Fireplace Smoking Up House

[GLM]

My chimney has the same inside dimensions as the fireplace (42”x24”). This large flow area is not allowing a strong draft to pull the smoke up and out. I need to install a pipe liner inside the chimney. I’m thinking a 8” ID pipe will be adequate. I can bring the pipe out the chimney cap with a good seal but how do I seal off the bottom of the chimney above the fireplace around the pipe?

[asu-indian]

You might try a lot of kindling and a little lighter fluid. Get the heat going quickly and rising. It works for me. Otherwise, mine smokes up the house.

[Bigfootwolff]

Stayed in a Bed & Breakfast once that had the same issue. Owner told me to stick a piece of crumpled up newspaper up into the opening of the chimney, right where the large firebox narrows into the chimney pipe. Said to crumple it down enough so it expanded slightly with enough tension to stay in opening of the chimney pipe, and then light it with a match/lighter. The newspaper caught fire quickly and the heat rose straight up and created the necessary amount of updraft to start drawing air from the firebox upwards, and then I immediately started the fire in the firebox. The heat from the newly started fire along with the initial updraft/air draw worked great with no smoke in the house. Owner said if we started a fire before doing that it would smoke up the entire house. We had multiple fires while staying there that were started in the above manner, and never experienced smoke in the house. I thought this might be an easy and cheap fix.

[Gunome]

I think chimney height has something to do with pulling the smoke out too. Local fire dept or marshall have a lot of info about your particular area. Don't know if this help.

[doright]

I have never seen a chimney with the same dimensions as the firebox. Most have a flue liner similar to terracotta or a metal triple wall pipe. I have no idea how to seal the bottom short of a complete redo

[eradicator]

Crack a window when lighting. Build a small hot fire. Use oak.

[GLM]

https://youtu.be/wekzEWPIjvQ

Mine is like this. Just not sure about using rabbit cage wire and mortar to seal the chimney above the firebox.

[44mAG]

When we bought our current house, we had this issue. We added a 18" extension on the top of the chimney, plus added a 4" tall piece of metal across the interior opening. The combination of these two things totally got rid of the issue. I think making the inside opening smaller, and creating that 4" lip on top is what really allowed the smoke to escape.

[texan16]

bigfootwolff nailed it. We had the same issue in our house when we built. Told my builder I wanted the biggest opening I could get on the fireplace. They built a 48x48 opening for the fire place. First couple fires we made had smoke filtering back into the living room and wife was ****** (so was I). Finally figured out we needed to get the flue warmed up with some newspaper first, then light the fire and it would draw perfectly. Works like a champ since we figured that out.

[HotRod Hunter]

How is Santa going to fit down the 8” pipe is what I’d be worried about

[doghouse]

Taller chimney are crack a window. JMO

[Duane]

Crack the nearest window, and burn one of your wife’s big fat candles in your fireplace for 10-15 minutes before starting your fire.

[Brute Killer]

Tag.
We don't have a fireplace now, but in previous homes we had a fireplace that had no problem at all, and one that sucked. Or actually didn't.

[White Falcon]

Try lighting about 1/4 of a news paper, before you light your fire. This will heat the air in the chimney and start an draw. I do this all the time.

[Olphart]

I haven't used ours for several years because of this (plus being a very inefficient way to heat). Only way to keep ours from having smoke drawn in was to crack a door or window, which defeats the purpose. If the central heat comes on, it draws in the smoke. I think our chimney needs to be a little taller, but even when it was working right, the back of the house stayed cold while the front was warm. So, it was only used while we were up front.

Now, it is used for the wife's decorations. Ugh!