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Historical fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, in caves, or in the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of premature indoor flame pits was that they produced hazardous or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits developed 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 a open fire burnt with the smoke climbing into the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be coated so snow and rain wouldn't enter.

Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to stop smoke from dispersing an area and vent it out through a ceiling or wall. These could be put against stone walls, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this allowed smaller rooms to be warmed.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely 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 numerous rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general usage instantly, 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 that greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a lengthier place at the very top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox that has been better at drawing up the smoke and from the construction. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected to the room. Rumford's layout is the basis for modern fireplaces.

Instead it depended on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on providing quality stone. Stone fireplaces now were a sign of prosperity, which to a degree is still the notion today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance that they create and also for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, based upon the design.

Historically they have been used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry uses. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or alternative flue allows exhaust to escape. A fireplace might have the following: a base, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney (utilized in laundry and kitchen fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel bar, house overmantel, a damper, a smoke chamber, a neck, 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 projecting 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 out of 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, that divides up all but the most violent 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 could pose a substantial health risk. 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 either wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electric fireboxes.A few types are, wall mounted electric fireplaces, electric fireplace stoves, electric 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. Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the United States, some states and local businesses have laws restricting these types of fireplaces. Additionally, there are air quality control problems due to the amount of moisture that they discharge in the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed from the area that is heated, and vent all exhaust gasses into the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the inside, common in current Western cultures include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, and fire dogs, all which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a frame, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel to your fire. Heavy metal firebacks are sometimes used to catch and re-radiate heat, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames placed in front of the fireplace to contain embers, soot and ashes. Other wider accessories may consist of log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and much more.

Over time, the intent behind fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of interest. Early ones were fire pits compared to contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for heat on chilly 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 space, allowing more people to collect around it.

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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace performers of this time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which was used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with a emphasis on the level of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their dimensions.

From the 1800s newest fireplaces were made up of 2 components, the surround as well as the insert. The encircle consisted of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, marble or granite. The fit was fire burnt, and was constructed of cast iron often backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were thought to bring a cozy ambiance to houses.

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Some fireplace units include a blower which transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also 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 concept although with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider only the impact of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace is not, and never was, intended to warm the air. The ideal method to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is if you notice you're turning the thermostat up or down.

Most older fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency rating. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces still possess 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% in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are usually equipped with a large fire window, allowing an efficient heating system in two stages. During the first stage the initial heat is offered through a large glass window while the flame is burning. In this time period the structure, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This warmth is then equally radiated for several hours during the next stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just provide heat radiated from the surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to guarantee a constant room temperature.fireplace surrounds