coal fire making a smell?

MummyOfTwo

hello again all, finally have my coal fire in, first fire lit yesterday. all lovely and smashing til hubby got up about an hour ago with the boy and decided to light the fire. i can definitely smell a faint smoky smell in my bedroom!

allow me to decribe the property a litte. three storey victorian terrace, open fireplace downstairs on the bottom floor, and im told the flue runs off at a slight angle before running straight up to its chimney with one from the bedroom above (closed) and one from the bedroom above that (my bedroom, and also closed). we had a new chimney pot put on and smoke tested, no issues there. sweep has inspected everything, no issues. i am going to check out the loft today, but its funny, i can kindof smell it in the air in my room, but not near the chimney breast, and as i slowly walk down all the stairs and through the other rooms theres no sign of it. so part of me is wondering it is just where any residual smell from cack-handed lighting would go - to the top of the house, or if there are other things i need to look at? does choice of coal make a difference to the smell?

thanks in advance for any advice:mad:

MummyOfTwo

Husband has seemingly used half of fleet street to light the thing. its currently choked with paper and going out;)

i feel i may have been awoken by the smell of a thousand burning newspapers.... if you want something doing properly....

grahamc2003

At the very least I would get my hands on a few carbon monoxide monitors, and stick them in the room where the stove is, and your and your kids bedrooms. Having been tested there should be no problems, and it may be a bit of overkill, but all you have to lose is a few quid to put your mind at rest. I think co monitors should at least be in the room where the stove is according to regs.

highrisklowreturn

I know my coal fires give off a smell - not unpleasant but certainly noticeable, when burning. I have CO detectors, but don't think there is an issue.

Personally I don't bother with paper anymore lighting a fire either. I can get 48 Sunny Jims for £1.07 in Tesco and normally chop up wood logs (I can't get any heat out of logs) to use as kindle. This lights well, and it's merely a question of slowly bedding ever large amounts of coal onto the fire.

hethmar

If you can smell it in the bedroom, it may be that the mortar joints have deteriorated. They usually go firstly at the top of the chimney - so you may want to have a look in the loft area. Use a pen knife or even a biro to test the joints in the stack. The smoke will find the easiest way out which is often between floors where the stack brickwork is again bare. This will creep round the edge of the bedroom floor and you can sometimes even see darkening of the edge of the carpets.

Im afraid it does sound like you may need the chimney lining.When the smoke test was carried out, was the top of the chimney sealed off? If not, then its not a proper smoke test. First thing to do is get that carbon monoxide alarm up and working. Fingers crossed its just the old man being cack handed but do stay vigilent.

MummyOfTwo

thanks for the responses, much appreciated. we have upped our fire safety since the completion of the fire with more alarms etc. peace of mind and all that. no further issues since, ive raked it out this morning and lit it with no bother or smells. think it will just take a bit of time to get used to, but we love how toasty it is, without the airless stuffy feeling of the central heating. the sweep said we would certainly see a difference in how the air feels in the house.