Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the ground, 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 fire pits was that they produced hazardous or annoying smoke within the house.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in structures, but ventilation smoke relied on open windows or openings in roofs. The medieval great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where an open fire burned with all the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain wouldn't enter.
Additionally during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from spreading through a room and vent it outside through a ceiling or wall. These could be placed against stone walls, instead of taking up the middle of the space, and this enabled smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the problem of fumes, more reliably venting smoke out. They made it feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it feasible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings handily. They didn't come into general use immediately, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.The 18th century saw two important developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace that greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a longer area at the very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that has been better at drawing the smoke up and from the construction. The shallow design also improved greatly the quantity of radiant warmth projected into the room. Rumford's layout is the basis for modern fireplaces.
Instead it relied on simple designs with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was placed on providing quality stone. Stone fireplaces now have been a symbol of prosperity, which to some degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made from brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for the relaxing ambiance they create and also for heating a room. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficacy, depending on the design.Historically they have been used for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry 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 laundry and kitchen fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel pub, home 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, where the projecting courses of brick act as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud serves to keep rainwater out of the exterior of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a much greater problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners compared with the standard masonry chimney, that divides up all but the most violent rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the cap or crown.
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 risk. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell good, but it is not good for you.Types of fireplacesManufactured fireplaces are made with sheet metal or glass flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for either gas or wood or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.
In the United States, several states and local counties have laws restricting these types of fireplaces. Additionally, there are air quality management problems because of the quantity of moisture that they discharge into the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces are fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed from the area that is heated, and port all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.
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Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has transformed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits than modern fireplaces. They were used for heat on cold days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place within the house. These fire pits were generally based within a space, allowing more people to collect around it.
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Many flaws were found in ancient fireplace designs. Along with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace designers of this time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design that has been used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the quality of the substances used in their construction, as opposed to their size.
By the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of two parts, the surround and the add. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, granite or marble. The insert was where the fire burned, and was built of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. In addition to providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were thought to add a cozy ambiance to homes.Dimplex Electraflame Fieldstone Natural Stone Free Standing Electric Fireplace eBay Video
Some fireplace components incorporate a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, leading to a more evenly heated area and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also enhanced by means of a fireback, a sheet of metal which 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 complex concept though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider only the impact 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 best way to estimate the output of a fireplace is if you detect you are turning the thermostat up or down.
Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency rating. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum requirement for example in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces can also be modified by adding special heavy fireboxes designed to burn cleaner and may reach efficiencies as high as 80% in heating the air. These modified fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two stages. During the first phase the first heat is offered through a large glass window while the flame is burning. In this time the structure, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This heat is then equally radiated for several hours during the next phase. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just provide heat radiated from its surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.free standing fireplace
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