Avoiding a smokeout

[njmusk]

If I had the patience I'd cobble something like a fan somewhere and blow the smoke up the chimney till the chimney gets a little heated.

might work, its somethin I've thought on!!..

 

Am I right in thinking or have seen somewhere that you can get a fan gizmo thing to fit on top of the chimney pot. Or am I dreaming.

 

Talking of firelighters/newspapers, the owner/my boss gave me a right slagging off spending petty cash on firelighters and newspapers to light the fires in the big house. Apparently only women use firelighters. And newspapers you can scrounge from other tenants.

[cornish wood burner]

We get this, especially if its really cold outside. When im ready ti light it I open a window a crack, then light a rolled up piece of newspaper and shove it right up through the flue opening at the back of our burner. it starts to draw that pretty quick then i can light the paper and kinling and push the doors to.

Not ideal opening a window on a cold day but its only a couple of minutes.

When my chimney was swept the sweep told me the flue should be taller as it is well below the ridge line

 

Did you guys not know firelighters are the devils invention.

Quick flame from newspaper works for me. Some on top of the kindling to flush the cold air out of the chimney if you have a problem. If extreme as above. Good flames cure most draught problems.

[rustcutter]

Apparently only women use firelighters.

 

Even I feel this comment is unwarranted! I've seen my sister light her fire with nothing more than a supermarket till receipt and two cigarette lighters!

That is one lighter with gas and no spark and the other having a spark but no gas.

I find the postman brings me a daily delivery of paper based firelighting materials some of this stuff is good and some indifferent; T.V. licence threatening letters come fairly regular and burn quite well, don't tell them you haven't got a telly or they might stop sending them.

However if you have to think twice about lighting your stove or fire because of smoke blow back issues then you've got a problem with your flue/chimney end of; whether it is simple or major it won't rectify itself.

[Marko]

We suffered random problems for a year before discovering it was the cooker extractor that broke the equilibrium and assisted/created downward pressure in the flue. It was a good day when the penny dropped.

[rustcutter]

We suffered random problems for a year before discovering it was the cooker extractor that broke the equilibrium and assisted/created downward pressure in the flue. It was a good day when the penny dropped.

 

If this was the case then the ventilation required for a fuel burning stove of any kind couldn't have been adequate. I had some friends who had double glazing installed and were quite impressed that if they closed the front room door then the wood stove used to visibly start to go out; they were completely unaware that some thing like this could possibly be a killer.

They soon had a couple of air brick ventilators put in.

[Goaty]

We have only a short flue, I fitted a fluecube probably two years ago. It improved our situation quite abit. Never get any precipitation down the flue and it draws better. Still get the down draught now and then but seldom compared to before.

 

As mentioned another metre of flue could sort it.

 

There is threads on here about fluecube, a few cynical comments in them but everyone is entitled to an opinion. It works for me. Quite expensive though.

[spudulike]

We have only a short flue, I fitted a fluecube probably two years ago. It improved our situation quite abit. Never get any precipitation down the flue and it draws better. Still get the down draught now and then but seldom compared to before.

 

As mentioned another metre of flue could sort it.

 

There is threads on here about fluecube, a few cynical comments in them but everyone is entitled to an opinion. It works for me. Quite expensive though.

 

Yes, length is everything, mine is short but has good girth - thats the chimney:blushing:

[Farmer Tom]

Never had a problem, but I can imagine a warm house with an upstairs window open somewhere, combined with a cold flue, could draw the first smoke down until the stove gets up to temperature.

 

Warm air rises, cold air falls.

[headgroundsman]

If it is possible to fit a pipe from the outside to deliver air into or near the air intake of the fire it will prevent cold draughts from windows and doors. It would help with the smoke problems only if there was insufficient ventilation but can greatly improve the efficiency of a fire.

[billpierce]

i get this occaisonally when the wind is blowing in certain directions, and have discovered that opening the front door of the house for 5 mins when lighting eliminates the downdraft until flue is warm.

 

also worth checking the factory spec of the flue diameter reccomendation as a 6 inch ilsulated flue section is infact 5 inch inside diameter etc etc