Sometimes a stove can be hard to light, and more concerning when it does light smoke fails to exit up the flue into the outside atmosphere, causing smoke to sometimes enter a room. But why is this?
It’s a particularly frustrating issue, if your stove appears to be in perfect working order, and has previously worked fine…
It’s All About The Outside Temperature:
Ruling out other problems. One reason for this illusive issue can be due to the outside temperature, and nothing actually to do with a stove. Fundamentally the usual upward movement of air and gases can go into reverse, causing air to come down the flue back into the stove, if the outside temperate is higher than the inside temperature.
In Spring or Autumn, the outside air temperature can suddenly increase, sometimes causing the outside temperature to be higher than inside a home. In summer, the longer summer days warms a home over time, and so almost always its warmer inside than out. In the winter, the heating of a home will also make the inside warmer than the outside. In the seasons in between this doesn’t always happen. This sudden change of temperature can cause air to flow down the flue. Your flue is in reverse!
How Can You Tell?
The easiest way to check if your flue is in reverse, before you try and start a fire, is to open your stove door and put your hand in. You may be able to feel a draft coming down from the flue and out of the stove. If there is any doubt try lighting a match and see if the flame is drawn into or pushed out of the stove. Also if you have not had your chimney cleaned for a while, you may also experience a stale, sooty smell in the room.
What To Do Next?
After you have suspected your flue is in reverse, you should set the fire controls to the lighting position, light two pieces of paper and let them burn to heat the air. Burning paper produces very little smoke, but enough heat can help reverse the flue air flow to ensure it goes upwards, as intended. You can also use a hairdryer, blow torch or electric heat gun to heat the entry into the flue inside the stove firebox, which will get the static or revered air moving the right way again. Although you should always ensure that there is no ash present, as the air blowing around could cause quite a mess! Once the flue is beginning to warm up again then all should return to normal for lighting the stove.
Another tip is to open a window or external door – and sometimes closing internal doors at the same time can help too – before pre-heating. This will ensure the warmer air from outside moves into the room, and so creating less of a disparity between the original cooler inside air, and the warmer outside air. In a short period of time, the cooler air in the room will become warmer, which will help eliminate the troublesome reverse flue airflow.
The Purevision Active Baffle:
With the Charlton & Jenrick Purevision range, each stove is fitted with an active baffle, which can help eliminate the problems associated with reverse airflow. By fully opening the baffles when a stove is being lit it ensures the air is sufficiently heated, to correct the reverse airflow. The warmer air quickly points the airflow in the right direction (i.e upwards!).
Once the air is heated and airflow moves in the right direction, you should be able to enjoy your fire as normal. Below is a short video about the Charlton & Jenrick active baffle.
