smokey smell inside the house

SueSeim 1 post Mar 03, 2008 5:51 PM	On warmer winter days and rainy days, we have a strong smoke smell in the house. We have a fireplace insert. Would the chimney balloon help with this problem?
jasonr 27 posts Apr 09, 2008 4:11 PM	Sue, The best thing you can do to cut down on smoke smell during the humid days is first to clean the ash out of the fireplace insert. Humidity has a bad habit of making soot, creosote, and ash to smell stronger. A Chimney Balloon will work to stop the smelly fireplace stink if you can access the chimney flue opening. Some inserts have metal baffles in the firebox that prevent access to the chimney flue. If you can touch the flue or damper opening area the Chimney Balloon will seal off the chimney low and tight and will not allow the creosote buildup in the chimney to stink up the house. To further neutralize any lingering smell, you can use a large salad bowl of white vinegar. Just put a good amount of vinegar in the bowl and set it in the fire box for the day. This can also do a great job of neutralizing the fireplace burnt smell. ---------- Jasonr Moderator Last Edited on 6-Jul-2008 5:09 PM
Mace 1 post Feb 28, 2009 1:04 PM	Jason I have a wood buring fireplace with a cozy great heater insert. I have a top of chimney and traditional damper installed. I have bad downdrafts and soot smell like Sue on rainy, windy days. I am a Home Inspector and I am in the middle of a Certified Energy Training Program with RESNET. I just received a copy of Energy Magazine and read about your product. Looks like a good idea. I am going to try the vinegar tip. I need to measure my flue and I will order to try on my house. Once I get my blower door I will try the test like you did. I have doors, 2 dampers and the balloon. Thanks I will tell all my clients if I have success with your product. Nice website by the way and I am posting it on a few inspection association boards for others to try.
jasonr 47 posts Mar 02, 2009 2:13 PM	Hi Mace, I just recently read the same article you were referring to in Home Energy magazine (Mar/Apr 09) the energy rater that did the testing of the Chimney Balloon (Mark Furst) for that article did a great summarizing his testing of the Chimney Balloon. Mark was chosen to do the review/test because he had no experience with the Chimney Balloon, and could give an unbiased opinion. Mark also has a great reputation in Wisconsin for being very thorough at energy rating. We would really welcome your comments and test results if you decide to do your own blower door testing of the Chimney Balloon with your fireplace. We have not had the oportunity yet to compare the Chimney Balloon to the top seal dampers in blower door testing. I know the top seal dampers tend to seal tighter than traditional low-in-the-firebox metal dampers, but the trouble that is often experienced with them is you are sealing the chimney and all of its creosote and soot content into the homes interior air envelope. What further compounds the issue is the fact that the warm interior air that natually assends the chimney and is trapped there by the top damper tends to cool against the uninsualted brick walls of the chimney and the cold metal of the top damper and then that now-cool air drops again to the firebox. This convection process and air movement creates a draft and odor sensation at the hearth and into the room. That could be what you are experiencing. The Chimney Balloon installed low and close to the firebox seals of the chimney from the homes interior air and eliminates this convection and air movement. ---------- Jasonr Moderator
bruce 1 post Feb 16, 2010 5:51 PM	Help!!!!! Like Sue I have horrific smell of creosote in my house as soon as my woodstove cools down. The stove and stack are only a month old. The woodstove is on a bottom floor of a daylight basement and travels only a few feet before it vents outside. The stack then is 1 1/2 stories double insulated and not chased in. It goes at least 2 ft beyond the apex of the house. The firebox is baffled, so access to the flu is very limited. Suggestions include directional winds caps to heated insert in the stack, to burn wood 24/7, to adding more stack. These all sound great but not sure where to start.
jasonr 68 posts Feb 18, 2010 12:49 PM	Hi Bruce, It sounds like you Have a negative pressure problem here. Burning 24/7 and a heated insert may work. But at what cost? I wouldn't recommend the directional baffled wind cap. I have found them to work very well to stop outside wind effect from drafting back down the chimney, but they don't help much when it comes to a negative pressure problems. Your stack is already sufficiently long so I don't think that is the issue either. Do you have a number of appliances in your home that vent to the outside? i.e. clothes dryers, bathroom vents, kitchen hood vents, etc...? Heavy use of these types of items could be what is really kicking in the negative pressure drawing down your chimney. What type of baffles do you have inside your stove firebox? metal or brick baffles? Here is an article on that: http://www.chimneyballoonusa.com/blog/2010/02/can-i-plug-a-modern-wood-stove-with-a-chimney-balloon-when-i-am-not-using-it.html.html ---------- Jasonr Moderator
shan 3 posts Jul 20, 2010 5:59 PM	Football Jerseys became the latest fashion wear for men in the mid 90's.Below, we are going to look into cheap Arizona Cardinals jerseys , so if you are a fan of this team, you may want to pay attention to this article.Many people want to show their support of their favorite football team and nothing shows it better than wearing cheap Atlanta Falcons jerseys .

Home         Buy Chimney Balloon       Contact Us        FAQ       Sizing      Shipping     Privacy Policy    Terms of Use & DMCA

Chimney Balloon® and Chimney Pillow® are legal Trademarks of Chimney Balloon USA, 2005
All product US patents pending, 2006

 Click here to see our Better Business Bureau Review

Copyright 2005-09 Chimney Balloon USA, All rights reserved worldwide