smoke coming into home from other flue

[harleyberger]

I have a Hitzer wood burning insert in my great room (upstairs) and an Englander wood stove in my game room (basement). They share a chimney, but each has it's own flue. Neither the insert or the stove have a liner.

Any time I light a fire in the upstairs insert, I get quite a bit of smoke drafting down the other flue and into my basement. And vice versa. If I start a fire in the basement, I get smoke drafting down the upstairs flue into my great room.

This is most apparent when I'm starting a fire in either location. After the fire is going for awhile, it's not a problem.

Is there a way of preventing this from happening?

 

[littlesmokey]

Sounds like a classic negative air pressure situation. You have a tight home that is drawing the fresh air with difficulty, right? A quick solution would be to crack a window when you start either stove and allow the pressure to balance. Should eliminate the smoke draw. Next I would add an extension to one side of the chimney or other so that if it does occur the air is drawn from just outside air and not the flue. Some others may suggest alternatives including a damper to shut off one flue, or the use of OAK's to eliminate the draw of air from inside. My way is the easiest in my opinion.

 

[webbie]

Ah, someone invented a device to fix that problem.....
(broken link removed)

 

[harleyberger]

Sounds like a classic negative air pressure situation. You have a tight home that is drawing the fresh air with difficulty, right? A quick solution would be to crack a window when you start either stove and allow the pressure to balance. Should eliminate the smoke draw. Next I would add an extension to one side of the chimney or other so that if it does occur the air is drawn from just outside air and not the flue. Some others may suggest alternatives including a damper to shut off one flue, or the use of OAK's to eliminate the draw of air from inside. My way is the easiest in my opinion.

I do open a window (and sometimes a door) in the room when I'm lighting a fire. If I don't do this, then the smoke from the fire I'm lighting puffs back into that room. Then once the kindling is lit and the fire is just getting started, the smoke is drawn down the other flue and into the other room. Basically, opening a window doesn't help, except to keep smoke from entering the room I'm lighting the fire in.

It seems that I have a significant down-draft that is just sucking the smoke down the other flue. I'm thinking that one of those boost-a-caps might do the trick, but they don't seem to be in business any more.

 

[LLigetfa]

Sounds like a classic negative air pressure situation. You have a tight home that is drawing the fresh air with difficulty, right?

Maybe it's tight in the wrong places. If you have air loss up high and you sealed all the cold drafts where make-up air should fill the void, it will draw down the cold flue or flues (pl.) in your case. Since both flues are reversing, making one higher than the other only helps if you light the stove with the taller flue first. Once you heat up the masonry, both flues begin to draw so if extending and lighting that stove that reverses the worst should solve your problem. Since neither flue is lined, there is the possibility that you could have leaking between the two flues and extending one might not solve the problem.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

competing flue's kinda like dueling banjo's. one plays while the other rests. are connections to both flues airtight? seems odd to pull smoke out of a stove not in use id the englander is a newer model which can be equipped with an OAK , do it and it should solve the bulk of the problem , even when the englander stove with the oak is not being run the air entry would be easier thorough the oak than down the flue so you would be much less likely to downdraft. anothe r solution should you have a basement is to add an intake down there in a cold air well do as follows

bring a 3 inch pvc pipe in at the ledgerboard or high in the basement and elbow it down , extend the pipe to about 3 inches short of the floor, here's the trick, put a 5 gallon bucket on the floor and drop the pipe into it. this will allow air in but only when the house needs it , the rest of the time the cold air will be trapped inside the bucket unable to rise on its own due to the air surrounding the bucket being warmer.

 

[cmonSTART]

Mike, that is a very very interesting idea for a passive intake. The theory make sense. I'll have to try that sometime!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Mike, that is a very very interesting idea for a passive intake. The theory make sense. I'll have to try that sometime!

man it flat out works!! dave martin a rep of our from canada dropped that one on me. ive tried it at my dad's house he has a 3500 and has a had a bit of trouble with cold starts , put that in and startup was much easier. even better , during the winter if you are like me and enjoy a cold beer while playing with fire, leave yourself a couple beers in the bucket, guaranteed cold if its cold outside ;-P almost as good as having a baby fridge down there

 

[cmonSTART]

LOL! Love the beer idea.