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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, within caves, or at the middle of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of early indoor flame pits was that they generated toxic and/or annoying smoke inside the house.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in structures, but ventilation smoke relied on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where an open flame burnt with the smoke climbing into the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain would not enter.

Additionally during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to prevent smoke from dispersing a room and vent it out through a wall or roof. These can be put against rock walls, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this allowed smaller chambers to be heated.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the issue of fumes, more reliably venting smoke out. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and made it feasible to place fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They did not come into general use instantly, however, since they were more expensive to develop and maintain.

The 18th century saw two major developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace which greatly enhanced the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he improved the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a lengthier place at the top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox which was better at drawing the smoke up and out of the building. The shallow design improved greatly the quantity of radiant warmth projected into the space. Rumford's layout is the foundation for modern kitchens.

Rather it depended on simple designs with small unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on providing quality stone. Stone fireplaces now have been a sign of prosperity, which to some degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made from brick, stone or metal made to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficacy, depending on the plan.

Historically they were used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. A fireplace might have the following: a foundation, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney crane (utilized in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel pub, home overmantel, a damper, a smoke chamber, a neck, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner.

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On the exterior there's frequently a corbeled brick crown, where the casting courses of brick function as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A cap, hood, or shroud serves to keep rainwater from the outside of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a much greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners compared with the standard masonry chimney, that soaks up all but the rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the crown or cap.

The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it is not great for you.

Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made out of sheet glass or metal flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for either wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.A couple of types are, wall mounted electric fireplaces, electric fireplace stoves, electrical mantel fireplaces and fixed or free standing electric fireplaces.

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and gas fuel sources. Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the United States, several states and local businesses have laws limiting these kinds of fireplaces. They must be suitably sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality control problems because of the amount of moisture they discharge in the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces are fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed from the place that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses into the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the inside, common in current Western civilizations include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, along with fire puppies, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel for a fire. Heavy metal firebacks are sometimes used to capture and re-radiate warmth, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames set before the fireplace to contain embers, soot and ash. For fireplace tending, tools include pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and instrument racks. Other wider accessories may include log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and much more.

Over time, the intent behind fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of visual interest. Early ones were more fire pits than modern fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on cold days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also served as a gathering place within the home. These fire pits were usually centered within a space, allowing more people to gather around it.

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Many defects were found in ancient fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came big scale housing developments, requiring a standardization of fireplaces. The most famous fireplace designers of the period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design that has been used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly lit, with a emphasis on the quality of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their dimensions.

From the 1800s newest fireplaces were made up of two parts, the surround and the insert. The encircle consisted of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, typically in wood, marble or granite. The insert was where the fire burnt, and was constructed of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. As well as providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were believed to add a cozy ambiance to houses.

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Some fireplace units incorporate a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, leading to a more evenly heated area and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be increased with the use of a fireback, a sheet of metal which sits behind the fire and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider just the effect of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, intended to heat the atmosphere. The best method to estimate the output signal of a fireplace is if you detect you're turning the thermostat up or down.

Most older fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency rating. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum necessity such as in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces can also be modified by adding special heavy fireboxes designed to burn much cleaner and may reach efficiencies as large as 80% in heating the air. These modified fireplaces are usually equipped with a large fire window, allowing an efficient heating system in two phases. During the first stage the first heat is offered through a big glass while the flame is burning. During this time the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This heat is then evenly radiated for several hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just provide heat radiated from its surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace mantles