Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, in caves, or in the center of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of early indoor fire pits was that they generated hazardous or irritating smoke inside the dwelling.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in structures, but venting smoke depended on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally located hearth, where a open fire burnt 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 stop smoke from spreading through an area and vent it outside through a wall or roof. These can be placed against stone walls, instead of taking up the center of the room, and this enabled smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the problem of fumes, more reliably venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it feasible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general usage immediately, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace that greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a longer area on top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox which was better at drawing the smoke up and out of the construction. The shallow design improved greatly the quantity of radiant heat projected into the room. Rumford's design is the basis for modern fireplaces.
Instead it relied on simple designs with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was placed on supplying quality stone. Stone fireplaces now were a symbol of wealth, which to a degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and also for heating a room. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficacy, based upon the plan.Historically they were used for heating a dwelling, 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 (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 is frequently a corbeled brick crown, in which 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 outside of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a much greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners than with the standard masonry chimney, which divides 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 is not great for you.Types of fireplacesManufactured fireplaces are made out of sheet metal or glass fire boxes.Electric fireplaces can be built-in replacements for either wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.
Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the United States, some states and local businesses have laws limiting these kinds of fireplaces. They need to be properly sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality control issues because of the quantity of moisture that they discharge in the room atmosphere, 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 area that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses into the outside of the structure.
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Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of visual interest. Early ones were fire pits compared to modern fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on cold days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place within 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 renowned fireplace designers of this time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the level of the substances used in their construction, instead of their size.
From the 1800s newest fireplaces were made up of two parts, the surround as well as the add. The encircle consisted of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, usually in wood, granite or marble. The insert was where the fire burnt, and was constructed of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. As well as providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were thought to bring a cozy ambiance to houses.Photos HGTV Video
Some fireplace components incorporate a blower which transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated space and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also enhanced by means of a fireback, a piece of metal which sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but can also be manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated notion although with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider just the effect of heating of the air. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, intended to heat the air. A fireplace with a fireback is a toaster, and has done so since the 15th century. The best way to estimate the output of a fireplace is if you detect you're turning the thermostat down or up.
Most older fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of at least 80% (legal minimum necessity such as in Salzburg/Austria). To improve efficiency, fireplaces can also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes designed to burn cleaner and may reach efficiencies as large as 80% in heating the atmosphere. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a large fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two stages. During the first stage the first heat is offered through a large glass window while the fire is burning. During this time the structure, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This warmth is then evenly radiated for several hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window just provide heat radiated from the surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.limestone fireplace
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