upward, but on these rainy, wet, just heavy days it flows the other way, especially with the heater and dryer drawing out air which effects the inside air pressure. We don't currently have a screen or glass cover over the fireplace but it is something on my radar.

 

Critterfixer- thanks for the tip regarding the screen. I don't think we have one up there, but that is something I'll have dh check this weekend when the sun comes out! 😄

Thank you ladies! It is such a charming feature of our home here, especially with the rainy days. It is also becoming a source of complete frustration and concern. Sigh...

Edited March 16, 2016 by bodiesmom

[KatieJ]

Our fireplace smells on rainy,windy days. I think it's normal, but the smell is contained to that room due to the lay out of our house.

We had a screen covering that we replaced with a glass door inset a few years ago. It has helped tremendously.

[bodiesmom]

I just took a look at some glass door covers and wow! There are some really nice ones! I kept picturing the kind we had growing up...just awful. Plus, it should help minimize the burn spots on the (used to be really clean) carpet we are getting from the little pops and crackles that our screen isn't able to catch.

Thanks Katie- 😄

[KatieJ]

I just took a look at some glass door covers and wow! There are some really nice ones! I kept picturing the kind we had growing up...just awful. Plus, it should help minimize the burn spots on the (used to be really clean) carpet we are getting from the little pops and crackles that our screen isn't able to catch.

Thanks Katie- 😄

You are welcome!

We found our's at Lowes. You have to order them but someone had returned this one and it worked perfectly for us.

[bodiesmom]

I hadn't even thought of someplace like Lowes- I just assumed I needed to go to a fireplace shop.

Great to know!

[ktgrok]

Yup, on certain days the wind comes down and bring the smell, so I close the glass doors. When there is a fire going the heat carries the smell up,but with no fire that doesn't always work.