My wife and I recently purchased a home with a wood burning insert and we seem to be having issues using the insert properly. We tried to use the insert as a regular fireplace (leave the doors open and keep a fire going) but the problem is the house smells like a campfire. Not only that, but our clothes smell like we've been hanging out next to a camp fire. We have never noticed that with just regular fireplaces.
Next we tried (last night) to use the insert with the doors closed to heat the room and that seemed to be a failure. The fire would die fairly quickly as if there wasn't enough oxygen getting to the fire. When we open the doors, the fire came back to life. There are two vents which I believe are for oxygen intake that we had wide open and the fire still seemed to die.
Also, the insert comes equipped with a blower which blows out of of 4 vents. Two of the vents blow nice hot ait (when the fire actually stays lit) but the other two vents blow cold air, or more like luke warm air.
Any ideas on what we could be doing wrong? Is the type of wood an issue? We've never cleaned the chimney, could that be an issue? Do wood buring inserts need a tune up?
Next we tried (last night) to use the insert with the doors closed to heat the room and that seemed to be a failure. The fire would die fairly quickly as if there wasn't enough oxygen getting to the fire. When we open the doors, the fire came back to life. There are two vents which I believe are for oxygen intake that we had wide open and the fire still seemed to die.
Also, the insert comes equipped with a blower which blows out of of 4 vents. Two of the vents blow nice hot ait (when the fire actually stays lit) but the other two vents blow cold air, or more like luke warm air.
Any ideas on what we could be doing wrong? Is the type of wood an issue? We've never cleaned the chimney, could that be an issue? Do wood buring inserts need a tune up?