Why does smoke come into the room when I use my wood-burning fireplace?
In Mars Hill, wood heat runs the rural valleys — Spring Creek and Gabriels Creek homes lean on propane or a wood fire — and hard-used wood fireplaces smoke for one big reason out here: fuel. Unseasoned mountain hardwood smolders instead of burning hot, and a lazy, cool fire never builds the draft it needs to clear its own smoke.
Wet wood is a draft problem
A fire has to burn hot to drive a strong draft, and green or damp firewood can't get there — it smolders, throws smoke, and keeps the flue too cool to pull. On rural properties where folks cut and split their own, wood often goes on the fire before it's had a full year to season, and that single habit causes more smoky-room complaints than anything else in the Madison County valleys. Mars Hill also runs colder than most of what we serve, so those fires burn long and hard all winter.
The chimney's share of the blame
All that burning builds creosote fast, which narrows the flue and worsens the smoke. Add a stone-cold flue at ignition in a cold valley, a stuck damper, and the neglected upkeep common in university-area rentals, and a marginal draft goes over the edge.
Getting a clean burn
We inspect and sweep, and where the open fireplace keeps losing the fight, an EPA wood insert or a Regency Cascades wood stove burns far hotter and cleaner with a fraction of the smoke. Mars Hill is 30 minutes north of Emma Road. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Mars Hill
We install and service fireplaces throughout Mars Hill and the rest of Madison County — just 30 minutes north from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
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