Gross smell days after fireplace being used???

So we use our wood fireplace often.,...Its a open face fireplace, not a woodstove or anything. I cleaned all the ash out tuesday (which I do every so often). And the past day or two its smelled the worse its ever smelled. Once every couple of months there will be a random day where it smells bad but then goes away.

This time its really bad, and dunno why. Were going to have a company come sweep and clean it out because we have lived there for about 3 years or so (its a condo, were bottom floor) and never had it cleaned. Although we have only used it the past 1.5 years. Im calling around all morning trying to set up an appointment tomorrow morning, so we can get it cleaned and creosote scraped off since its been a while, and lord knows if the people who lived there before it ever took care of it..Anyways any idea of the smell??

It has not rained, and we havent used it since like last Saturday, I cleaned all the ash out on tuesday.

 

Smells like????

Wood?
Ash?
Chemical?
Death?
Neighbor smoking?


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My guess......a downdraft mixed with some moisture in the air and creosote. I've smelled that before when I open the door on a cold stove.

Or a critter got in there and died.

 

Not death, not an animal, not a neighbor smoking.....

Either like charcoaly/bbq ish burnt wood smell lmao.... My girls paranoid so she thinks breathing it in is going to kill us or the dog. We have a CO detector and its never ever gone off and we test it routinely. Shes looked it up online cuz she looks everything up online and she thinks the smell is creosote buildup(which i may be). But its just weird how like almost a week after being used, it randomly smells awful in our condo.

Like I said every couple of months it randomly will start smelling for a day or two then go away...We keep our damper closed when not in use, and the glass doors shut.

 

The smell could be buildup on the chimney flue. The sporadic nature of it could be associated with passing high/low pressure areas, and resulting wind direction.

Post what's found when it gets cleaned.

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def, although I feel their just going to say there was a decent amount of creosote build up... We use it often 3-4 times a week sometimes. We moved in our condo in 2014 and didnt use it until prolly 2016. The people before us bearly used it from what the inspector said so we are not sure he was right.,But I will post as soon as I set up and appointment.

 

You arent cooking chili over the fire are you? That would explain everything.

 

of course you would think that mr grizzly lmao

 

Is there a way to check for any mold or mildew growth due to a leak of some sort? (This may be something that you don't want to tell the Mrs. you are looking for as she would have a field day with it on the internet!)

 

Before I had a wood stove installed I burned the 1st year in a fireplace. We had a terrible smell the 1st time I lit a fire. Ended up being a bird nest on top of the damper plate

 

Downdraft.
Wet cold chimney, likely condensation.

Stick one of those balloon blockers in it to stop the downdraft and stink.


If your dryer vents to outside the smell is probably worse when you run the drier.
If you have a furnace or boiler that vents to outside it is probably noticeable anytime it runs too.

 

Probably a down draft so you are getting creosote smell. Put your hand in there and see if you can feel the cool air coming down or you can light a match and see where the draft is coming from. If this is the case, open the damper and burn a few sheets of newspaper until the draft starts upward.

 

OMG now she is saying her dad use to take the ashes at the end of the night (while lit) and put them in a metal pale and take outside, and then close flu....I dont think i wanna be attempting to put hot ashes in a pale while its dying down, nor close the flu while its still dying down...ughhh

 

You are correct. Not a good idea.

 

Once you smell damp (wet) creosote you wont forget it.

 

close off the doors to the fireplace and let the coals die down. Only after shifting though the ashes and making sure there are no live coals do you put them in a metal covered container and take them outside and sitting the container down on something non combustible and away from the house. I let my ashes sit a week before I dump them out. The only other safe way is to mix them with water which is a heck of a mess.
Getting that chimney inspected/'cleaned is really the only sure thing to rule out what the odor is. In the meantime, you might want to consider putting a cooking tray with a large amount of baking soda in it. Might absorb odors.

 

Have you

You might consider using a company that will use a camera and show you a video of the inspection. This year I used American Chimney in Warminster/Southampton for a sweep. I know they offer that service. It may be the peace of mind you and your lady are looking for.

 

Yeah I notice this more if I have been at my parents and the smell is like a mix of raw dog food or barbecue that’s been cooked then out in the wet. Not pleasing. The boys speaking about the downdraft and moist air have it down.

It’s putrid. Only fix is to keep having fires really....

 

The smell, while not pleasant, won't hurt you...heck, they have (and still) use creosote in medicine
Creosote - Wikipedia
BTW, her dad probably cleaned out the ashes/coals the same night so he could close the flue damper right away (close the huge air leak) without worrying about CO poisoning...