Expert: James Ball - 1/12/2010

Question
Hi, I own a house that has an existing chimney. The other day I started a fire for the first time and found out that all of the smoke was not going up and out of the chimney. I looked up the chimney and there was nothing blocking the smoke from going up and out the chimney. I then went up on the roof to look at the top of the chimney and it had a flat top to keep the rain,I guess from going down the chimney, and the chimney was open on all four sides. A friend said that he heard that a chimney should be closed on the side that the wind blows from. Please let me know what you think the problem might be.

Answer
Hello Gary, What it sounds like is you are getting Negative Pressure in your home (house stack effect) that is hot air rising in your home (and getting out through the attic vents, doors, lights, another fireplace (is it closed?)) your house is a better chimney than your chimney. Also kitchen/bathroom exhaust fans, clothes dryers, Radon systems and the boiler/furnace all take house air out of the house (mechanical negative pressure) your house needs make up air, perhaps an open window in the basement? Or stop the air from getting out the attic and other areas.
Trail and error until you get this fireplace to work for you, maybe close off the room from the rest of the house to use it (close doors) and open a door or window in that room to relieve the pressure until you get your fire going.
Or it could be dirty? 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.
James