DIYbanter - View Single Post - Firewood smell in basement when burning wood on first floor.

wrote:
Hello,
I recently moved into my newly built home.
I have 3 fireplaces that all use the same physical mortared chiminey.
One on the first floor, one on the second, and then a third in the
basement.
They each have their own flue.

Recently, when we started burning firewood on the first floor, I
noticed that in the basement, there was a strong smell of the burning
wood from upstairs. AND, this smell was actually going through the
vents in the basement into the rooms on the first floor. I know this
because it doesn't smell much like burning wood near the 1st floor
fireplace, but smells alot in the other rooms on the first floor.

I'd guess you have a proper updraft in your 1st floor chimney and a
downdraft in your basement chimney. The smoke goes up to the roof,
and then some of it gets sucked back down the basement flue
after it gets outside.

Are you running your 1st floor fireplace with the outside air intake open?
If not, you might be sucking in outside air through the downstairs fireplace
for combustion air. Is the problem worse when you are running the clothes
dryer, outside exhausted range vent, or when the furnace is running?

I get a creosote smell in my living room if I run my gas dryer
without either cracking the laundry room window or burning a fire in
the wood stove to force an updraft in the chimney.