wood smell on lined chimney running coal

After taking a bath, I can smell a wood smell although I use Antracite, I had a DOUBLE liner put in and also furnace put in. YET there are OTHER times I smell nothing at all. I am not sure if this is normal, I have been pinged between chimney sweep and plummer and still not resolved., HELP? THOUGHTS? Resolution or just NORMAL??? confused..

First and foremost do you have a CO detector? If not get one with readout. A CO detector does not go off when it measures any amount of CO. They have thresholds based on time, e.g if I recall correctly OSHA standard is 40 ppm for one hour so it may go off if it exceeds 40 ppm for one hour. That's just an example, it's probably lower.

If you have one with a readout you can better understand what is going on. Ideally it should read 0 but that is not always the case, especially if you have gas cooking stove. The one I had recorded the maximum so it you were away from it for any length of time you would know where it got to.

Specifically why you would smell wood I don't know. Is it really strong smell or just light odor? Is their some other source like neighbor who started using outdoor fireplace? Many years ago I could smell wood burning in the house. Turns out it was the neighbor with his brand new outdoor fireplace, at the time wood burning wasn't common so smelling smoke was somewhat alarming. Kind of freaked me out for a while. It is the season for that so perhaps that is it, especially if it's in the evening.

Don't know your location or the type of building your in, but this heat brings out all kinds of weird odors in old buildings.

sometimes nothing, other times something, it could be many factors one thing i will say I wont add drama here there ARE smoke alarms NOTHING goes off.

A smoke alarm doesn't detect CO. A CO detector is something you should have under normal circumstances. CO is colorless and odorless, it has specific gravity nearly identical to air and will travel along natural air currents in a house.

Good evening,

I have an older home with a chimney that was used with a wood stove in the past. During certain conditions when the chimney is colder than the outside air, a down draft occurs resulting in a mild creosote smell in the room. My questions for you are has this chimney been used to exhaust a wood stove in the past and are you sure it is wood smoke not creosote you are smelling?
Leo

Idon't know where ya are, buthere on the hill, we've had rain every day for a month--my back block chimney has always been hooked up to my wood beastly stove--I don't bother with a cap so the rain gets in the chimney & like Leo said---I, on occasion will smell creosote.

You could avoid taking a bath.

By God, there's the answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You still da-man Richard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Running the bath water probably starts the water heater. Is the smell stronger there? What is the temperature setting? How close to wood is the vent pipe?

How tight is your house and do you have neighbors with a wood stove or fireplace ?

My house is old and a bit drafty - especially the field stone foundation basement. Sometimes, when my neighbor is running his fireplace, I get a wood smoke smell drawn into the basement and then to other parts of the house through the furnace ducts by the natural convection currents of my house.

Paul

I have marks on the chimney which LOOK like burn marks. I have had a DOUBLE liner in here. Again, I burn COAL not wood. NO its not the neighbors. One person said some smell is normal, again I have had the ChIMNEY DOUBLE liner AND the furnace cleaned. IF it were truly burning the house would have been history a while ago, so simple so complex.

Creosote don't need heat to smell--lil rain will do it. Hell, go for a triple liner if you're so inclined--why did you put the liner in the first place?????????? A chimney has to be really trashed not to use it as is!!

I have a chimney that used to serve a wood boiler. In the summer when my oil boiler was running (different chimney) it would cause a downdraft in the other chimney, along with a creosote smell.

freetown fred wrote: ↑

Sun. Jul. 18, 2021 5:59 pm

Creosote don't need heat to smell--lil rain will do it. Hell, go for a triple liner if you're so inclined--why did you put the liner in the first place?????????? A chimney has to be really trashed not to use it as is!!

When I got my Glenwood range, the former owner only used wood in it and ran it slow, so there was quite a creosote buildup in the oven flues. It hadn't been used in at least a year but it stunk of creosote so bad I moved it out next to the barn 100 feet from the house until I could clean it. Anytime I stepped out my back door and it wasn't windy, I could smell it. And it didn't need a really damp day, either.

Took a few hours with a putty knife and wire brush to get the worst of the tarry creosote out. Then, once the range was hooked up, a few hours of a very hot coal fire to cook out the last traces of it.

On the recommendation of some here, one year I burned green wood near the end of the heating season to put a protective layer of creosote in the stove to prevent rust - but could not stand the house stinking of creosote all summer, so I don't do that anymore.

Amazing how little it takes,.... and how long creosote small can last,... and how hot you have to get it to burn it all out of places you can't get to !

Paul