Stop using the door
Smoke in the room in Rochester, NY
If smoke rolled into the room instead of going up, the chimney is not pulling air the way it should. Something is in the way, or the draft is too weak to lift the smoke. Common causes are a blocked or dirty flue, a damper that is not opening fully, a blocked cap, a build-up in the smoke chamber, or simply not enough air getting into the house. Put the fire out, open a window, and stop using the fireplace until someone has looked up the flue.
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In Rochester this happens most on cold days, which is most of the winter here. A cold flue draws badly until it warms up, and long stretches below freezing keep the masonry cold right through. Much of the city's housing stock predates 1940, and many of those Victorians, foursquares, colonials and bungalows still have their original brick chimneys, some with undersized or unlined flues. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles are hard on crowns and mortar joints, and a chimney that has taken on moisture drafts worse than a dry one.
While you wait — please don't
- Put the fire out and open a window. Smoke in the room means combustion gases in the room, and carbon monoxide comes with them.
- Get outside and call 911 if anyone feels ill. Headache, dizziness or nausea after a smoky fire can mean carbon monoxide exposure, and that needs emergency help, not a wait-and-see.
- Do not light another fire to test it. If the flue is blocked or the draft has failed, a second fire puts more smoke and more gas into the same room.
- Do not just crack the damper wider and carry on. Until the flue has been looked at with a camera you do not know whether the blockage is soot, a nest, a collapsed liner or a capped-off top.
What the technician does
- The flue is swept and camera-inspectedThe technician sweeps the flue and runs a camera up it to find what is in the way. That is how a soot build-up gets told apart from a nest, debris or a damaged liner.
- The damper is checked and freedA damper that only opens part way chokes the draft. Depending on what is found it can be freed, repaired or replaced.
- Draft is tested and the cause namedThe draft is measured rather than guessed at, so the actual reason the smoke came back gets identified. That matters when the flue itself turns out to be clear.
- Cap and crown are checkedA blocked or damaged cap will hold smoke back, and a cracked crown lets water into the masonry. Both get looked at from the top.
- The smoke chamber is cleaned and pargedThe smoke chamber above the firebox is where build-up narrows the path for smoke. Cleaning it and parging the surfaces gives the smoke a smoother route up.
- You get the price before any work startsThe technician inspects the chimney, explains what needs doing and gives the price. Nothing goes ahead until you approve it.
Why this happens in Rochester, NY
Air supply is worth thinking about in an older Rochester house that has been tightened up. A tightly sealed modern house, or a powerful extractor fan running in the kitchen or bath, can beat the chimney for air and pull the smoke back down the flue. That can show up in a Park Avenue or Corn Hill home after new windows or weatherstripping go in, with a fireplace that drew fine for years. The draft test tells you whether the problem is the chimney or the air coming into the room.
Season matters too. Demand for sweeps here spikes in late fall before the first hard freeze, and again during the January and February lake-effect snow events, which is also when cold flues draft worst and smoke problems get reported. Humid Rochester summers keep an unused flue damp, which encourages creosote odors and staining, and moisture in the masonry does not help the draft come spring either. If you only use the fireplace a few times a winter, that first fire of the season is the one most likely to smoke.
Questions people ask
- Is smoke in the room dangerous, or just a nuisance?
- It is dangerous. Smoke in the room means combustion gases in the room and carbon monoxide along with them. Put the fire out, open a window, and if anyone feels headachy or dizzy get outside and call 911.
- Why does it only smoke when the fire is first lit?
- A cold flue draws badly until it warms up, and in Rochester the chimney masonry stays cold through long stretches below freezing. If the smoke clears once the fire is established, the draft is marginal and worth testing rather than living with.
- My chimney is original to a pre-1940 house. Does that change things?
- It can. A lot of Rochester's older brick chimneys have undersized or unlined flues, and freeze-thaw cycles are hard on crowns and mortar joints. The camera inspection is what shows whether the liner and crown are sound.
- Do I need a permit for this kind of work?
- In New York, permits are issued locally by the municipal or county building department, not by a state agency. Sweeping and inspection generally do not need one, while relining as part of an appliance installation or rebuilding a chimney above the roofline typically does. Call your local building department before work begins.
- Who actually comes out?
- One Call Chimney is a referral and scheduling service. We arrange the work with independent sweeps and masons across all fifty states, including Rochester, and we are not the contractor and do not perform the work ourselves.
- What should I ask the technician?
- Ask to see the camera footage of the flue so you can see the blockage or damage for yourself. Ask for the reasoning in writing, including why a repair is being recommended over a cleaning.
One call
Call (866) 576-7943 and we will arrange for a chimney to be swept, camera-inspected and draft-tested in Rochester. Every job starts with a free estimate, and the price is agreed with you before any work begins.
Something else in this area
One Call Chimney arranges the visit; the technician does the work and gives you the price.