Just got installed a Chiminees Philippe Radiante 2000 fireplace. This is my first fireplace but I've been using a Chimnea outside for the past year without any hassles.
The problem with the fireplace is that when I open the door the fire dies right down and starts smouldering/smoking. This happens even with a roaring fire.
Here are some pics to show what I mean, the first is of the fireplace with the door closed (added some small/medium splits to a bed of coals 10 mins prior):
The second is 1 min after opening the door:
The only time it doesn't smoulder/smoke is the last hour or so when there are only red hot coals. You can't see the smoke so well in the pic above but it is there, it's not bad enough to fill up the room or anything but it certainly is noticeable. Both of the pics above are with the air inlet fully open as well as the damper (same thing happens if they are closed off to any degree).
Here's the bit where I say the wood is dry: I've gotten wood from 4 different guys and they all seem fine, the latest guy who delivered even said the previous guy's wood was dry. But I don't have a monitor (if anyone can recommend a cheap one off ebay I'll buy it). As I said I've been burning the wood in a Chimnea the last year and it's been fine.
So here's the problem, for certain reasons I need the door open. How do I do this without filling the chimney with creosote and polluting the neighbours and myself? I spoke to the installer yesterday and he said it may be because it's a tall fireplace with a big door so if you try and use it with the door open it messes up the ratio between the chimney diameter and the air intake.
Possible options I'm thinking of:
- Ask the installer to put some fireplace glass over the top 2/3 of the door opening to try and reduce the air intake through the door.
- Buying a chimney fan (the only one I could find here is called Sure Draft).
- Buy an extractor fan for the room (sounds like this would potentially create more problems though).
- Buy a new fireplace
(I've seen plenty of older fireboxes on youtube without a door that don't smoke). The Radiante ended up costing over $12,000 AU ($9,000 US) with installation so this option would really suck.
The last few days I've spent reading over everything at Woodheat.org and reading posts here. The only other thing I would mention is that I really love the idea of starting fires in the Top down way but I just can't get that to work in this fireplace. Even with heaps and heaps of kindling the fire just smokes for 40 mins on the top layer and then either dies or finally catches properly. But in any case, it seems to catch quite well using the Parallel log method.
Would really appreciate any advice from some of the veterans here, I really don't know what to do.
The problem with the fireplace is that when I open the door the fire dies right down and starts smouldering/smoking. This happens even with a roaring fire.
Here are some pics to show what I mean, the first is of the fireplace with the door closed (added some small/medium splits to a bed of coals 10 mins prior):
![Fire smokes/smoulders with door open Fire smokes/smoulders with door open](/talk/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FGsKrHmi.jpg&hash=eaac09fefc6724a5a54e0561d5012b7b)
The second is 1 min after opening the door:
![Fire smokes/smoulders with door open Fire smokes/smoulders with door open](/talk/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FPNJzoQw.jpg&hash=05ddb3d11c410b1b6b1dd1687f1fd710)
The only time it doesn't smoulder/smoke is the last hour or so when there are only red hot coals. You can't see the smoke so well in the pic above but it is there, it's not bad enough to fill up the room or anything but it certainly is noticeable. Both of the pics above are with the air inlet fully open as well as the damper (same thing happens if they are closed off to any degree).
Here's the bit where I say the wood is dry: I've gotten wood from 4 different guys and they all seem fine, the latest guy who delivered even said the previous guy's wood was dry. But I don't have a monitor (if anyone can recommend a cheap one off ebay I'll buy it). As I said I've been burning the wood in a Chimnea the last year and it's been fine.
So here's the problem, for certain reasons I need the door open. How do I do this without filling the chimney with creosote and polluting the neighbours and myself? I spoke to the installer yesterday and he said it may be because it's a tall fireplace with a big door so if you try and use it with the door open it messes up the ratio between the chimney diameter and the air intake.
Possible options I'm thinking of:
- Ask the installer to put some fireplace glass over the top 2/3 of the door opening to try and reduce the air intake through the door.
- Buying a chimney fan (the only one I could find here is called Sure Draft).
- Buy an extractor fan for the room (sounds like this would potentially create more problems though).
- Buy a new fireplace
![Down :( :(](/talk/styles/default/xenforo/smileys/downer.gif)
The last few days I've spent reading over everything at Woodheat.org and reading posts here. The only other thing I would mention is that I really love the idea of starting fires in the Top down way but I just can't get that to work in this fireplace. Even with heaps and heaps of kindling the fire just smokes for 40 mins on the top layer and then either dies or finally catches properly. But in any case, it seems to catch quite well using the Parallel log method.
Would really appreciate any advice from some of the veterans here, I really don't know what to do.