Getting the smell of smoke out of a room

[brisel]

My living room has a wood burner that doesn’t draw well when first lit and the wind is in an unusual direction - the smoke can come back down the flue until it warms up. I have used an electric fire lighter to warm the stove first to help it draw upwards but with any kind of the wrong breeze outside, it just blows the warm air back into the room. By then, the room is full of smoke and it lingers on the carpet and furniture. I’m leaning on the landlord to modernise the fireplace that dates back to the 1970s. Hopefully, when they reinstall the log burner, the flue will go straight up which will help it draw better.

How do I rid the room of the smell of smoke? I have bought a HEPA air purifier but whilst it helps, I could really do with something extra. Ionisers are supposed to help bring airborne particles to the ground.

What is the PH Wisdom on this please?

[tight fart]

Fart and nobody will complain about the smoke.

[danb79]

brisel said:

My living room has a wood burner that doesn’t draw well when first lit and the wind is in an unusual direction - the smoke can come back down the flue until it warms up. I have used an electric fire lighter to warm the stove first to help it draw upwards but with any kind of the wrong breeze outside, it just blows the warm air back into the room. By then, the room is full of smoke and it lingers on the carpet and furniture. I’m leaning on the landlord to modernise the fireplace that dates back to the 1970s. Hopefully, when they reinstall the log burner, the flue will go straight up which will help it draw better.

How do I rid the room of the smell of smoke? I have bought a HEPA air purifier but whilst it helps, I could really do with something extra. Ionisers are supposed to help bring airborne particles to the ground.

What is the PH Wisdom on this please?

What top hat do you have on top of the chimney pot? That is key to having a good draw

Where we are in our col de sac; a standard witches hat is perfect for our chimney and Arada wood burner; but a few houses down, their garden/house is closer to the woods and they're backed into a corner, they have draw issues and fitted a spinning cowl on the recommendation of our chimney sweep/installer etc and they've had zero issues since

https://www.chimneycowlproducts.co.uk/product-cate...

[brisel]

A standard witches hat.

Prevention is better than cure! I’ll investigate a spinning top, thank you.

My mother in law smokes like a proverbial chimney, so my request has more than one purpose - we would like to find a way of clearing the air in her living room too.

[brisel]

tight fart said:

Fart and nobody will complain about the smoke.

Thinking outside the box. Like it. A bit.

[Wombat3]

Mine can also suffer from this. I have an old hairdryer on permanent standby beside the woodburner. Before I light it I routinely blow warm air up the chimney for a couple of minutes. A blowtorch or a heat gun will work too.

[danb79]

brisel said:

A standard witches hat.

Prevention is better than cure! I’ll investigate a spinning top, thank you.

My mother in law smokes like a proverbial chimney, so my request has more than one purpose - we would like to find a way of clearing the air in her living room too.

Absolutely; when was the last time it got swept as well? Might be worth them sticking a camera up[.down the flue to see what's going on (is it lined)?

And re smoke smell; once it's ingrained, there's no changing that. You could try an ozone machine and a professional carpet/fabrics cleaning service, but it could be a lost cause

Might be time to move the MiL outside when she's smoking too!

Start practising the farting

[2 GKC]

Get a decent blow torch and warm the flue before lighting. When you do light, light hard and fast.

[brisel]

The flue is swept annually. It has always been an easy job for the sweep - my wood is well seasoned 3-5 years under cover) and burns hot so there is little to clean out other than a small amount of white ash.

Mrs B not keen on the farting though