Ancient fire pits were sometimes constructed in the floor, in caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor fire pits was that they produced hazardous or annoying smoke within the house.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in buildings, but ventilation smoke depended on open windows or holes in roofs. The medieval great hall typically needed a centrally located hearth, where an open fire burned with the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be coated so snow and rain would not enter.
Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from dispersing an area and vent it out through a wall or roof. These could be put against rock walls, instead of taking up the middle of the room, and this enabled smaller chambers to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the issue of fumes, more reliably venting smoke out. They made it feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general use instantly, however, since they were more 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 improved the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting a longer place on very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox which has been better at drawing up the smoke and from the construction. The shallow design improved greatly the amount of radiant warmth projected to the space. Rumford's layout is the foundation for modern fireplaces.
The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took to a more conventional spectra based on stone and also deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Rather it depended on simple designs with small 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 stone. Stone fireplaces now have been a symbol of prosperity, which to some degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made of brick, stone or metal made to include a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for its relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.Historically they have been used for heating a dwelling, 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.
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On the exterior there's frequently a corbeled brick crown, in which the projecting courses of brick act as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A cap, hood, or shroud serves to keep rainwater out of the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a far larger problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, that soaks up all but the rain. A few 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 various studies, fireplaces can pose a significant health risk. 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 flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for gas or wood or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.
Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the USA, some states and local counties have laws limiting these types of fireplaces. They must be suitably sized to the area to be heated. Additionally, there are air quality control issues due to the quantity of moisture they release into the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed in the place that's heated, and vent all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.
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As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits than modern fireplaces. They were used for heat on chilly days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were generally based within a room, allowing more individuals to collect around it.
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Many flaws were found in early fireplace designs. The most renowned fireplace designers of this period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design that was used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with a 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 and the add. The surround consisted of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, granite or marble. The insert 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 age were believed to bring a cozy ambiance to homes.Amazon.com: Pearl Mantels 12048 Windsor Fireplace Mantel Surround, 48Inch, Unfinished: Home Video
Some fireplace components incorporate a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be enhanced by means of a fireback, a sheet of metal which sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but can also be manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider just the impact of heating of the air. An open fireplace is not, and never was, intended to warm the air. A fireplace with a fireback is a toaster, and has done so as the 15th century. The ideal way to gauge the output of a fireplace is if 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 80% (legal minimum requirement for example in Salzburg/Austria). To improve efficiency, fireplaces may also be modified by adding special heavy fireboxes developed 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 large fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two phases. During the first phase the first heat is provided through a big glass window while the flame 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 next stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just provide heat radiated from the surface. Depending on outside temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace mantles
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