Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the ground, in caves, or at the middle of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of early indoor flame pits was that they generated toxic and/or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in buildings, but venting smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The medieval great hall typically had a centrally situated hearth, where an open fire burnt with the smoke rising to the port in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be covered so rain and snow would not enter.
Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to prevent smoke from spreading through a room and vent it out through a wall or roof. These could be placed against stone walls, rather than taking up the center of the space, and this allowed smaller chambers to be warmed.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the problem of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke out. They made it possible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it possible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general usage instantly, however, as they were expensive to develop and maintain.Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he improved the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a longer place at the very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing up the smoke and out of the building. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected to the space. Rumford's layout is the basis for modern kitchens.
The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took to a more traditional spectra based on rock and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it depended on simple designs with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality stone. Stone fireplaces now were a sign of prosperity, which to a degree is still the idea today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for the relaxing ambiance they create and also for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, based upon the design.Historically they were 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. A fireplace may have the following: a base, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney (utilized in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel bar, house overmantel, a damper, a smoke room, a throat, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner.
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On the exterior there is often a corbeled brick crown, in which the projecting courses of brick act as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A cap, hood, or shroud serves to keep rainwater out of the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a far larger problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners than with the traditional masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor incorporated into the crown or cap.
Organizations such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology warn that, according to various studies, fireplaces can pose a significant health risk. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it is not great for you.Kinds of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made with sheet glass or metal fire boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for gas or wood or retrofit with log inserts or electric fireboxes.
Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and gas fuel sources. In the United States, several states and local businesses have laws limiting these kinds of fireplaces. They must be properly sized to the area to be heated. Additionally, there are air quality management problems due to the quantity of moisture that they release into the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed in the area that is heated, and port all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.
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As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has transformed from one of requirement to one of visual interest. Early ones were fire pits than contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for heat on cold days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place inside the house. These fire pits were usually based within a room, allowing more people to collect around it.
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Many defects were found in ancient fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came big scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace designers of the period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which was used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with a emphasis on the quality of the materials used in their construction, instead of their dimensions.
By the 1800s newest fireplaces were made up of 2 parts, the surround and the add. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, granite or marble. The fit was fire burned, and was built of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. As well as providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to bring a cozy ambiance to homes.Best 25+ Contemporary fireplaces ideas on Pinterest Modern fireplaces, Fireplace design and Video
Some fireplace components incorporate a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also enhanced with the use of a fireback, a piece of metal that sits behind the flame 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 concept though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider only the effect of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace is not, and never was, designed to warm the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a radiant heater, and has done so as the 15th century. The ideal way to estimate the output signal of a fireplace is if you detect you're turning the thermostat up or down.
Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency rating. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of at least 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 cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80% in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two stages. During the first stage the initial heat is offered through a big glass window while the fire is burning. In this time period the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This warmth is then evenly radiated for many hours during the second phase. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just offer heat radiated from its surface. Based on temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are enough to guarantee a constant room temperature.modern fireplace
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