Expert: James Ball - 11/16/2008

Question
Hello,We have a natural fireplace and when we try to burn anything wood or "commercial box logs" we have smoke in the house bad!! Initially when we start it slowly goes up then we just can't burn smoke fills the house. We tried the open window but that does not seem to work. A friend told us maybe the chimney doesn't go up high enough to clear the house? But that did not make sense to me please help!

Answer
Hello Dee Dee, yes if the chimney is not tall enough it will not draw correctly, also
Does the smoke happen before, during, after the fire? is there any mechanical draft near by, furnace returns, kitchen/bathroom exhaust fans, boiler/furnace, cloths dryers? All pull air out of the home.
If it is 30 degrees out side and 70 degrees inside the air in the house will rise and pull air down the chimney, once you have a fire going in the chimney and the air in the chimney is 100 degrees it will reveres the air and it will draw air from the house to feed the fireplace so open 2 windows fully and a door in that room, give it a few minutes to equalize and then try to light a piece of incense and watch the smoke if it goes up then you can light the fire (but the smoke/odor may return as the fire cools and the house negative pressure takes back over)
Also you could have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have.
James