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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, within caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of early indoor flame pits was that they produced hazardous or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in structures, but venting smoke depended on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where an open flame burned with the smoke climbing into the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain would not enter.

Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to stop smoke from dispersing an area and vent it outside 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 warmed.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the problem of fumes, more reliably venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it possible to place fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general use immediately, however, since they were more expensive to develop and maintain.

The 18th century saw two important 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. He also enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a lengthier place at the top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing up the smoke and out of the building. The shallow design also improved greatly the quantity of radiant warmth projected to the room. Rumford's layout is the basis for modern kitchens.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took to a more traditional spectra based on stone and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it relied on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality stone. Stone fireplaces at this time were a symbol of prosperity, which to a degree remains the notion today.A fireplace is a construction made from brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficiency, based on the plan.

Historically they have been utilized for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. 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's often a corbeled brick crown, in which the casting courses of brick function as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A cap, hood, or shroud serves to keep rainwater from the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a far greater problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, which divides up all but the rain. A few 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 can pose a substantial health threat. 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 could be built-in replacements for gas or wood 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 United States, some states and local businesses have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. They must be properly sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality management issues because of the quantity of moisture that they release in the room atmosphere, and oxygen sensor and carbon monoxide 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 to the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesA wide range of accessories are used with fireplaces, which range between countries, regions, and historical periods. For the interior, common in current Western civilizations comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, along with fire puppies, 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 metal firebacks are sometimes used to capture and re-radiate heat, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames placed before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash. For fireplace tending, tools include pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and instrument stands.

Over time, the intent behind fireplaces has transformed from one of necessity to one of visual interest. Early ones were fire pits compared to contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for heat on cold days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also served as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were usually based within a room, allowing more individuals to collect around it.

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Many defects were found in ancient fireplace designs. Along with the Industrial Revolution, came big scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most famous fireplace performers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design that has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the level of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their dimensions.

By the 1800s most new fireplaces were composed of 2 components, the surround as well as the add. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, usually in wood, granite or marble. The fit was where the fire burnt, and was built 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 units incorporate a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, leading to a more evenly heated space and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also 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 complicated concept though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider only the impact of heating of the air. An open fireplace is not, and never was, intended to heat the air. A fireplace with a fireback is a radiant heater, and has done so since the 15th century. The best method to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is if you detect you're turning the thermostat down or up.

Most older fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency rating. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum requirement such as in Salzburg/Austria). To improve efficiency, fireplaces may also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes designed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as large as 80% in heating the atmosphere. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two phases. During the first stage the first heat is offered through a large glass window while the flame is burning. In this time the structure, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This warmth is then equally radiated for many hours during the next phase. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window only provide heat radiated from the surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are enough to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace mantel shelf