Diagnosing Smoke Problems

Smoke from your fireplace or wood burning stove can help you determine if you need a chimney cleaning. Many things cause fireplace smoke problems, so we recommend you begin troubleshooting using this list of reasons why smoke could be present in your home during the use of a fireplace or stove.

Possible reasons for fireplace smoke problems:

1. The damper is closed.
2. The fire isn't pushed all the way to the back of the firebox.
3. You can't remember the last time you had your chimney cleaned.
4. There is a window open upstairs in a multiple story house.
5. A forced air heater is on while you have a fire ignited.
6. A kitchen stove fan, a bathroom vent fan, or other type of fan is on.
7. The chimney is not properly sized for the wood stove or fireplace.

Correcting many of these common chimney problems is easy and self-explanatory. Some problems, like 4, 5, and 6 above can be isolated by cracking a window near the fireplace or wood stove.

A professional chimney sweep inspection can identify a smoke problem due to an improperly sized chimney. You can also try reducing the size of the fire to eliminate the smoke problem.

If the problem occurs on certain days and not others, or there is an awful smell coming from the chimney, contact Chimney Crickets with your questions and to schedule a chimney inspection.