Fireside Hearth Home Help Me Choose

Ancient fire pits were sometimes built from the floor, in caves, or at the center of a hut or home. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires is present on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor fire pits was that they produced toxic and/or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in structures, but venting smoke relied on open windows or openings in roofs. The medieval great hall typically had a centrally situated hearth, where a open fire burnt with the smoke rising to the port in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be covered so rain and snow wouldn't enter.

Additionally throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to stop smoke from dispersing a room and vent it out via a wall or roof. These can be put against stone walls, rather than taking up the center of the space, and this enabled smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the problem of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke outside. They made it possible to provide the fireplace a draft, and made it feasible to place fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general use immediately, however, as they were expensive to develop and maintain.

Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting a lengthier place on very top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing the smoke up and from the construction. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant warmth projected into the room. Rumford's design is the foundation for modern fireplaces.

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 designs with small unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was placed on supplying quality stone. Stone fireplaces now have been a symbol of wealth, which to a degree remains the idea 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 also for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the plan.

Historically they were used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry uses.

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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 cap, hood, or shroud serves to keep rainwater out of the outside of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a much larger problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners compared with the standard masonry chimney, which divides up all but the most violent rain. A few 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 could pose a significant health threat. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it's not good for you.

Kinds of fireplacesManufactured 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.

In the USA, some states and local counties have laws limiting these kinds of fireplaces. Additionally, there are air quality management problems due to the amount of moisture they release into the room atmosphere, and oxygen sensor and carbon monoxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed from the area that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the interior, common in recent Western cultures comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire puppies, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a frame, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel for a fire. Heavy metal firebacks are sometimes used to capture and re-radiate heat, to safeguard the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames set in front of the fireplace to contain embers, soot and ashes.

Over time, the intent behind fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits compared to modern fireplaces. They were used for warmth on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were usually based within a space, allowing more individuals to collect around it.

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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. Along with the Industrial Revolution, came big scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace performers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which was used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the quality of the materials used in their construction, instead of their size.

From the 1800s most new fireplaces were composed of two parts, the surround and the insert. The encircle consisted of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, typically in wood, granite or marble. The insert was where the fire burned, and was built of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. As well as providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to add a cozy ambiance into houses.

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Some fireplace components include a blower that transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, leading to a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be enhanced with the use 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 are also manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated notion 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, designed 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 in case you notice you're 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 at least 80% (legal minimum necessity such as in Salzburg/Austria). To improve efficiency, fireplaces may also be altered by adding special heavy fireboxes designed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the air. 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 while the flame is burning. During this time the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This heat is then equally radiated for several hours during the second phase. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just offer heat radiated from its surface. Depending on outside temperatures 1 to two daily firings are enough to guarantee a constant room temperature.heatilator gas fireplace