Why Some Fireplaces Smoke, And The Easiest Fix. FarmCraft101

It's a common problem in old homes that the fireplaces will smoke. We look at why this happens, and fabricate an easy fix to seemingly very difficult problem.
***If you don't want to make your own, there are plenty of places to buy them as well!
I should define "easy fix." Building this was not easy, buying one is not cheap. But either is waaaaayyyy cheaper and easier than re-doing the masonry to fix the problem. So given the options, this is the relatively easy fix.
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[@FarmCraft101]

Easy fix? I guess it's all relative. Compared to hiring a mason to re-brick the firebox, I'd say this is much easier. And you can buy custom made fireplace screens for relatively cheap, so you don't have to build it yourself. Cheers everybody!

[@adamboone5472]

Appreciate you also adding the alternative to not having a metal lathe or welder. Thank you for making an “easy fix, DIY video” for all viewers regardless of where they are on their tool gathering journey in life. Cheers to you sir!

[@fionafiona1146]

Castles are cheap, where I live...not necessarily worth the ongoing commitment though. I will stick with aspirational content until I get to it or over that.

[@irok_gaming]

So beautiful!!

[@mrmadness2699]

Note for people: this was a good fix for the issue at hand, but smoking of your open fireplace can also be caused by kitchen exhaust fans and cold outside chimneys

[@Rickbearcat]

I loved that you used bullet hinges. What a stroke of genius! Great project.

[@craigslist04]

Nice fix and the barrel hinges, well that was just bragging. :-) A few simple tricks, when lighting the fireplace open a door or window on the windward side of the house for positive pressure, till the rising heat establishes. Make a combustible air intake in or near the firebox, it can be as simple as a vent grate to your crawl space. Air will follow the path of lesser resistance. Add a fan powered fresh air vent to a heat exchanger with a bimetal thermal switch. You can heat a distant room with positive air pressure by cracking open a window in that room.

[@paulv8185]

That was awesome. So great to watch someone with the skills tackle a problem and solve it with attractive results. Nice job!

[@8KilgoreTrout4]

Those skills man. Really respect all that workmanship! And what an awesome HUGE fireplace!

[@atorch4umbb]

I love your attitude and your where with all! Citizen we need more like you. . . Thanks for sharing and glad people like you still exist!

[@bbrachman]

Jon, you are amazing. I see a plan forming (well in your head). I see the step by step execution. Even though I do not have a fireplace, this was interesting. The problem solving on this channel is what makes me watch them all. (even if I do not have a need for a mini excavator).

[@hotflashfoto]

I learned several things from this one video. Thank you for producing it, and it was 3 years ago! While I don't have the equipment (yet), nor do I own my own place (yet), the ideas are simple and straight-forward. I can use them for this specific case, but I can also apply them in other use-case scenarios, which is just fancy-talk for saying they apply to other situations.

[@kapperoutdoors]

Wow! Absolutely fantastic video, thank you. Love the Ingenuity and fabricating to make a problem go away! Beautiful work man, really enjoyed it thank you

[@Allthrashedout.]

Good ol farmcraft only been watch u for 6 months … looked everywhere for this topic and it was right here ! looks great!!

[@gorp27]

Cool build, I especially like the simplicity of the door handles you fabricated.

[@akaredcrossbow]

Great video, thank you! Great DIY project. You can purchase a smoke guard that is extendable and installed under the lintel and extends the width of the fireplace opening. You can also raise the wood grate with 4 bricks one under each leg, that will get the smoke closer to the smoke chamber.

[@johnellison1072]

Nice job you’re one hell of a craftsman!

[@Mistakeful_Learning]

Very elegant solution. I’ve been having this issue with my fireplace as well. Good time to start another project.

[@ricklarouche4105]

Living here on the freakin’ frozen planet of Hoth (AVE👍) we ended up getting an airtight wood stove and put in piping to bring in outside air for combustion. Otherwise the stove was pulling air from every window frame, door crack and wall plug to supply combustion air, making the place drafter then it really was.. In more pleasant climes like what yours appears, its very nice to just have a cozy, picturesque fireplace!❤ 🎉. Really enjoying your skillful execution of these many projects.😊

[@williamwilliams7706]

Nice Job. One of the best produced craftsmanship channels on the Tube.

[@TheCdy4261]

this was a very satisfying video. Really awesome that you're creative enough and have all the right tools to make this happen. Very nice!

[@arthurballs9632]

You are one smart chap, I'm never unimpressed watching you tackle totally different issues.

[@kristensareen8355]

Thank you for the info 😊. My husband and I were considering purchasing a house that had a chimney, so I wanted to learn more about them.

[@dennisblogg]

Quality content right there!

[@peterbills4129]

I'm only 30 sec in and can already tell the opening, the window, is way too tall. Good solution in the end. Maybe incorporate some brass next time but it wasn't needed in this instance. Beautiful home I'm sure. Who wouldn't like a natural fireplace in their kitchen?

[@johnpeters8929]

Your the only one that could answer my question and fix the the problem. Thank you 🙏

[@tomreagan5614]

Outstanding...brilliant solution and well executed as usual. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

[@2081618]

Thank you Jon! This was the easiest fix I found online! Landlord wasn't too happy with the burnt parts in the carpet (havent told him I was welding inside the apartment!) 10/10 would recommend!

[@dalusa81]

Thanks for showing this. Its helpful to just see your process and learn a few things.

[@meisterrumspuckl3965]

Every time i check a new video i see cool ways how to fix problems...thank´s for that!!

[@WildTines]

I made sure to cover the arc while you were welding so I didn’t hurt my eyes 👍🏼

[@catspaw3815]

Nicely done. And watching the high-speed buttoning was fun too!

[@stanleykeith6969]

I have Glass Door that you can open and Close. There is a metal screen that opens and closes. Open one side of the glass door for more air to draw of the smoke if you want. What I like about the glass doors you can close them when the fire gets low, with embers, and go to bed. Great Job John, I like what you did.😁

[@mcorrade]

I had the exact same issue with the chimney having a new internal ceramic sleeve which constricted the flow as you mentioned. I setup a very small fan at the very top of the chimney which helps with the flow.

[@kapperoutdoors]

Also just shared this on our kapper Outdoors Facebook page. Excellent work once again, thank you

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

Those were such nice hinges you made...so clean and simple. Nice!

[@tiffanysandoval353]

This was so cool to watch! So skillful and it turned out very beautiful 😊

[@darrinhudsonberg6072]

Awesome job, very handy tips. Thank you, it made me understand my current situation much better.😊

[@thekiminthenorth504]

Quite a craftsman! Love your work!

[@brettmortimer1864]

Great vid. Great solution. Looks fantastic, I love it👍👍

[@swede178]

Great work mate, a house isnt a home without a fireplace

[@danieldoss1987]

That's pretty fricking awesome! Nice work too!

[@Peter-swe]

Great idea. And it's looking really good🤘

[@dirtyvet5404]

A gentleman's term for a form of copying is inspiration. Thanks for giving me my plan.

[@benjimiller6428]

Nice job, and a well-done video.

[@nickboucher7339]

Beautiful work.

[@stanrogers7534]

Great Design thank you for the instructions… I have been concerned about the design of a fire place I have chosen to use … you solved this problem thank you

[@jaska6875]

Nice work! When you own your house you'd better be handy or else you need tons of money for maintainance. I had to fix holes in my fireplaces. Didn't know how to do that but learned from KZbin videos. Great times we are living now 😁👍

[@silentscribes]

Nicely done!

[@craigsudman4556]

What's the world coming to when a fireplace can't smoke!?! Great video John thumbs up.

[@XJon2011]

Modern realization of the dangers to your health of smoke inside a closed environment like your house for large periods of time. Even enough candles diminish air quality rapidly without proper ventilation.

[@Ennyluap2011]

You are amazingly skilled!!!!!!!❤

[@FatherCouchPotato]

As always, great craftmanship and video! In my world, I live in a different world :-) a smoking fireplace has many causes. Other than how much smoke is actually created in the combustion process, the main reason for a fireplace to put the smoke in the house rather than successfully out the chimney is pressure. If you have a positive pressure in the house, the air will want to leave the house. An open chimney is a great escape. Obviously, a warm chimney does this much easier, many factors. What strikes me though is that with an opening that big and a wide chimney, you choose to let a lot of house air out. Which means that you get a negative pressure in the house, which means that you will pull air from the outside into the house. You lose so much heat that way. Jon, I would love to see a video where you install an airduct to your fireplace that will draw air from the outside into your fireplace and replace your mesh doors with glass doors. Many factors and tradeoffs on this and that. I think that with fresh air into the fireplace rather than sucking in indoor air into the fireplace would be better. Keep it up, your videos and content are at the top of what I have seen on this here tube. You rock!

[@IGFavorites]

Well, I won't be able to do such a work, but I enjoyed watching it. Thanks a lot, great job, great video!

[@buchanansleeve7427]

Great job looks mint.

[@lukegraham1945]

Good work, looks like a nice, quality fix.

[@Lorddarthvader1701]

Nice job, that fireplace looks nice

[@bruce-le-smith]

this is so helpful thank you for sharing p.s. those hinges are super satisfying

[@getyerspn]

Nice job ...love the totally over engineered hinges... Good job done ... We have to make lots of steel apature reducers here in the UK as most insurance companies like you to have a stainless liner now even if you have good clay liner which just further reduces the flue flow and on listed buildings we're not allowed in a lot of cases to rebrick the fireplace ....also the government over here seems set on trying to reduce the use of open fires and wood burners .

[@bruce-le-smith]

individuals having a fire in their home isn't the problem, there is so much other waste and pollution to reduce and governments should focus on that as it would have a bigger ROI

[@adrianspencer7743]

Wow nice work !

[@gillafunk]

Beautiful idea. Outstanding

[@PelicanIslandLabs]

Great Vid! I had a large fireplace in a house (which smoked) and I installed a forced air fan in the firepit vent. Your solution (decreasing the area) would have probably been a better fix.

[@fxpestoperator5527]

Amazing as ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@JanColdwater]

Looks great too! 👍

[@jameskirby5386]

Wow, a piece of art

[@BENZ007]

Nice job !

[@rjkStudios]

I love this channel so much!

[@mariosmichael5116]

Thats awesome! Thanks for the advice 😀

[@pennyfulton3418]

ingenious innovation ; genius design .

[@drock4912]

Nice job man. Fun to watch too.

[@GMCLabs]

That magnet might get demagnetized from the heat. Neodymium magnets have a low curie point but from what I looked up they should be good to at least 590°F. Don't know how hot it gets that close to the fire.

[@johngreco7171]

Pure neodymium magnets have a relatively low curie point, but typically rare earth magnets are made with other additives which help raise the curie point a few hundred degrees up past 700°F. My guess is the magnets stay cool enough, particularly since cool room air will be drawn past them by the draft caused by the flue doing it's thing.

[@MakarovFox]

the magnet that he use is a neodymium magnet but from a disc drive, this why the weir shape

[@RonFerlman]

Nice job. Love that fire place

[@chadicenogle7235]

very nice work.

[@sandragentz9442]

Thank you for the video. We have been struggling with this issue and now we don't have to drill into our beautiful tile.

[@jerryjohnsonii4181]

Awesome solution to a Smokey Fireplace !!!!!!!!!!!

[@toutrec9668]

Well done!

[@politicalfisherman540]

Now that was a nice build. 👌

[@twofeathers6540]

that was good great job thanks for the video have fun

[@jahweh]

Beautifull work!

[@runwillrobinson]

Good work! Thank you.

[@David_in_Thailand]

Elegant hinges you made there.

[@paulnicholson1906]

Another reason is that a lot of fireplaces have too wide a throat, the connection to the flue. There should be a smoke shelf at the back of the damper as well. Many fireplaces are really not built properly. The fireplace I have doesn’t have one and to keep it from smoking you have to have the damper closed one notch to prevent downdrafts. Doing what he is doing might help but it probably makes the fireplace even less efficient. Another trick is to put the grate on a couple of bricks.

[@paulnicholson1906]

You are 100% right. The smoke shelf is missing on a lot of fireplaces. I end up doing what you do that is closing the damper a notch. Seems counterintuitive though.

[@cdurkinz]

This was super nice.

[@GeorgiaRidgerunner]

Never used a fireplace much but ive seen others just stop using them because they smoked never really gave much thought as to why they smoked but it makes perfect sense what size should a fire place opening be in relation to the flue in my house we use a wood burning stove they seem to heat a larger area using less wood

[@actmgr9786]

Wonderful, Love your Copy & Paste abilities. You show how you make the first one and just skip the rest. Won't the handles still get hot on the doors?

[@earlelzy7243]

Nicely done.

[@peterskebo]

Outstanding!

[@johngreco7171]

Nice looking hinges!

[@bombardier3qtrlbpsi]

Nice job 👍

[@akquicksilver]

Looks great and is much safer.

[@D...........33]

And again Spot on 👍

[@ashleybailey5473]

Realized my mouth hung open from 2:59-8:49 🤣 fanTASTic job!

[@frsozomenos]

Excellent!

[@watcherofwatchers]

That is very nice! I want one!

[@jakegingrich7214]

Looks great, another thing I was thinking it what if you simply added say 8" of brick to the bottom of the fireplace to lift it up. Would that have the same effect?

[@mensb1936]

looks good too very nice

[@PG-wi9oq]

Great vid!

[@1artworkz]

Masterful!

[@aticuss]

Good job!

[@kking5652]

It’s been a while, I like the hinges.

[@homejadiri1851]

GOOD JOB

[@LeslieN317537]

How it’s made. Love it.

[@RushAustin]

Brilliant!

[@honklerton732]

Very nice.