How to Prevent Drafts in a Fireplace

If your home starts to smell like smoke, the joy of having a fireplace or pleasant wood stove might be all but lost. It goes without saying that the smoke should go up the chimney and not inside your house, thus there must be a sufficient draft or movement of the smoke. The following information may assist you to identify the origin of the draft issue, but a professional Local Chimney Cleaning Fiddletown service may be needed to diagnose the issue. The second most frequent fireplace complaint is a down draft chimney issue, but these are tolerable. With a little inquiry, you can manage the cold air coming from your fireplace and make your hearth room cozy once more.

The fireplace and chimney are simply another entrance to the outside when there isn’t a fire in them. Cold air from both inside and outside will move in a high-pressure to low-pressure direction.

The pressure at the fireplace will rise until it equals or exceeds the pressure at the top of the chimney if the room it is in is below the neutral pressure plane. This will usually happen past the fireplace/chimney damper. The following factors can affect the pressure difference:

1. Prevailing winds
2. The chimney’s height
3. The home’s fireplace’s location
4. The difference in temperature between the house’s inside and exterior
5. What is done with the chimney
6. Airtightness of the house

Your home can be too securely sealed to enable sufficient airflow up the chimney. If the smoke starts to rise up the chimney after you try opening a window just a crack, you should probably get an outdoor air supply. However, insufficient airflow is frequently brought on by stack effects or other appliance fans that exhaust air from the house. In its most basic form, the stack effect is the flow of air into and out of a building.

Not frequently, but occasionally, a chimney is too small for a wood-burning appliance. The chimney should roughly match the appliance’s flue output in diameter, according to the usual rule of thumb. The chimney’s height can be causing backdrafts. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has criteria for chimney height, however, experts believe the recommended heights to be the absolute minimum. The amount of air that could be forced down the chimney depends on a number of variables, including adjacent obstructions. A chimney’s height may cause large increases in drafts.

Backdrafts may occur if the airflow is restricted. Creosote in the flue lining or chimney, creosote in the chimney cap screen, bird nests, improperly sealed dampers, and fragments of damaged masonry chimneys are the most typical reasons for obstruction. A professional chimney sweep should clean your chimney at least once each year to ensure that any potential risks and obstructions are taken care of.

Stovepipe connector joints don’t frequently result in a loss of draft, although it does happen. The overall draft will be decreased if there is any major leakage in the lower section of the chimney. Make sure the cleanout doors are closed and keep an eye out for any substantial degradation.

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