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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built from the ground, in caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor flame pits was that they generated toxic and/or annoying smoke inside the house.Fire pits grown into raised hearths in buildings, but venting smoke depended on open windows or holes in roofs. The medieval great hall typically needed a centrally located hearth, where a open fire burnt with the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be coated so rain and snow would not enter.

Also throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from dispersing a room and vent it out via a ceiling or wall. These can be placed against rock walls, instead of taking up the center of the space, and this enabled smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the problem of fumes, more reliably venting smoke out. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it feasible to place fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general usage instantly, however, as 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 room for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting a lengthier area on very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox which was better at drawing the smoke up and from the building. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected to the space. Rumford's design is the basis for modern kitchens.

Instead it depended on simple layouts with little 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 were a sign of wealth, which to some degree is still the notion today.A fireplace is a structure made of brick, stone or metal made to include a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for its relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficacy, based upon the design.

Historically they have been used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or alternative flue allows exhaust to escape.

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On the exterior there is often a corbeled brick crown, in which the projecting courses of brick function as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, 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 metal liners than with the standard masonry chimney, which divides up all but the rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the crown or cap.

Organizations such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology warn that, according to different studies, fireplaces could pose a significant health risk. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell good, but it is not good for you.

Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made out of sheet glass or metal flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for gas or wood or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and propane fuel sources. In the United States, some states and local businesses have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. They must be properly sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality management issues because of the amount of moisture they discharge into the room air, and oxygen sensor and carbon dioxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces are fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed in the place that's heated, and vent all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesA vast range of accessories are used with fireplaces, which range between states, regions, and historical periods. For the interior, common in recent Western cultures comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire dogs, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel to your fire. Heavy metal firebacks are sometimes utilized to capture and re-radiate warmth, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames placed before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash. Other wider accessories may consist of log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and more.

As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of requirement to one of visual interest. Early ones were fire pits compared to modern fireplaces. They have been used for heat on cold days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also served as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were usually centered within a room, allowing more people to collect around it.

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Many defects were found in ancient fireplace designs. The most renowned fireplace designers of this period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design that was used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the level of the substances used in their construction, as opposed to their dimensions.

By the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of 2 components, the surround and the insert. The encircle comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, granite or marble. The fit was fire burned, and was built of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were thought to bring a cozy ambiance into homes.

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Some fireplace units include a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, leading to a more evenly heated space and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also increased by means of a fireback, a piece of metal which sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but can also be made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the impact of heating of the air. An open fireplace is not, and never was, intended to warm the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a radiant heater, and has done so since the 15th century. The ideal method to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is in case you notice you're turning the thermostat up or down.

Most older fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. 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 may also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes designed to burn cleaner and may reach efficiencies as large as 80% in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are usually equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two phases. During the first stage the first heat is provided through a big glass while the flame is burning. In this time the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This warmth is then equally radiated for many hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just offer heat radiated from its surface. Based on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are enough to guarantee a constant room temperature.electric fireplaces