My parents fireplace has metal screen which operates much as
pulling a window curtain open or closed. Dad made a piece of
panelling, which slides behind the screen. They had cold air
coming down the chimney, and the piece of panelling helps a
lot. Of course, remove before light the fire, and replace an
hour or so after it's believed to be out.

We also have to hold a flaming piece of news paper up the
chimney to start the draft. And keep the fire along the back
wall of the fireplace. Otherwise the smoke goes into the
house.

--
Christopher A. Young
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"Arkadiy" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have a fireplace located on the outside wall of my house
(the
chimney is brick). Whenever I use it, it it drafts
beautifully, and
doesn't smell at all.

However, once the fire stops, and the fireplace cools down,
I get an
awfull backdraft, and my house smells nasty for many days
after that.

I have a top-seal damper and glass doors (although not too
tight
ones). I have them open when the fire is on, and close both
when the
fireplace cools down).

I browsed the web, and found out how awfull outside chimneys
are, and
how they by design prone to problems similar to mine due to
the stack
effect, etc. However I didn't find a lot of advice on how
to correct
the issue. This kind of surprises me, since I see lots of
houses with
outside chimneys (much more than with inside ones). Do all
that
people have the same problem?

Should I forget about it and just stop using the fireplace?

Thanks in advance,
Arkadiy