Why doesn't my wood-burning insert draft as well as it used to?
In Leicester, heavy wood use is usually the driver — out on these rural Sandy Mush and Turkey Creek properties, wood heat is popular and the insert burns hard all season, so creosote builds in the liner fast. Cold-air drainage runs the valleys 5 to 8 degrees colder than Asheville on clear nights, leaving the flue slow to draw.
You burn a lot out here
Leicester's large rural properties lean on wood heat, and many run their insert as a primary heat source rather than for the occasional evening. That much burning lays creosote down quickly — and the low, throttled burn people use to hold a fire overnight is the exact condition that glazes a liner fastest.
So a draft that has slipped over a season or two out here is usually the liner asking for a sweep, plain and simple.
Cold drainage, sluggish starts
On clear winter nights, cold air drains down the rural valleys around Sandy Mush and Turkey Creek and settles 5 to 8 degrees below Asheville. A chimney sitting in that cold air holds a heavy plug that resists starting, so the fire is hardest to draft first thing before the flue warms.
Priming the flue helps at ignition; if the draw stays weak once the fire's rolling, buildup is the reason.
Fifteen minutes west
Some of these properties have limited electrical capacity, which makes a well-drafting wood insert genuinely important. We'll sweep and scope the liner, check the cap and gasket, and get it pulling right. We service every major wood brand — call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Leicester
We install and service fireplaces throughout Leicester and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.