woodstove insert

JAVAMAN

I have a wood stove insert in my home. when i make a fire smoke pours into my home. i caulked the flanges where it is metal on metal . the smoke is still comming out where the brick meets the flanges, it looks like there is no seal between the bricks and whrere the outer edges of the insert meet. doest this sound right? also how can i fix this? i don't really want to calk that part incase we want to move the insert one day. is there anything else i can do???

doublesharp

doesn't sound like your chimney is drawing right.

joasis

If your insert has doors, close them while the fire is getting going...after it heats up, if the chimney is drawing, it will not smoke into the room. I know this may sound simple, but do you have the damper open?

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blthomas

What he said.

I have this problem sometimes with the wood fireplace in my basement family room.

Something I read on line about the dense cold air in the chimney tube doesn't allow the heated air out until it gets hot enough to move past.

Not sure if it's true, bu I cleaned my chimney again to make sure of no obstructions, triple checked my flue since it can and sometimes will drift towards close.

I've found by building a smaller, hotter fire with small pieces will get a good draft going, and I can add to it accordingly once started.

I had a guy tell me one time to blow hot air up the chimney from a hair dryer before I ever start a fire in the fireplace, should help get it drafting well.

Dunno, I never tried it, the small hot fire works for me quite well.

I don't think it helps that my chimney pipe is bent twice to get out of the basement, I always read a straight shot is best when going up.

I would also close the doors as joasis said, but I have no doors on mine, just a screen that slides across.

Blair

timber

I had that exact same problem with my firplace this year and it turned out I had to play with the flu adjustment. Just a few weeks ago was the first time I tried to start a fire in our fireplace since we moved into our house. I had a pro come out and inspect and clean the thing right after we bought the home. He had to install a new flu that is hooked to a pull cable that runs up the chimney to the cap where the new flu is. I found that I really had to keep adjusting the opening to get the right draft to keep the smoke from pouring back into my house and yet still be able to maintain a fire. Keeping it 1/2 open is just about perfect. My insert is also in pretty lowsy shape I'm getting some smoke into my basement regardless. I know this is a dumb ? but is the damper the same as the flu?

Sammy

Flue normally refers to the area of the chimney above the fire box that goes straight up the chimney and to the outside.

Your damper is a plate across the top of the firebox before the flue that you can open when you have a fire/close when not in use to seal it off.