Ancient fire pits were sometimes constructed in the floor, in caves, or in the middle of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of ancient, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of premature indoor flame pits was that they generated hazardous or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in structures, but venting smoke depended on open windows or holes in roofs. The medieval great hall typically needed a centrally located hearth, where a open flame burned with all the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain wouldn't enter.
Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to prevent smoke from dispersing a room and vent it outside via a wall or roof. These could be placed against stone walls, instead of taking up the middle of the space, and this enabled smaller chambers to be warmed.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the issue of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke out. They made it feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general usage instantly, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace which greatly enhanced the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting a longer place on top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing up the smoke and out of the construction. The shallow design improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected to the room. Rumford's design is the foundation 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 small unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was placed on providing quality gems. Stone fireplaces at this time were a symbol of wealth, which to a degree remains the notion today.A fireplace is a structure made from brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficacy, depending on the design.Historically they were used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. A fireplace may have the following: a base, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney (used in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel pub, house overmantel, a damper, a smoke room, a neck, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner.
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On the exterior there is often a corbeled brick crown, where the projecting courses of brick act 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 at the chimney is a far greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners compared with the standard masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor incorporated into the crown or cap.
Organizations like the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology warn that, according to various studies, fireplaces can pose a significant health threat. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell good, but it's not great for you.Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made with sheet metal or glass fire boxes.Electric fireplaces can be built-in replacements for either wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electric fireboxes.
Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by either gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the United States, several states and local businesses have laws limiting these types of fireplaces. There are also air quality control issues because of the amount of moisture they discharge in the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed in the place that's heated, and vent 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 than modern fireplaces. They were 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 centered within a room, allowing more people to gather around it.
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Many flaws were found in early fireplace designs. Along with the Industrial Revolution, came big scale housing developments, requiring a standardization of fireplaces. The most famous fireplace performers of the period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with a emphasis on the level of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their size.
From the 1800s most new fireplaces were made up of two parts, the surround and the insert. The surround consisted of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, typically in wood, granite or marble. The fit was where the fire burnt, and was built of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. As well as providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were believed to add a cozy ambiance to homes.Housewarmer Fireplace Mantel Surround with Shelf eBay Video
Some fireplace units incorporate a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be enhanced by means of a fireback, a piece of metal that sits behind the fire and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex 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, intended to warm the air. The ideal way to estimate the output signal of a fireplace is in case you detect you are turning the thermostat down or up.
Most older fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of at least 80% (legal minimum necessity such as in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces may also be altered by adding special heavy fireboxes developed to burn much cleaner and may reach efficiencies as high as 80% in heating the atmosphere. These modified fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating process 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 structure, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This heat is then evenly radiated for several hours during the next stage. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window only provide heat radiated from the surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are sufficient to guarantee a constant room temperature.fireplace surround
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