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Tom The Great Tom The Great is offline
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Default Fireplace question/smoke smell in basement

On 12 Jan 2007 23:58:14 -0800, "
wrote:

We have a home that has a gas firplace in the basement and a wood
burning fireplace on the upper floor. When we start a fire in the
upper fp we smell smoke downstairs. There's no damper on the gas one
downstairs. The gas one has a pipe that goes up the brick work to the
outside. We noticed this smell got worse after we installed a chimney
cap for the wood fp. So does some of the smoke go down the pipe of our
basement gas fp? If that's the case what can we do to prevent this?

Thanks
JaKe
Seattle



IMHO:

Fireplaces are like big air pumps. They move alot of air outside and
your house needs to make up for this movement. So it sounds like
'fresh air' is coming down your gas fireplaces flue. Since the cap
slighlty directs the smoke downward, it might be helping smoke reenter
your home.

I would look into getting the fire place a source of air, other than
your homes, install a door on the gas fireplace, and consult a
fireplace/chimney sweep expert for real help.

Just guesses....

tom @ www.FreeWorkAtHomeIdeas.com