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Smoke Problems

Is your damper open? If it is and the smoking continues, open a nearby window a crack for a couple minutes.

If it just smokes when you light the fire, it may be because the flue is cold. Did you warm the flue? a hair dryer or heat gun usually work

If the chimney continues to smoke call us. Your chimney may be clogged by animal nesting or accumulation of soot and creosote. 

Slow smoldering fires and/or use of unseasoned wood can create "cool" smoke and weak draft. Under these conditions the smoke condenses and sticks to the chimney's interior, forming highly flammable creosote.

Arrange two small sized pieces of firewood an a grate and some crumpled up news paper for tinder between the logs.

Now cover the tinder with several pieces of firewood. Be generous with kindling.

Now place two more pieces of fire wood on top of the kindling at right angles.

leave gaps for air circulation.

The sour, sickly odor is the smell of creosote. The solution is to clean your chimney and install a chimney cap to prevent water from entering and reacting with the creosote.

The key is to burn small hot fires using hardwood that will minimize creosote accumulation and maximize heat output.

Keep fires burning hot with flames, not smoldering with a lot of smoke. Be careful not to add too much firewood. In a fireplace keep the flames visible. In a wood stove keep the flames confined to the wood stove itself.

Its better to add smaller loads more often than to cram in a lot of wood trying to get an all night burn.

For fireplaces warm the flue by holding a hair dryer in the opened damper region for 45 seconds, this helps the flue establish a good draft. Then light the tinder. Within a few minutes you should have results.