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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built from the floor, in caves, or at 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 generated toxic and/or irritating smoke within the house.Fire pits grown into raised hearths in buildings, but venting smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally situated hearth, where an open flame burned with the smoke rising to the port in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain would not enter.

Additionally during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from spreading through a room and vent it out through a wall or roof. These can be placed against rock walls, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this enabled smaller rooms to be warmed.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the issue of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to place fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general use instantly, however, as they were expensive to develop and maintain.

In 1678 Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I, raised the grate of the fireplace, improving the venting and airflow system. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace which greatly enhanced the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a lengthier place at the very top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox which was better at drawing up the smoke and out of the construction. The shallow design improved greatly the quantity of radiant warmth projected into the space. Rumford's design is the basis for modern fireplaces.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more traditional spectra based on stone and also 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, in which the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality gems. Stone fireplaces now were a sign of wealth, which to some 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 the relaxing ambiance that they create and also for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficacy, depending on the design.

Historically they have been used for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses.

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On the exterior there is often a corbeled brick crown, where the casting courses of brick function as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A cap, hood, or shroud functions to keep rainwater from the outside of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a much greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners compared with the standard masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the most violent rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the cap or crown.

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

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

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. Additionally, there are air quality management issues due to the quantity of moisture they discharge in the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed from the area that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the interior, common in recent Western civilizations comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire dogs, all of which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel for a 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 set before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ashes.

Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has transformed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were fire pits than contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for heat on cold days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also served as a gathering place within the house. These fire pits were usually centered within a space, allowing more people to collect around it.

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Many defects were found in ancient fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, requiring a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace designers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly lit, with a emphasis on the level of the materials used in their construction, instead of their size.

By the 1800s newest fireplaces were made up of two parts, the surround and the add. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, typically in wood, marble or granite. The fit was where the fire burned, and was constructed of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. In addition to providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to add a cozy ambiance to houses.

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Some fireplace units incorporate a blower that transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated space and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also enhanced by means 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 can also be manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the impact of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, designed to warm the air. The best way to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is if you notice you're turning the thermostat down or up.

Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency rating. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of at least 80% (legal minimum requirement for example in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces may also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes developed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80% in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are usually equipped with a massive fire window, allowing an efficient heating system in two phases. During the first stage the initial heat is provided through a large glass window while the fire is burning. In this time the structure, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This warmth is then evenly radiated for several hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window only offer heat radiated from the surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace mantel