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Do you smell sour wood smoke after your fire burns out? You may have stinky fireplace! Most cases of stinky fireplace are caused by moisture from rain or snow that has soaked into the flue liner and the
soot deposits in the chimney. The first steps to take toward fixing a smelly fireplace are to have your chimney professionally cleaned and install a
chimney cap to keep out the rain and snow in the future.
Consider installing a top damper like the Lyemance damper with an integral chimney cap. The
Lyemance damper tightly closes your flue at the top of your chimney, stopping cold air from sinking down the flue and carrying that sour odor with it. A top damper will pay for itself
in one year by reducing your heating costs. Plus it eliminates fireplace smells from coming down your chimney and into your house.
Many homes are built very tightly to hold down energy costs. If opening a window about an inch makes the fireplace smell
go away, consider installing an air supply ventilator, a small
vent from the outdoors to the room where the fireplace is.
There are flue deodorants for smelly fireplaces on the market that may help with fireplace odors, but most need to be applied
frequently.
You may find that your flue tiles have deteriorated from the acid content in our rain and snow. [Cracks in the flue tiles may
allow heat to contact wood in the structure of your home, causing a chimney fire.] If your chimney sweep says your flue
is in bad condition, discuss the option of installing a flue liner, a stainless steel tube that carries the smoke up the chimney. Flue liners are very easy to clean and keep odor free.
The best options are to attack smelly fireplace at its source: either prevent
moist soot by installing a damper such as a Lymance damper with integral chimney cap on top of your chimney or repair a deteriorated flue that's holding in
moisture by having a flue liner installed.
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