We had our oil burner and water heater serviced by our Oil Company today. They are located in our crawlspace basement, and connected to their own chimney. We also have central air, and an attic fan. The service man said that the attic fan was pulling air and pollutants down the chimney and through the house, (although we rarely smell anything, and the carbon monixide and smoke detectors have never gone off) and that we needed to cut a window into the attic to get more ventilation so it won't pull from the chimney. Since cutting into the siding and installing some kind of louvered window into the attic sounds really expensive, is there some other alternative? Can we put a fan into the chimney to pull the polluted air out? Is this just hogwash - no other service man has ever mentioned this, and we have the burners serviced at least twice a year!

What kind of professional could help us?

 

missing something here.You have an attic with an attic fan.The attic for all intents and purposes is sealed with insulation.It draws hot air out of the attic and disperses to the outside to help cool your home.Basically the fan places a negative pressure in the attic.If sized right the air out would equal the air being drawn thru the attic.My thought is that it is impossible that an attic fan can "PRESSURIZE" a chimney.Unless the chimney leaks.PDF