woodburner problem last year !!

Had my woodburner for 4 years [no prob ]but last year we had a few ,what they term ,mini tornadoes 10 minuits then gone ,problem is gusts come down chimney and blow fire out resulting in smoke comeing from top of fire ,door and anywhere else ,have to drag dead smokeing wood off of fire to outside .sure sign of the gusts being a prob is the glass door on the front of the fire stats to rattle and vibrate ,ime now not happy leaveing fire in at night  .Ime calling someone in to have a look ,but would like your advice first plus if anyone else has had this prob .

When did you have your flew swept?
maybe a build up in the chimney has happened
or maybe a birds nest to blame

Hi RedBurmese
Its Simmo here , if you have had your chimney swept and you are still getting fumes in the house then you may need to fit a new seal round your glass in the fire door or round the door itself.These seals can be bought from almost any brico, watch out though their are different size's for different applications.
We also have a carbon manoxide alarm fitted as a extra back up.
Simmo in the Correze

Thanks for replies ,flue is swept and door seal ok ,i have a suspition its the flue at the top of the chimney is too flush allowing downdraught ,but just have to see what chimneyman has to say  will tell you the result after his visit next week .

If your flue pipe does not reach far enough past the roof ridge line you can get problems with the wind causing downdrafts etc as it swirls around. Strange that it has been Ok till last winter though

Thats what seems strange to me ,but the mini tornados have only appeared here in the last year,string winds before ok ,but these mini tornadoes even knock the french dustbins over ,only last 10 minutes but do a lot of damage ,chap comeing friday13 for a look [yes i know not a good date   ]will keep you informed ]

I'm sure you know this anyway, but don't forget that any fire requires a flow of air through it from the room and up and out the top of the chimney. (I assume your doors and windows aren't hermetically sealed against all possible drafts!) If the flow is reversed, you get smoked out. The tornadoes are obviously creating those conditions, maybe by causing low air pressure at ground level relative to the roof height.
We had this smoke problem once when the chimney pot wasn't projecting high enough from the roof (it was a flat-roofed bungalow and needed another 3 foot of chimney plus a moving cowl on it, which helped). Ask the expert if one of those wind-blown spinning cowls would be the answer. That said, I don't know if they're used over here...?

Thanks ,I have noticed cowls but only a few the thought had crossed my mind that not enough updraught although as i said lots of draughts everywhere in my stone cottage and ime on top of a hill ,be interesting to see what the chimney chappee says 'think you may be right about a higher chimney or flue liner ,wood delivery and chimney expert on fri 13     will let you know the outcome ,have a feeling it wont be cheap ,none of my problems ever are  

Where did you get your wood from in the end?

BENEVENT,but i have since been told its not allways ready for burning leave it a few weeks ,cannot say i was too happy with this as for the price i am paying 4008 euros i expect to get wood that is seasoned   

So how did you get on yesterday Red... any diagnosis?

Re the Benevent wood yard. I have heard the same thing about the wood not being dry enough, but I got mine from there last year and it burnt well. They have huge piles of wood that have been stacked to dry for at least a year or two and lots already cut that is undercover. Perhaps the story began when they first started, before they got such huge stockpiles ?

I have a delivery coming next week so I will wait and see what this years lot is like. Fortunately I can stack mine inside the barn at this time of year and keep it drying slowly.

I presume you meant to type 408 euros... 8 stere. Otherwise that will be one BIG woodpile

Quite right Tony H ,408 for 2 cords [8 stere ],chap has found the top of the flue was fixed at a crooked angle a bit sideways thus he thinks it was angling the wind downwards ,and it was too near the concrete lid top so he has taken off a few inches from the rim of the chimney and lowed the flutop and set it straight ,so fingers crossed .The top of the flue had a buildup of encrusted tar which the sweep had not swept as the flue was crooked  so chap swept the chimney from the top down and removed all the tared clinker[a first for him he said to sweep from the top  ]fire burning much better now ,but will have to wait for the mini tornados before i know if problem solved

Update on the firewood from Benevent ,burns fine ,better than the stuff from elsewhere last year   

No high winds yet   so still not sure if solved or not ,i wait with bated breath ,and a metal bucket for the burning logs to be rushed outside    

Looks like you have been burning humid wood the last year, which gives off creosote (tarlike substance), which can cause chimney fires. To avoid this:-

- get a humidity meter and test the wood before burning it (should be less than 20% humidity)
- burn the fire hot for some minutes at least once a week
- get the chimney swept regularly

What we done in addition, is placed a special thermometer on the flue pipe, which shows how hot the fire is burning. We are very careful now, as we have had this problem in the past and very nearly had a chimney fire, which frightened the living daylight out of me, so please be careful.

Thanks for the advice ,the chimney is swept a couple of times a year but because of the top of the flu being at a bent angle the brush was not getting to the top which is why the sweep got his brush stuck !!this has now been corrected so should be a clean sweep now  have to agree about wood not always being good ,but tried the other wood yard this year so we will see ,yes when we had an open fire at our other house we had a chimney fire 'although it had been swept !it was lucky it had a metal plate inserted up the chimney that you could put your hand up and pull it over to close the chimney off ,but as you say frightening:shock:  will let you know the outcome when i light the fire when it is windy  many thanks.

How's your chimney behaving, Red? Surely you must have it burning tonight with these clear skies and northerly wind?

Excuse any late answers my computer haveing a problem the last few days .

No high wind here yet so !!!!!!