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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built from the ground, within caves, or at the center of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of ancient, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor flame pits was that they generated toxic and/or annoying smoke inside the house.Fire pits grown into raised hearths in buildings, but ventilation smoke depended on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where a open flame burnt with all the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be covered so rain and snow would not enter.

Additionally throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from dispersing a room and vent it out through a wall or roof. These could be placed against rock walls, instead of taking up the center of the space, and this allowed smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the problem of fumes, more reliably venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it feasible to place fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general usage instantly, however, since they were more expensive to develop and maintain.

In 1678 Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I, increased the grate of the fireplace, improving the airflow and venting system. The 18th century saw two important developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace that greatly enhanced the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a lengthier area on top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox which was better at drawing the smoke up and out of the building. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected into the room. Rumford's layout is the foundation for modern fireplaces.

Instead it relied on simple designs with little unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was placed on supplying quality gems. Stone fireplaces now have been a sign of wealth, which to some degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal made to include a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for its relaxing ambiance they create and also for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, based on the plan.

Historically they have been used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry uses. A fireplace might have the following: a foundation, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney crane (utilized 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 often 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 greater problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners than with the standard masonry chimney, which divides up all but the rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor incorporated into the cap or crown.

Organizations like the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology warn that, according to different studies, fireplaces could pose a significant health risk. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell good, but it is not good for you.

Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made out of sheet metal or glass fire boxes.Electric fireplaces can be built-in replacements for wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and propane fuel sources. Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by either gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the United States, several states and local businesses have laws limiting these types of fireplaces. They must be properly sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality control problems due to the quantity of moisture they release into the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed in the area that is heated, and vent all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesA vast range of accessories are used with fireplaces, ranging between states, regions, and historical periods. For the inside, common in current Western cultures include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire dogs, all which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel to your fire. Heavy metal firebacks are sometimes used to capture and re-radiate warmth, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames set before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ashes. Other wider accessories may consist of log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and much more.

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 heat on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also served as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were usually centered within a room, 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, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace designers of the period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with a emphasis on the level of the substances used in their construction, as opposed to their size.

By the 1800s most new fireplaces were made up of two components, the surround as well as the insert. The encircle comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, marble or granite. The fit was where the fire burnt, and was constructed of cast iron frequently backed with decorative tiles. As well as providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to add a cozy ambiance into homes.

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Some fireplace components incorporate a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated space and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also increased 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 produced from cast iron, but are also manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated notion although with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider only the impact of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, designed to heat the atmosphere. The ideal method to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is in case you detect you're turning the thermostat down or up.

Most older fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency score. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of at least 80% (legal minimum requirement for example in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces can also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes designed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as large as 80 percent in heating the atmosphere. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a large fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two stages. During the first stage the first heat is provided through a large glass while the flame is burning. In this time period the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This heat is then evenly radiated for several hours during the second phase. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window just offer heat radiated from the surface. Based on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.corner electric fireplace