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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built from the floor, within caves, or in the center of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires is present on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor flame pits was that they produced toxic and/or irritating smoke within the house.Fire pits developed into elevated hearths in buildings, but venting smoke depended on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where a open fire burnt with all the smoke climbing into the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be covered so rain and snow would not enter.

Also throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from spreading through an area and vent it outside via a ceiling or wall. These could be placed against rock walls, rather than taking up the center of the room, and this enabled smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the problem of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to place fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings conveniently. They did not come into general use instantly, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.

The 18th century saw two major developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace that greatly improved the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a longer place on top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox which has been 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 layout is the basis for modern fireplaces.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more traditional spectra based on stone and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Rather it relied 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 at this time have been a sign of wealth, which to some degree is still the notion today.A fireplace is a construction made from brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, based on the design.

Historically they have been used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry 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 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's often a corbeled brick crown, in which the projecting courses of brick function as a drip route 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 much greater problem 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. A few 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 various studies, fireplaces can pose a significant health risk. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it is not good for you.

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

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 United States, several states and local counties have laws limiting these types of fireplaces. They need to be suitably sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality management issues due to the quantity of moisture they discharge into the room air, 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 in the area that is heated, and vent all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the inside, common in recent Western cultures comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire dogs, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel for a fire. Heavy metal firebacks are sometimes utilized to catch and re-radiate heat, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames set before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash. For fireplace tending, tools comprise pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and tool stands. Other wider accessories can consist of log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and much more.

As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of visual interest. Early ones were more fire pits compared to contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place inside the house. These fire pits were generally centered within a room, allowing more people to collect around it.

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Many flaws were found in early fireplace designs. Along with the Industrial Revolution, came big scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most famous fireplace designers of this period 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 substances used in their construction, instead of their size.

By the 1800s most new fireplaces were composed of two components, the surround and the add. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, typically in wood, marble or granite. The fit 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 era were believed to bring a cozy ambiance to homes.

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Some fireplace units incorporate a blower which transports more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated space and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be increased with the use of a fireback, a sheet of metal which sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally produced from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider only the effect of heating of the air. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, designed to heat the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a toaster, and has done so as the 15th century. The ideal way to gauge the output of a fireplace is in case you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.

Most older fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency rating. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum necessity for example in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces can also be modified by inserting 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 large fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two stages. During the first phase the initial heat is offered through a big glass window while the fire is burning. In this time the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This heat is then equally radiated for many hours during the next phase. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window only provide heat radiated from its surface. Based on temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are enough to guarantee a constant room temperature.fireplace surround