Smoke filled room

Halo Kitty

I hope someone can help me with this situation...
I live in a 1967 terraced house. I am two open fires downstairs..One room i never have used and fire has never been lit in this room. the other room i have a back boiler and i use it every day but i find the room that is never used is filled with smoke when i light the fire in the other room....tonight was the worst ever and i had to open the windows and doors of the house to get rid of the smoke and the smell...
If i fitted a cowl to the chimney would this help or do i have a more serious problem....
I get my chimney cleaned every year, but tonight i noticed a few sparks coming from my chimney even though i got it cleaned in Nov...will i have to get it cleaned again already....
So sorry about the long message but i don't know anything about these issues...

Traditional

you may have a crack in chimmey liner , can you see where smoke is coming from ? above the other fire place or coming through the fire place , you also have to watch out for carbon monoxide as your fire produces it as well so i would get a local builder to have a look at asap .

Halo Kitty

Traditional wrote: »

you may have a crack in chimmey liner , can you see where smoke is coming from ? above the other fire place or coming through the fire place , you also have to watch out for carbon monoxide as your fire produces it as well so i would get a local builder to have a look at asap .

Traditional...
thanks for your swift reply but i am wondering if a crack in the chimney liner is an expensive job...I can not see where the smoke is coming from in the other room....there is a small amount of soot at base of fire but then again that could be there for ages as i do not use this room...

gone_fishing

it does sound like there is a crack in the liner, a cowl is not going to stop your problem if thats a case. I would be getting a professional to check it out and in the mean time i would be putting a carbon monoxide alarm in each room. when the fire is going it might be worth checking if the attic has smoke in it too

kam3qnwvebf4jh

Similar thing happened to my uncle and his house insurance covered the cost of replacing the
Iiner.

Halo Kitty

Oh now i am very puzzled and not knowing what to do....i lit the fire again tonight..and for the past 5 hours i am checking the other room for sign's or smell of smoke... nothing to report i got numbers for chimney sweep, and for someone to look in to replacing liner,,,but i don't know what to do now....
I thought by lighting the fire tonight it would confirm all my fears...

maradonas

Call Dublin Chimney Repair they have a website also for the details. They specialise in fixing and pointing you in the right direction.
Good luck

Stove Fan

Another possible apart from a cracked liner is if the two chimney pots are the same height side by side.

The smoke gets drawn down the cold chimney. Ie the smoke goes out of one chimney/flue and sinks down the other.

The cure here is to raise one of the chimney outlets/pots higher.

Although if it's a regular occurance it may well be a cracked liner.

Whatever it is get it checked out and sorted:)

Stove Fan:)

RMD

The most important thing I'd say right now is get a Carbon Monoxide detector just to be safe. Carbon Monoxide is colourless and odourless so you wont know what's going on till you're already suffering from asphyxia. They're not expensive.

demanufactured

Does the room with the unused fire have an airvent??
If not the chimney may be acting like a vent and sucking air down into the room.
When you light the other fire smoke gets sucked down the unused chimney.

nick 56

demanufactured wrote: »

Does the room with the unused fire have an airvent??
If not the chimney may be acting like a vent and sucking air down into the room.
When you light the other fire smoke gets sucked down the unused chimney.

I agree with this suggestion, if you have an fire burning it NEEDS loads of air to replace that going up the chimney. If it can’t get it from a vent it will pull air down the chimney in the next room. Test it with a smoke match (plumber's supply store) or even a joss stick. A vent to the floor space would solve that problem (as required with gas flame open fires).

Be very carefull about going to bed while a fire is burning if this is going on.

Every house in Ireland should have by law (in my opinion) a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector