Next Door's open fire & carbon monoxide

[Mamf74]

Our neighbours have an open fire, they rent but the LL's previous tenants opened up the fireplace (although didn't use it much). The new tenants said the open fire was one of the reasons they wanted the house.

Over the last few days we've noticed a very strong smell of woodsmoke in our house and can only assume it's ndn's fireplace. As such do we need to install carbon monoxide monitors in our hallway? We have them by our boiler upstairs but none anywhere else.

The smell isn't a problem, more a reminder that if the smell can penetrate could other gases also come through.

[bunchoffives]

Oh dear that sounds very worrying. There must be a leak in the flue somewhere - a lot of old houses have shared chimneys. Did they get it swept/checked at all when they opened the fireplace out? Did the LL give permission - most LL insurance will not cover open fires.

I think you should take this to the LL. If there is a leak in their flue and your flue has debris in, it could start a chimney fire. Or as you say, leak CO2.

Either way I think you need to get another CO2 alarm near where the smell is penetrating - about a foot down from the ceiling on the wall closest.

[Mamf74]

Thanks for your reply, bunchoffives.

The fireplace was opened up properly, chimneys swept etc - the previous tenant was a builder so did what he could and got a friend to sort out the bits he couldn't do so it was all signed off.

The weird thing (and thing that makes me a bit ) is that although we're terraced we adjoin his house via the hallways so our flues / chimneys have no connection. The smell is strongest as we walk in through the front door but does permeate through the ground floor. In fairness there are a lot of wood fires around here, plus (I guess) bonfires so could be coincidental......?

[Charcoalbriquettes]

If you do not have a shared chimney stack I would say the chances of co2 getting in your House extremely slim.

[Howstricks]

Quite often the smell is from a pot to pot transfer and can be sorted by the use of a cowl or taller pot. Talk to your neighbours and certainly get a carbon monoxide detector (not smoke detector..bit different) if worried.

[bunchoffives]

Is the fireplace on a shared wall. Could there be a leak from there rather than the chimney?

When you say signed off, do you mean a HETAS engineer passed it? If so I'd ask the LL to get them back to check yours.

I'd be very surprised if it was bonfires outside, unless you leave your windows open and the bonfire was very near?

[specialsubject]

CO!!!!

CO2 is what you breathe out! (Although you can suffocate in it if there is nothing else)

ask their landlord to confirm that there is a HETAS cert.

[bunchoffives]

Oh yes, ahem, quite right!

[Mamf74]

Thank you all for your replies.

AFAIK the last tenant said all the paperwork had been signed off, no reason to doubt him as he'd done a lot of work for the LL whilst he was there in exchange for a reduced rent; that said I have no proof and he could have been trying to get some work from us at the time.

We share nothing in terms of rooms; aside from the kitchen/ diner it's all joined via hall & stairs so am slightly relieved that there is only a small chance of anything coming over.

Will definitely get a monitor in the hallway, just for my peace of mind, and will also mention it to the LL when I next see him.

Thanks again!

[SarahPercyAndBill]

We smell next door's fire (I don't know what they have but they stack wood logs at entrance so they're burning wood). Semi detached with our hallways/stairs joining. At least we can't smell when they cook :-)

[Lucylouby]

We have an open fire in the lounge and four chimneys on the roof. Quite often we can smell wood smoke in the upstairs bedroom where there is a boarded up fireplace that has a vent thing. I reckon the smoke gets sucked back down the other chimney into the bedroom. I never even thought about the smell going down next doors chimney into their house though.

[lalalonglegs]

Carbon monoxide monitors are very sensitive and don't cost much so just get one to see if there is a problem and, if there is, then think about your next steps.