Multifuel stove smoking

April_Showers

Hi I wonder if anyone could help.

I had a multifuel stove installed four years ago. The chimney liner has been swept every year. We use kindling and fire lighters to light it, then smokeless coal to get it going, plus a few logs during the evening. No problems until now... it is now billowing smoke into the room nearly every time it is lit (not always which is the strange thing) to the point where we cannot sit in that room. Eventually the smoke leakage dies down. Could the liner have failed after such a short time? It is HETAS registered but the company which installed it has since gone bust.

Any thoughts/advice would be apppreciated as I'm thinking of getting the whole thing taken out and an open fire put in!

TIA

w50nky

When was it swept, could be a bird has built a nest since being swept. A sweep would be the best person to advise I think.

April_Showers

Thank you - it was swept in June. I've checked and there is smoke coming out of the stack at the top so I'd assume there is no blockage. The stove is going well tonight but there is still a smell as if something leaking into the room.

muckybutt

Is it a while since its been used ? you might have what we sweeps call a cold chimney !

Start with a small fire kindling and a few lumps of coal, burn it with all the air vents open to get a good strong draw on it. Carry on with just small fires keeping it topped up, this will allow the liner / flue to warm up and hopefully it should start drawing again.

If that does not help get the sweep back to check / sweep it again, unlikely for liner to be blocking it but not beyond the realms of possibility.

Has it got a cowl on top of the liner ? could be semi blocked with tar if sweep didnt go that far, and as strange as it sounds the weather can also affect the draw.

Try the small fires to begin with then go back to the sweep if that fails.

suki1964

One other thing - trees

We have a copse of trees beside us and we have had to add a foot to our chimney since we had our stove (4 years now) because of the tress rapid growth and the wind blowing one direction meant we had a room full of smoke

Other then that - as mucky says - small fires and ventilation in the room the stove is in - opening a window a fraction should help

Greenfires

There have been a number of issues lately with premature liner failure from what I've heard. This may have been something that affected a number of companies or just one - can't recall without some digging.

I've only had one to deal with so far - that was with a boiler stove burning smokeless fuel and running pretty much 24/7 during the winter months. The company who installed it had used 316 grade liner - which I considered to be entirely the wrong stuff for this particular case - and now, three years down the line, it's in pieces sitting on top of the register plate. The chunks remaining would disintegrate if you sneezed on them - not good.

The cold chimney thing that muckybutt mentioned is quite common at this time of year and will often sort itself out if you give the fire a good start. We have one chimney here that will actually go into reverse if it's left cold for a couple of days in winter - while the one right next to it in a connected room always pulls whether it's cold or hot. They're funny things!

Some cowls have quite a fine mesh that is supposed to be removed for solid fuel use - many builders don't, and you can end up with a reasonably clear flue and then a blocked cowl on top stopping the whole show. I've seen a number of these.

Another possibility is windows open upstairs - this sometimes has the effect that it's easier for the whole house to act as the chimney and so the draught you want in the flue goes out of an upstairs window instead.

Keep us posted anyway!

Andy

April_Showers

Thank you all for your replies.


We've just lit it tonight as advised above and all was looking good until a pile of brown dust fell down into the stove and out of the bottom vent! I'll get the sweep back again next week to sweep it again and go from there.

I agree with the theory that the flue is cold as until last weekend the stove hadn't been lit for quite a few weeks. I don't know without getting all the paperwork out what grade of liner it is - I know I paid a lot for it as the stove was about £600 and the total bill was around £2000. I'm hoping it's just a case of it wasn't swept properly last time and there is a build up further up the lining.

Anyway, once again thanks and I'll let you know what happens.

w50nky

May be a good idea to have the top section visually inspected on the roof to ensure no creosote build up or similar narrowing the flue as suggested by other replies.

Good luck

April_Showers

Thanks W50nky, I'll make sure it's checked this time.

Thinking about it overall, I think there's a few different isues going on here - it hasn't been swept properly, very wet but not too cold summer so the stove hasn't been lit as often, windows open upstairs (never thought about that one!). I'll persevere and work it out somehow - when it is working I think it's the best thing I've ever changed in my house, last night I was tempted to rip it all out and put the gas one back in!