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Ancient fire pits were sometimes constructed in the floor, in caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of early indoor fire pits was that they produced hazardous or irritating smoke within the house.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in buildings, but venting smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The medieval great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where an open fire burned with the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain wouldn't enter.

Additionally throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to stop smoke from dispersing a room and vent it out through a wall or roof. These can be placed against rock walls, rather than taking up the center of the room, and this enabled smaller chambers 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 feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and also made it feasible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general use immediately, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.

Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting a longer place at the top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox which has been better at drawing the smoke up and out of the construction. The shallow design improved greatly the amount of radiant warmth projected into the room. Rumford's design is the basis for modern fireplaces.

Rather 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 still placed on providing quality gems. Stone fireplaces at this time were a symbol of prosperity, which to some degree is still the notion today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the plan.

Historically they have been utilized for heating a home, 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 (used in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel bar, home overmantel, a damper, a smoke chamber, a throat, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner.

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On the exterior there's frequently a corbeled brick crown, in which the casting courses of brick act as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A cap, hood, or shroud functions to keep rainwater out of the outside 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 traditional masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the crown or cap.

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

Kinds of fireplacesManufactured fireplaces are made with sheet glass or metal flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for either wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electric fireboxes.

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and gas fuel sources. In the USA, several states and local counties 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 problems because of the amount of moisture they release into the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed from the place that is heated, and vent all exhaust gasses into the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the inside, common in current Western cultures include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, and fire dogs, all which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a frame, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel to your fire. Heavy metallic firebacks are sometimes used to capture and re-radiate heat, to protect the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames set before the fireplace to contain embers, soot and ashes. For fireplace tending, tools comprise pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and instrument stands.

As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were fire pits compared to contemporary fireplaces. They were used for heat on cold days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place within the house. These fire pits were generally centered within a room, allowing more people to collect around it.

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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. The most renowned fireplace performers of this period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design that has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with a emphasis on the level of the substances used in their construction, instead of their dimensions.

By the 1800s newest fireplaces were made up of 2 parts, the surround and the insert. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, usually in wood, marble or granite. The insert was where the fire burnt, and was constructed of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. As well as providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to add a cozy ambiance to homes.

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Some fireplace units include a blower which transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also enhanced by means of a fireback, a sheet of metal that 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 complicated notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider only the effect of heating of the air. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, intended to warm the atmosphere. The best way to estimate the output of a fireplace is in case you notice you're turning the thermostat down or up.

Most older fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum necessity for example in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces may also be altered by inserting special heavy fireboxes designed to burn much cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, allowing an efficient heating system in two phases. During the first phase the first heat is provided through a large glass while the flame is burning. During this time period the structure, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This heat is then equally radiated for several hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window only provide heat radiated from its surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace makeover