Creosote Odors

Oh my goodness do they ever stink up a home!

I couldn’t tell you how many times that I have been called by frustrated customers, telling me they have a horrible odor that is filling their home from the fireplace. Being in the business over 30 years I have found that most odor problems stem from one of two things:

Animals

Either there is something dead in a chimney such as birds, squirrels or a big old nasty dead raccoon. Not going into detail here, trust me that is not a fun job to remove!

Creosote

The second and most common culprit is creosote. Creosote is from smoke that contains droplets of unburned carbon and is often referred to as tar-fog. These tar-fog droplets often will condense and collect on the cooler interior walls of both the fireplace and chimney flue system. Creosote is a black flammable substance that is left in a fireplace or wooding burn stove.

Burn smart!

Hot fires from burning cardboard or paper can easily flame up past the damper area and ignite droplets of creosote. Now you have an unfriendly or possibly an out of control chimney fire. Know well that many chimney-fires are much quieter and are referred to as being “slow burning”. These still cause a huge amount of damage to the interior of the fireplace masonry, framing and mantels.

Negative Pressure

Now lets get back to identifying and solving your fireplace odor problem. Over the years I have tried many concoctions’ of home remedies. I have read a lot regarding house pressures induced odor problems. I have purchased many of these odor products. Using those fresh-air smelling small carbon jell tubs, vinegar filled bowls or chimney cleaning logs all work to some degree. But they do not offer a lasting solution for stinky fireplaces. I’m sorry to report to you, but these pungent odors don’t seem to be able to mask enough to satisfy for myself, or my customers’ noses’.

Wood Sources

So let start with your wood source. As we discussed, incomplete combustion may sound high tech. In reality it boils down to your firewood is not being burned completely. Also the fireplace may not be drafting up enough to properly flush those smokey-gases out of your homes fast enough.

In other words, the smoke is lingering in the chimney flue way too long. It is then condensing into creosote and collecting on the cooler walls of the fireplace. Then when your furnace system kicks on, the air pressures within your home are often reversed. This pulls odors down and re-distributes them throughout the home.

How dry is the wood?

Whenever I’m called out to a customer’s home for an odor problem, as soon as I arrive I go looking for their woodpile. I want to see if the wood is covered properly from those soaking snowfalls and spring rains and if it is it soaking wet?

Wet unseasoned wood burns slow and will often make a hissing sound as it is steaming the water out. I’ll check to see if is it appears to be a hard wood or not. Most important is the wood seasoned.

Not necessarily seasoned…

Just because the woodpile appears to look gray or weathered, it does not indicate to me that it is seasoned properly. Looking at the butt end of the wood is it smooth like it was just cut recently? Or does it have lots of weathered cracked ends? This cracking is caused by the moisture being dried out of the wood. For properly seasoned wood, it is often cut, stacked and has a waterproof covering. It should have a moisture content after seasoning of 15% to 25%. Use a moisture meter like this:

Cold Air Returns

When I enter a home, I’m questioning, where are the cold air returns in the room? Is there a cathedral ceiling? What is the proximity to the stairwell in relationship to the mouth of the fireplace opening?

Did you know that a stairwell could produce a much stronger up draft than the actual fireplace? This is especially true while starting a fire. I recommend starting off with smaller fires. It takes about 45 minutes to heat cold masonry up to draw properly. Smoke and odors will follow the path of least resistance. High cathedral ceilings and stairways can be very problematic to the air balance.

The locations of your furnace cold air returns within the home can be very critical in creating a sluggish draft. This is especially true when starting up your fireplace. Also leaving large amounts of ash in the fireplace can actually hold moisture and odors. Be sure to remove these ashes if you’re having an ongoing problem.

Don’t choke the damper!

To often I have gone to homes where the customer is choking the fireplace damper down, they are doing this to create a much longer burn time. Often this smoke is getting up to the top of the chimney, but it is now collecting on the spark arrestor screening. This sluggish draft is now lingering way to long and this creosote is now collecting on the walls of the flue system, as well as the screening. This is way to often the case for my wood stove burning customers.

Spark Arrestor

Be sure to check the spark arrestor, as you drive off to work or are taking the kids to school take a look back at your chimney top is your spark arrestor clear of blockage or not?

Solutions:

Like most things in life, most problems need to be resolved by a process of elimination.

Here are my possible solutions to your stinky fireplace problem!

) In early spring before your AC kicks on have your fireplace cleaned by a professional chimney sweep. You can find a reputable Chimney Sweep in your area by using this link to the National Chimney Sweep Guild locator http://www.ncsg.org/search. Also be sure and go online and read their customer reviews from Google, BBB and AngiesList. I’m never impressed with those cheaper “Swab and Rob companies

2) Only burned wood that has been seasoned properly for at least 6 months.

3) Coverer your seasoned firewood.

4) Don’t choke your fireplace damper down so much!

5) Consistently monitor the spark arrestor on the top of your chimney cap.

* Let me Know if this help with your odor problem or not!

Burn safe and warm!

Creosote Odors fireplace problems