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Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, in caves, or at the center of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames is present on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor flame pits was that they produced toxic and/or irritating smoke within the house.Fire pits grown into raised hearths in buildings, but ventilation smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where an open fire burnt with the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain wouldn't enter.

Additionally throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to stop smoke from dispersing an area and vent it out through a wall or roof. These can be placed against stone walls, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this enabled smaller rooms to be warmed.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the issue of fumes, more reliably venting smoke out. They made it possible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it feasible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general usage immediately, however, as they were expensive to build and maintain.

Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting a longer place on very top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox that has been better at drawing up the smoke and from the building. The shallow design improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected into the space. Rumford's design is the foundation for modern kitchens.

Instead it depended on simple designs with little 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 gems. Stone fireplaces now have been a sign of prosperity, which to a degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for the relaxing ambiance that they create and also for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, based on the design.

Historically they were 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 act as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud functions to keep rainwater from the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a far larger difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, that soaks up all but the rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor incorporated into the cap or crown.

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

Kinds of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made with sheet glass or metal flame boxes.Electric fireplaces can be built-in replacements for either gas or wood 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 gas fuel sources. In the United States, some states and local counties have laws restricting these types of fireplaces. They need to be properly sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality control issues because of the quantity of moisture that they discharge in the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces are fueled by liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed in the place that's heated, and vent all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the interior, common in current Western civilizations include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, along with fire puppies, all which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel for a fire. Heavy metallic firebacks are occasionally used to capture and re-radiate warmth, 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. For fireplace tending, tools comprise pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and instrument stands.

As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has transformed from one of necessity to one of visual interest. Early ones were more fire pits than modern fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place within the house. These fire pits were usually based within a space, allowing more people to gather around it.

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Many flaws were found in ancient fireplace designs. The most famous fireplace performers of the period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which was 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.

From the 1800s most new fireplaces were composed of two components, the surround as well as the add. The surround consisted of the mantlepiece and sides supports, usually in wood, marble or granite. The fit was fire burned, and was built of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to add a cozy ambiance to homes.

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Some fireplace units 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 can also be enhanced with the use of a fireback, a piece of metal that sits behind the fire and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally produced from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the effect of heating of the air. An open fireplace is not, and never was, designed to warm the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a toaster, and has done so since the 15th century. The best way to gauge the output of a fireplace is in case you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.

Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of at least 80% (legal minimum necessity such as in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces can also be altered by adding special heavy fireboxes developed to burn cleaner and may reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the air. These modified fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two stages. During the first stage the initial heat is provided through a large glass window while the fire is burning. During this time period the structure, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This heat is then evenly radiated for many hours during the next phase. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window just offer heat radiated from its surface. Based on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are enough to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace hearth