Open fire problem

[steveo]

My fire has been as good as gold for years but in the last three weeks it is belching smoke into the room.

It has been windy lately but I'm sure this has never happened on windy days before.

The chimney sweep did his thing yesterday but it's still happening.

Anyone else?

[Carrie]

You have probably got a down draft which can happen when there is cold air in the chimney. We used to suffer a lot from this problem until our chimney sweep recommended aiming a hair dryer up the flue for a short time if we could feel a draft coming down which dislodges the cold air, since then no more smoke filled rooms!

[malumbu]

Odd as I thought that our chimneys were designed to creat a good updraft.

So problem is(a) not enough air, have you blocked up air bricks or sealed windows?

(b) cold spot, light some paper or a lot of kindling to warm up your chimney

But to be honest this sounds dodgy and you could die from carbon monoxide poisoning (get and alarm) so get it sorted by an engineer with HETAS accreditation (says the person who has done numerous open fires with not a problem....)