smell smoke in my basement? weird

[gabagoo]

Last night we used our fireplace on the main floor family room and the weather was rainy and heavy out. I noticed when I started the fire that it took about a 30 sec. to get the draft to go straight up and it was fine once the heat built up. The Fireplace has glass doors that shut and also has one of those vents on the bottom that brings in outdoor air, instead of sucking it in from the house.

About an hour later we went down into the basement to watch a movie and there was the heavy smell of burning wood. I went back up the stairs and kept my head low but picked up no scent of smoke being dragged down the stairs.

I am not sure if it was because when I initially started the fire some smoke seemed to get pulled back into the family room and possibly pulled into the basement where it sat for quite some time.
This morning I can smell no smoke in the basement, but have experienced this before.

When the house was built 22 years ago there is a spot in the basement directly below the fireplace that allows you to build another one if want to, but it is basically sealed up, so I can see no way it could drag it down, plus there is a drop ceiling that would block the smoke and keep it in the area above the ceiling and below the first floor. I dont think that is the problem.

what you think?

[Patriotic]

Smoky smell in basement

I think the smoke was probably pulled down the staircase as well as your heating ducts. Smoke is a mixture of CO, and CO2 as well as other ingredients. CO (carbon monoxide) is lighter than air, may or may not be colorless and odorless. It would rise rapidly to the ceiling or get sucked into your homes heating and cooling ducts and get redistributed around the house out all of the ducts. That short period of time where the chimney wasn't venting properly was probably enough to get the smoke into the basement where I am guessing there is less airflow so the smell sat there and took a while to dissipate. CO2 (carbon dioxide) is heavier than air and would easily fall to the floor and roll down the staircase right when you were trying to light the fire.

[Mark Weese]

yes... i agree...

when ever i have my fireplace going, the more the front door opens up, the more odor i get...
good thing is, it goes away quickly!

just remember, you can always close the front glass doors a bit to create a stronger draft up the chimney.

[gabagoo]

thanks guys, I figured it was probably caused by that short period when I first lit it, and the basement does not have but one return air so it makes sense that it would hang for a while...it does smell good mind you lol