Open fire causing smoke in room upstairs

[okgo]

I’ve got an open fire downstairs which we burn smokeless fuel on, inevitably it takes a bit of wood to get it going which does produce smoke but this goes straight up the chimney.

I noticed a smell upstairs in rooms above the one with fireplace and today I noticed the bathroom up there had smoke visibly in the air.

I had it swept and checked recently and they said it was in good shape so I’m surprised this is happening - any ideas from the hive mind?

[Simpo Two]

When you lit the fire did any smoke get into the room? It's not uncommon with a cold flue.

But visible smoke upstairs is a bit worrying.

[okgo]

Simpo Two said:

When you lit the fire did any smoke get into the room? It's not uncommon with a cold flue.

But visible smoke upstairs is a bit worrying.

Nope. None at all in the room.

I assume there are multiple chimneys in the house that no longer have visible fireplaces upstairs - maybe smoke got into one of those and then out somehow?

Or the brick lining is fked?

[craigthecoupe]

Can you smoke test it yourself? Pop a smoke bomb (is that what they're called?) in the grate and see whats happening. The smoke is either escaping from within, or not being drawn up the chimney in the first place I guess. You can get a kind of vapour lock if conditions are right, but not sure what those conditions are? Cold and damp I assume. If you put wood on once the chimney is up to temp, do you still notice the smoke, or is it just on startup?

Edit: Beaten to it by Simpo. If it's not escaping on initial start up, it sounds like its leaking.

Edited by craigthecoupe on Tuesday 25th November 20:36

[Gtom]

Have you got a liner in the chimney?

My house used to get smoke upstairs when the fire was lit, mortar in the chimney turns to dust over time due and smoke finds its way through.

The very minimum you should be doing is putting a carbon monoxide meter in the room where the chimney is. Make sure it’s positioned correctly too.

[okgo]

Gtom said:

Have you got a liner in the chimney?

My house used to get smoke upstairs when the fire was lit, mortar in the chimney turns to dust over time due and smoke finds its way through.

The very minimum you should be doing is putting a carbon monoxide meter in the room where the chimney is. Make sure it s positioned correctly too.

I don’t know, only moved here recently and then had it swept where they said it looked fine and gave me a certificate thing.

Do you mean the bathroom upstairs where the chimney passes through? There’s a smell in a guest room that’s next to it actually too - so maybe there also?

I’ll call the sweeps tomorrow I guess - what does lining a chimney cost?

[Redarress]

We had this once. Chimney had been swept and sweep assured me it was all good but we always had a slight smoke smell in the bedroom above it. I had assumed the brickwork was breaking down. Got it swept the following year by a new sweep who came well recommended who put a camera up and found the old sweep had not removed a nest completely. Since the nest has been removed we had had no smells at all.

[okgo]

Interesting. Why would a bear have caused this issue?

[Simpo Two]

okgo said:

Interesting. Why would a bear have caused this issue?

Because if you get a bear stuck in your chimney the smoke can't get past.

[okgo]

Phone playing tricks.

[Lotobear]

A sweep can't assess the condition of a flue by sweeping it. If you have a leak, as sounds to be the case, you need a camera survey of the flue.

[KAgantua]

Hey

Bathroom you say.
Is vent output near the flue or chimney?

[okgo]

KAgantua said:

Hey

Bathroom you say.
Is vent output near the flue or chimney?

No, there is no vent in bathroom and the chimney comes out of the top of the roof (there’s another floor above bathroom so it’s a long way away).

[jimothyc]

We get this a bit in our upstairs bedroom, although we do have a fireplace in there. The chimney on that fireplace is capped, but it does have vents so when the wind blows in a particular direction we can get a smoky smell in there.

[ozzuk]

I had this in a previous house, using smoke bombs to test it was going up our in use fireplace and coming out in another room that was a previous fire place now covered over. The colder room was causing a draw effect. I used an inflatable chimney balloon to cure it.