Ancient fire pits were sometimes constructed from the floor, within caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of early indoor fire pits was that they produced toxic and/or annoying smoke inside the house.Fire pits developed into elevated hearths in structures, but ventilation smoke relied on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally located hearth, where a open flame burned with the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so rain and snow wouldn't enter.
Also during 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, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this enabled smaller chambers to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the problem of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke outside. They made it possible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it feasible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They did not come into general usage immediately, however, as they were more expensive to build and maintain.Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace that greatly enhanced the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting a longer area at the very top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that has been better at drawing the smoke up and from the building. The shallow design improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected into the space. Rumford's layout is the foundation for modern kitchens.
The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more traditional spectra based on stone and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it relied on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was still placed on providing quality stone. Stone fireplaces at this time were a sign of wealth, which to a degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal made to include a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the plan.Historically they were used for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry uses.
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On the exterior there is frequently a corbeled brick crown, where the projecting courses of brick act as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A cap, hood, or shroud serves to keep rainwater from the exterior of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a far greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners compared with the standard masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the most violent rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the cap or crown.
Organizations like the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology warn that, according to various studies, fireplaces could pose a substantial health risk. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it's not great for you.Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made with sheet metal or glass flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.
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 USA, several states and local counties have laws restricting these types of fireplaces. There are also air quality control problems due to the amount of moisture that they discharge into the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces are fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed in the place that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.
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As time passes, the intent behind fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of interest. Early ones were fire pits compared to modern fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on chilly days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place within the home. These fire pits were generally based within a space, allowing more people to gather around it.
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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. Along with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most famous fireplace designers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the quality of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their size.
From the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of two components, the surround as well as the insert. The encircle comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, marble or granite. The insert was where the fire burned, and was constructed of cast iron often backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were believed to add a cozy ambiance into homes.IHP Superior VRE4336PEN 36quot; NG VentFree Fireplace/White Herringbone Refractory Panels Video
Some fireplace components include a blower that transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated area and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be increased with the use of a fireback, a piece of metal which sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally produced from cast iron, but can also be made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex concept though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider just the impact of heating of the air. An open fireplace is not, and never was, designed to heat the air. The ideal method to gauge the output of a fireplace is if you detect you are turning the thermostat up or down.
Most elderly fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency rating. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum requirement such as in Salzburg/Austria). To improve efficiency, fireplaces may also be altered by inserting special heavy fireboxes developed to burn much cleaner and may reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the atmosphere. These modified fireplaces are often equipped with a large fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two phases. During the first phase the first heat is provided through a big glass window while the flame is burning. In this time period the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This heat is then equally radiated for several hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window just provide heat radiated from the surface. Based on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.superior fireplaces
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