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Ancient fire pits were sometimes constructed from the ground, within caves, or in the center of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor flame pits was that they produced hazardous or annoying smoke within the house.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in structures, but venting smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The medieval great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where a open flame burnt with all the smoke climbing into the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be coated so rain and snow would not enter.

Also throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to stop smoke from spreading through a room and vent it outside via a wall or roof. These could be placed against stone walls, rather than taking up the middle of the space, and this allowed smaller rooms to be warmed.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the problem of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke out. They made it possible to provide the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to place fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They did not come into general usage instantly, however, as they were more expensive to build and maintain.

The 18th century saw two major developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a longer area at the very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed 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 quantity of radiant heat projected into the space. Rumford's design is the basis for modern kitchens.

Instead it depended on simple layouts with small unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was placed on providing quality stone. Stone fireplaces at this time were a symbol of prosperity, which to a degree is still the notion today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal made to contain a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for its relaxing ambiance that they create and also for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, based on the plan.

Historically they were utilized for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry uses. A fireplace may have the following: a foundation, 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, in which the casting courses of brick act as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A hood, cap, or shroud functions to keep rainwater from the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a much larger difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners than with the standard masonry chimney, that divides up all but the most violent rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the crown or cap.

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

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

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and propane 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 management problems due to 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 from the place that's heated, and vent all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesA wide assortment of accessories are used with fireplaces, which range between states, regions, and historical periods. For the inside, common in recent Western civilizations include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, along with fire puppies, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel to your fire. Heavy metallic firebacks are sometimes utilized to catch and re-radiate heat, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames placed before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash. Other wider accessories can include log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and more.

Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has transformed from one of requirement to one of visual interest. Early ones were fire pits compared to modern fireplaces. They were used for heat on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also served as a gathering place within the house. 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 famous fireplace performers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design which was used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with an emphasis on the quality of the substances used in their construction, instead of their dimensions.

By the 1800s most new fireplaces were made up of two parts, the surround as well as the insert. The encircle comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, granite or marble. The insert was where the fire burned, and was constructed of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were thought to add a cozy ambiance to houses.

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Some fireplace components include a blower that transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated space and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be 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 produced from cast iron, but can also be made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex concept although with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider only the impact of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, intended to warm the air. The ideal method to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is in case you notice you are turning the thermostat up or down.

Most older fireplaces have a comparatively 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 developed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the atmosphere. These modified fireplaces are usually equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two phases. During the first phase the initial heat is offered through a large glass window while the flame is burning. In this time period the construction, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This warmth is then evenly radiated for several hours during the second phase. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window only offer heat radiated from its surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to guarantee a constant room temperature.modern fireplace