Expert: James Ball - 12/9/2009

Question
We have a FireChief outdoor woodburning furnace, a 2008 . We are getting smoke smell in all of our house.  At the moment we are in a blizzard conditions in Iowa, w 50mph winds. Husband went out and checked the flutes and they were iced up from snow. He cleaned them off. House still smelling of smoke.  What else can we do to not have the smoke come in the house?

Answer
Hello Fran, not sure why you got the smoke in the house I understand the out side wood boiler/furnace only pipe hot water back to the house so why would the smoke be getting back to the house? could it be blowing towards the house and coming down an open fireplace flue? did the removal of ice help the smell? has it ever happened before? what did Firechief say? start there and I would 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 they should be able to help.
Hope this helps
James