Log burner losing smoke

[Loki]

So I have a new eco design wood burner. It’s amazingly efficient compared to the one I had at the old house and chucks out loads of heat. Just one issue - every time we open the door it stinks the room out with smoke. No matter how slowly we open the door. Any ideas anyone?

 

[Pegasus]

Ours was doing this the other day when it never does normally. Turns out Tim had closed the baffle in the flue to keep the fire in while we were at - smoke poured in!

Cold weather, temp inversions etc can cause fires to smoke.

What brand/model is your fire please?

 

[Loki]

Hi it’s a burley Icarus 5. Does seem to be better when flames die away and a little research suggests it is worsened by the big door.

 

[cavemanmike]

look’s like you don’t have a flue baffle so I would try opening the bottom vents before you open the door

 

[Loki]

It only has a small air control at the front not a big dial like the squirrel I used to have. Stove seems to be designed to keep air in and exhaust out to a minimum to keep the heat in the box burning the wood and soot. Hence I think why the smoke isn’t getting up chimney - it’s easier to go out the door ! Since getting used to it and buying dry wood I’ve not cleaned the door glass at all.

 

[Ian Ball]

It's a beauty

 

[Pitlamp]

It shouldn't do that, especially once the flue is warm. Are you sure your flue is OK? If so (checked by a chimney sweep with HETAS affiliation) I'd ring the manufacturer for advice.

Do you live in a bungalow with a short flue? Was the chimney checked for a bird's nest or other obstruction before you fired it up? Is the flue lined or not?

Nice picture - but it wants a 4 pint farmhouse kettle simmering on it. ;-)

 

[cavemanmike]

Like that 😉😉

 

[cavemanmike]

Like that

 

[cavemanmike]

Ps. A fan helps

 

[grahams]

Same problem here with our old log burner. I only open the door when the wood has burned to embers.

 

[ChrisJC]

So I have a new eco design wood burner. It’s amazingly efficient compared to the one I had at the old house and chucks out loads of heat. Just one issue - every time we open the door it stinks the room out with smoke. No matter how slowly we open the door. Any ideas anyone?

Although too late for this one, I would strongly advocate having a wood burner with a back boiler (and gravity circulation). Then your hot water tank gets heated as well, saving money on the immersion heater cost. Even better is to stick a radiator or two on the same circuit to put a little heat elsewhere in the house.

Chris.

 

[cavemanmike]

Yeah i agree

 

[kay]

Check also for sealing around the flue and the the plate that blocks off the chimney, If air can get out of the chimney into the room, then you can set up a flow of cold air downwards. I wouldn't have thought that would be a problem once the stove is lit, more a problem getting it lit in the first place, but it might be worth a check.

You can get a slight puff of smoke when you open the door on some stoves, but not enough to stink the room out or to worry about.

 

[Jim MacPherson]

A flue thermometer's useful just to check flue gas temperature, if it's too cold (150C or less) you may get downdraughts, also if you have a cowl fitted on the flue some types can constrict upwards airflow and give you a smoke column in the flue. My stove's in a conservatory with rather a short flue so downdraughts can be a problem.

Jim

 

[Speleofish]

On a slightly divergent subject, does anyone have views on stove-top fans and which ones work best?

 

[Pitlamp]

I'm a big fan of my stove top fan; it makes a real difference to the overall efficiency of the stove. Mine faces one side of the flue pipe to blow heat from it which would otherwise go up the stack.

Can't remember what model my fan is but there's loads to choose from and they're not expensive.
As an aside, this is yet another reason for having a flat topped stove rather than one of those with a sloping cowling (and certainly avoiding inset stoves, which in my experience don't transfer anywhere near as much heat into the room as an equivalent free standing stove).

When we had no power for an extended period after last year's Storm Arwen I found it was possible to prepare a basic meal on mine. (This was only an experiment because the gas cooker still worked but I wanted to try it for future reference, in case all else fails.)

Flat topped stoves are by far the best, IMHO.

 

[Pete K]

We have a couple of fans similar to these ones on eBay. They certainly help push the hot air out of the recessed fireplace before it all shoots up the chimney. A quick internet search shows me the prices seem to have rocketed above the £15 or so we paid per fan a few years ago. I'm sure there are bargains still to be had though.
I also got hold of a scrap sheet of c0.5mm stainless steel. We cut this and fitted it against the bricks behind the stove to reflect some heat out. That also seemed to help a bit in our living room.

 

[Pitlamp]

Just one other thought Loki - I take it you're using properly seasoned or kiln dried wood? Anything else will produce massively greater amounts of smoke and is false economy (not to mention the environmental issues it can cause and the increased risk of a chimney fire due to build up of creosotes).

Properly dried wood should spring to life almost as soon as it's added to the stove and will burn almost smokelessly and certainly far hotter.

 

[mikem]

If it's only an issue recently then may well be the lack of wind meaning that the chimney isn't drawing, but that's changing now...