Fire is smoking into house

[thegman]

Move into a new place. In one of the fire places an insert has been installed like this one:

http://www.periodhousestore.co.uk/prods/lady-victo...

Had my first fire. Worked ok, but some smoke seemed to be drifting back into the room -not enough to set a smoke alarm off, but enough to notice.

Its a very small grate and seems to be set quite far forward in relation to the chimney breast.

The chimney was swept last week.

There is only 4 inch by 4inch hole cut in the top of the insert rather than the whole chimney being open

I was using crap wood from an outside log store - it was there when i moved in - looks like old pine floorboards and furniture. Was spitting a lot.

Could it be just the wood was too damp/rubbish? Just wonder why the draft was quite weak?

Any ideas???

[Laurel Green]

Probably just the flue needs to warm up a tad before it draws properly.

[Beedub]

i cant comment on the issue, but my house also has an open fire, ive never had any smoke drift back into the room, i have the open fire on pretty much constantly from november onwards, sweep the chimney once a year and never get any issues, my fire does have a large well setback grate, id be intrested to know incase i encounter the same issue.

[Defcon5]

Does you smoke alarm actually work? Mine goes off before I can even smell anything

[davidjpowell]

We had a similar issue a few years ago, and the chimney was condemned.

If you can see smoke, there is probably Carbon Monoxide that you can't see. Do you fancy your chances?

Take advice from an expert.

Sometimes it means changing the chimney pot I think.

[Elskeggso]

You could try an anti-downdraught cowl, cheap to do and effective.

[tenex]

A 4" x 4" flue doesn't sound right for an open fire.
I've always had open fires but no experience of this type. However it just seems wrong.
Has it got a wrong insert or something?
I would guess 4x4 is a gas conversion or even just a ventilation hole for the flue.
I've seen original fireplaces like this and they have had a hinged plate which had to be opened fully when the fire was lit.

[Duke Thrust]

Tuxman is a PH'er who runs a company fitting fireplaces, if you can attract his attention to this thread he might be able to help.

[Mobile Chicane]

Don't use the fireplace - I suspect it's there for decoration.

A 4" 'hole' would carry eg. a flue from a fully enclosed woodburning stove, which is what should be in that space, together with a full chimney liner.

Burning furniture is also a no-no since the wood could be treated / painted / varnished with all manner of nasties. If there's nothing else to hand I'll use bits of pine pallet as kindling, but it's a crap firewood otherwise, plus it spits like fury.