Chimney Draw, help!

[Faz2726]

Just exposed an existing fire place in the dining room, had it swept and the elephants foot take off and replaced with mesh. I have also closed down the opening in the room to a decent size. Now it is all finished and looks great, the problem now is that when there is not a lot of heat from the fire e.g no flames the smoke starts to come into the room. Also when there is no fire there sometimes seems to be quiet a down draft .

Any ideas would be great hopfully cheap ones!

 

[noseall]

new chimney pot with a taller or more efficient design.

build the stack higher.

close all doors and windows when drawing.

 

[Nige F]

Elephant`s foot try a" Camel`s toe" pot

 

[Faz2726]

ha ha well it might be more use to me lol! any other ideas ?

 

[snowdrift]

Check that the chimney pot really is the highest thing on your house. Make sure there are no taller things (including trees) nearby if at all possible. You mention air coming down the chimney which is a bad sign, and can happen if there are taller structures nearby that create downdrafts.

If this might be happening you can get a bird guard for the top of the chimney pot. Because these have lids on (the smoke comes out of the sides) they help prevent downdrafts.

Have a chimney sweep come and make sure there aren't obstructions like birds' nests in the flue.

Try lighting a load of newspapers in the fire. This should create enough heat to get a decent draught going. This will confirm if it just as trouble drawing, or if there's a blockage or a serious downdraft.

If it's just a rubbish chimney, I'm not sure what you can do. Putting an insulated lining in (as you would if fitting a wood stove) will help a lot , but it's expensive (few hundred quid). Hoods over the fireplace rarely work in my experience.

Hope some of that helps!

 

[JohnD]

I wonder if your house is excessively draughtproofed? You need a fair supply of fresh air for an open fire (it will end up going up the chimney as warm air).

One way is to have an air vent close to the hearth, which reduces draughts through the room.

 

[Nige F]

Marcone pot...or "O-H" pot.. or Brewer Cowl

 

[AndersonC]

Just exposed an existing fire place in the dining room, had it swept and the elephants foot take off and replaced with mesh. I have also closed down the opening in the room to a decent size. Now it is all finished and looks great, the problem now is that when there is not a lot of heat from the fire e.g no flames the smoke starts to come into the room. Also when there is no fire there sometimes seems to be quiet a down draft .

Any ideas would be great hopfully cheap ones!

May I ask what you are burning on the fire? Good quality coal or damp wood?

 

[aspley]

Any ideas would be great hopfully cheap ones!

Tempramental things Chimmneys..........have a look at this link......it will tell all you need to know

http://www.solidfuel.co.uk/pdfs/curing_chimney_problems.pdf