There are various reasons for a chimney to start smoking. It could be just one, or it could be a combination of causes. YourPro recommends taking action immediately as smoke annihilation can be extremely harmful to you and your family.
Here are some of the main causes for chimneys to smoke:
A blocked chimney: A blocked chimney could happen over time as the smoke, other fumes and gasses build up on the inside of your chimney walls. To prevent this from happening or stopping it altogether, you can get your chimney swept. The chimney sweep will advise you on further steps that need to be taken.
Downdraught: Downdraught is the puffs of smoke pushed back into the room by air that flows down through the chimney. This could be because your chimney stack is too short, or because buildings, trees or other large objects are blocking the wind flow through the chimney. To help with this, you can request your chimney sweep to fit a cowl on top of the chimney. You need to ensure that the cowl is the correct size and fitted correctly; otherwise, it could worsen the problem.
Not enough ventilation: It’s a well-known fact that all fires need air to burn, but too much or too little air could cause problems. If your home doesn’t have proper ventilation, it won’t allow replacement air into the room. This could cause the fire to burn rapidly and cause damage to the fireplace and anything around it. To prevent this, you can simply leave the door open, but that defeats the purpose of the fire. The best option is to get proper ventilation for your home or the room where the fireplace is built.
Cold air in your chimney: If you haven’t used your fireplace in a very long time, the air inside your chimney will get cold. This cold air is heavy, and if your flue doesn’t heat up quickly, the cold air can drag the smoke back into the room. To resolve this, you can burn newspapers. Newspaper burns fast, so it will heat quicker and push the air back up.