Why does my room smell of smoke when the fire is lit?

When you light your chimney, it is only normal to initially smell smoke in the house. It helps to have your flue cleaned every now and then to reduce the remnants of smoky odour in the air. Even if you have your chimney thoroughly cleaned, you may still smell a funny odour of burnt wood or smoke inside your home.

Even with a well-constructed chimney and exhaust system, you may still smell a smoky odour in your home. This is due to the way your house may have been built. Older homes may be more susceptible to this problem than newly build homes. Houses have ventilation systems in the laundry room for the dryer, in kitchens and bathrooms and these exhaust fans can actually suck smoke from your chimney into your home’s exhaust system.

It isn’t unusual for well-build homes to have pathways and holes where smoke can enter. This may cause the smell of smoke to travel to different parts of the house through ventilation or through hollow space between walls, floorings and ceilings. The largest pathway of air or smoke in an enclosed house is actually through the chimney.

The chimney is also the biggest pathway where air and odours can escape from the house. The chimney can actually facilitate the flow of air to exit or enter your house. When it is in use, it is the main source of pathway for smoke and odours to leave your house. When your fire is burning, the updraft can push the smoke out of the house along with the odours.

If your chimney is blocked in some way, odours will tend to stay in the interiors of your home. The smell of smoke can stick to your carpet, couch and other things inside your home. When the fire dies down, there is also a tendency for the draft and air to reverse direction sending more air in through the chimney than out. This is when you will smell more smoke from the inside of your home.

If your overhead fan in the stove is on full blast while your fire is burning, this may also cause more smoke to remain indoors instead of being released outdoors. The same thing could also happen when your clothes dryer is on with its exhaust system working at full blast. There could also be more air pressure outside from natural causes which could reverse the flow of smoke.

When it is raining outside, this could also cause warm smoky air to remain inside the house since cold air is heavier than warm air produced by a burning fireplace. This could also be one of the reasons why you smell smoke inside your home.

When you have just lit your fire, the draft going upwards along the chimney may not be strong enough to carry smoky odours out of the house. This could be a good reason why you room could smell like smoke after you have just lit the fire. The situation may change after the fire gets stronger, putting more pressure on air and smoke to escape through the chimney.

Whatever the cause, it is important to make sure that all chimneys and flues are cleaned regularly by a professional. This will ensure safety and lack of untoward smells. Contact us now for a quotation.