Poor draw on chimney

[SunnyUpNorth]

We bought an apartment last year with a wood burner in situ. We have had wood burners before and are familiar with them but this one is terrible and we have never been able to get a good fire going in it.

We have been considering changing it as we thought the stove itself was the issue. We had the chimney swept last week and at the end he put a smoke bomb in to check the draw and he was surprised how awful it was. I then spoke to our neighbour who said the previous owners had always had trouble and installed a vent in the front door to increase oxygen to the room.

It is a huge room with old draughty windows so I would be surprised if that was the case. The company that swept it also install stoves and suggested trying a different cowl. Apparently ours is an anti downdraft cowl but that can also affect the draw. He suggested one of the spinning types.

He said we do have enough space around the stove but he doesn’t think we have a liner in place. A neighbour with the same cowl said he had a poor draw on his but it has improved enough with getting a liner installed to enable them to get the fire going well.

We probably need to get a liner installed anyway but I wondered if anyone has had any luck with any of the above options to improve their chimney’s draw?

Have you taken the plate off above it? We had draw problems too, and when I had the chimney swept I was really surprised to find the woodburner flue was so short, bit lost in our huge two foot wide chimney. We found we had a problem with the chimney brickwork in the end.

It's probably the stove installation at fault. When we had problems with one of our stoves. When we decided to replace it, we discovered that the whole thing had been installed badly, with no liner. So we got a new stove and changed its position, it also was a nightmare to light. Got the fitters back who added extra length on the flue. Still rubbish so they came back took the stove apart and discovered that it had been installed incorrectly. One of the hidden plates had been installed upside down I think. I'd get the chimney lined and someone to check the stove has been put in properly by taking the whole thing apart.

Thanks both. Could I just ask what you mean by the plate? Is that something within the stove or up by the chimney?

You need a specialist, and do you have a CO tester, if not you need one as a matter of urgency.
Don't use it until it's all been checked out.

Yes we have a CO detector very near it and have had it checked twice (once last summer, again this summer) by specialists who said it was safe and fine to use. Just a poor draw. They said draw would also be better when lit rather than just a smoke bomb as the heat encourages the draw.

SunnyUpNorth, our woodburner was installed in our three foot wide fireplace. A metal plate was installed above the woodburner with a hole for the flue, to block off the chimney 'hole'. What's above yours?

The lack of a liner could be the problem. If the flue is too wide, the gasses will move up it slowly reducing the draw.

If the stove is used infrequently, another cause could just be that the flue is cold. The gasses cool down as they ascend and slow down... reducing the draw.