Why is my vented gas fireplace drafty?

Historical fire pits were sometimes built in the ground, within caves, or in the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of early indoor fire pits was that they generated toxic and/or irritating smoke within the dwelling.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in structures, but venting smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where an open fire burned with all the smoke rising to the port in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be coated so rain and snow would not enter.

Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to stop smoke from spreading through a room and vent it outside via a ceiling or wall. These can be put against rock walls, rather than taking up the center of the room, and this enabled smaller rooms to be warmed.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the issue of fumes, more reliably venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings conveniently. They did not come into general usage instantly, however, as they were expensive to build and maintain.

Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace that greatly enhanced the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a longer place at the very top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox which 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 space. Rumford's design is the foundation for modern kitchens.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took to a more traditional spectra based on rock and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it depended on simple designs with small unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on providing quality gems. Stone fireplaces at this time were a symbol of wealth, which to some degree is still the notion today.A fireplace is a construction made from brick, stone or metal made to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending upon the plan.

Historically they were utilized 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 other 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 bar, house overmantel, a damper, a smoke chamber, a throat, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner.

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On the exterior there is frequently a corbeled brick crown, where the projecting courses of brick act as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A hood, cap, or shroud serves to keep rainwater from the outside of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a much larger difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the crown or cap.

The EPA writes"Smoke may smell good, but it's not great for you.

Types of fireplacesManufactured fireplaces are made out of sheet metal or glass fire boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for either gas or wood or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.A few kinds are, wall mounted electric fireplaces, electric fireplace stoves, electrical mantel fireplaces and fixed or free standing gas fireplaces.

Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by either gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the USA, several states and local businesses have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. There are also air quality control problems because of the amount of moisture that they release into the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed from the area that is heated, and port all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesA wide range of accessories are used with fireplaces, ranging between states, regions, and historical periods. For the inside, common in current Western civilizations comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire dogs, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a frame, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel for a fire. Heavy metal firebacks are occasionally utilized to capture and re-radiate warmth, to protect the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames placed before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ashes.

Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of requirement to one of visual interest. Early ones were more fire pits compared to contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on cold days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also served as a gathering place within the home. These fire pits were generally centered within a space, allowing more individuals to gather around it.

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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, requiring a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace designers of this period 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 level of the materials used in their construction, instead of their size.

By the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of 2 parts, the surround and the insert. The encircle comprised of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, usually in wood, marble or granite. The fit was where the fire burned, and was constructed of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. As well as providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were thought to add a cozy ambiance into homes.

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Some fireplace units incorporate a blower which transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, leading to a more evenly heated space and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be enhanced with the use of a fireback, a sheet of metal which sits behind the fire and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally produced from cast iron, but are also manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex notion although with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the effect of heating of the air. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, designed to warm the air. A fireplace with a fireback is a radiant heater, and has done so since the 15th century. The ideal method to estimate the output of a fireplace is in case you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.

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 may also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes designed to burn much cleaner and can reach efficiencies as large 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 stages. During the first phase the first heat is provided through a big glass while the fire is burning. In this time the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This heat is then evenly radiated for many hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window just provide heat radiated from its surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to two daily firings are enough to guarantee a constant room temperature.vented gas fireplace