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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built from the floor, in caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made fires is present on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor fire pits was that they produced toxic and/or annoying smoke within the house.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in structures, but ventilation smoke depended on open windows or holes in roofs. The medieval great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where an open fire burnt with the smoke climbing into the port in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable 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 an area and vent it out via a ceiling or wall. These can be put against rock walls, instead of taking up the center of the space, and this enabled smaller chambers to be warmed.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 give the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general use immediately, however, since they were more expensive to develop and maintain.

Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace which greatly enhanced the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting a lengthier place on top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing the smoke up and out of the building. The shallow design also improved greatly the quantity of radiant warmth projected into the room. Rumford's design is the basis for modern kitchens.

Rather it relied on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality gems. Stone fireplaces now were a sign of wealth, which to a degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made from brick, stone or metal made to include a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficacy, depending upon the plan.

Historically they have been utilized 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.

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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 exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud serves to keep rainwater from the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a far greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners than with the standard masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the most violent rain. Some 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 threat. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell good, but it's not good for you.

Kinds of fireplacesManufactured fireplaces are made out of sheet metal or glass flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for either wood or gas 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 counties have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. They need to be properly sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality management problems due to the amount of moisture that they discharge in the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed in the place that is heated, and port all exhaust gasses to the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the interior, common in current Western cultures include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, along with fire puppies, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel to your fire. Heavy metal firebacks are occasionally utilized to capture and re-radiate warmth, to safeguard the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames set before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash.

Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits than modern fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also served as a gathering place within the house. 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 early fireplace designs. Along with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace designers of this period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with a emphasis on the level of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their dimensions.

From the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of two parts, the surround as well as the insert. The surround comprised 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 often backed with decorative tiles. As well as providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to bring a cozy ambiance into homes.

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Some fireplace components include a blower which transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, leading to a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be increased with the use of a fireback, a piece of metal which sits behind the fire and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but are also manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated concept though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the effect of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace is not, and never was, designed to warm the atmosphere. The best way to gauge the output of a fireplace is in case you detect you're turning the thermostat up or down.

Most older fireplaces have a relatively 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 improve efficiency, fireplaces can also be altered by inserting special heavy fireboxes developed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are usually equipped with a large fire window, allowing an efficient heating process in two stages. During the first stage the initial heat is provided through a large glass window while the flame is burning. In this time the structure, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This warmth is then equally radiated for several hours during the second phase. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window only provide heat radiated from its surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are enough to ensure a constant room temperature.gas fireplace