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Historical fire pits were sometimes constructed in the floor, in caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of premature indoor flame pits was that they generated hazardous or irritating smoke within the dwelling.Fire pits grown into raised hearths in buildings, but venting smoke relied on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where an open flame burned with all the smoke climbing into the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so rain and snow would not enter.

Also throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to prevent smoke from dispersing a room and vent it outside through a ceiling or wall. These can be put against stone walls, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this allowed smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the issue of fumes, more reliably venting smoke out. They made it possible to give the fireplace a draft, and also made it possible to place fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general usage instantly, however, since they were more expensive to develop and maintain.

The 18th century saw two important developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace that greatly enhanced the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a longer 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 quantity of radiant heat projected into the room. Rumford's design is the basis for modern kitchens.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more conventional spectra based on rock and also deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Rather it depended on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality stone. Stone fireplaces now have been a symbol of wealth, which to some degree is still the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for the relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficacy, based on 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 other flue allows exhaust to escape. A fireplace might have the following: a base, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney crane (used in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel pub, house overmantel, a damper, a smoke chamber, a throat, 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 route to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud serves to keep rainwater out of the outside of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a much larger difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners than with the traditional masonry chimney, which divides up all but the most violent rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the cap or crown.

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

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

In the United States, several states and local counties have laws limiting these kinds of fireplaces. Additionally, there are air quality control issues because of the quantity of moisture they release in the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed from the area that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesA wide assortment of accessories are used with fireplaces, ranging between countries, regions, and historical periods. For the inside, common in recent Western cultures comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire dogs, all of which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel for a fire. Heavy metal firebacks are occasionally used to capture and re-radiate heat, to protect the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames set before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ashes.

As time passes, the intent behind fireplaces has transformed from one of necessity to one of visual interest. Early ones were more fire pits than modern fireplaces. They were used for heat on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were usually based within a space, allowing more people to collect around it.

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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. The most famous fireplace performers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly colored, with an emphasis on the level of the materials used in their construction, instead of their dimensions.

By the 1800s most new fireplaces were composed of two components, the surround as well as the add. The surround consisted of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, granite or marble. The fit was where the fire burned, and was constructed of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were thought to bring a cozy ambiance to homes.

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Some fireplace units include a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the air 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 sheet of metal that sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but are also manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the impact of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, designed to warm the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a toaster, and has done so since the 15th century. The ideal way to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is if you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.

Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum requirement such as in Salzburg/Austria). To improve efficiency, fireplaces can also be altered by adding special heavy fireboxes developed to burn cleaner and may reach efficiencies as large as 80% in heating the air. These modified fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two phases. During the first phase the initial heat is provided through a big glass window while the fire is burning. In this time the construction, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This heat is then equally radiated for many hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just provide heat radiated from its surface. Depending on outside temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.media fireplace