"cm" wrote in message
news
We have a two sided fireplace in our house. The house is 18 years old and
the fireplace is original to the house. We purchased the house about a
year ago. We tried several times last winter to have a fire and most of
the time smoke backed up in the house. We have tried having a window
partially/fully open and warming the chimney prior to lighting the logs,
with no luck.

I measured the chimney height tonight and it is taller than it needs to
be. I was told it needs to be 2' taller than the point where it is 10'
away from the roof. There is a large rooftop A/C unit 7' feet away from
the chimney that is 2' taller than the chimney. Should I raise the chimney
above the A/C unit? What else should I look for?

Thanks,

cm

I built a house with a two sided fireplace. I never got it to quit smoking
in the house. It was better when I put a glass door on one side of it, and
sealed it all around, but there still were small places where air could get
through. It's the nature of a double sided fireplace.

Think about it. All there needs to be for smoke to come out one side is a
little air going in the other side. About the only thing that helped, and
only a little was putting a couple of rows of bricks under the fire grate,
and putting the grate on bricks itself. Lucky I had enough height in the
hearth to do that. But it still smoked.