Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the ground, within caves, or in the middle of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames is present on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of early indoor fire pits was that they produced hazardous or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in structures, but ventilation smoke depended on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where a open fire burnt 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 wouldn't enter.
Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to stop smoke from dispersing an area and vent it outside through a ceiling or wall. These could be put against rock walls, instead of taking up the middle of the room, and this enabled smaller rooms to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the problem of fumes, more faithfully 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 handily. They didn't come into general usage immediately, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber 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 a longer area on top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing the smoke up and from the construction. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected into the room. Rumford's design 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. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was placed on providing quality stone. Stone fireplaces at this time were a symbol of wealth, which to a degree is still the idea today.A fireplace is a structure 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 space. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficacy, depending upon the design.Historically they have been utilized for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry 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 pub, home 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 frequently a corbeled brick crown, where the projecting courses of brick act as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud functions to keep rainwater out of the outside of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a much greater problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, that soaks up all but the rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the crown or cap.
Organizations like 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 good, but it is not good for you.Types of fireplacesManufactured 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 electric fireboxes.A couple of 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 propane fuel sources. In the USA, some states and local businesses have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. Additionally, there are air quality control issues due to the quantity of moisture that they discharge into the room atmosphere, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed from the area that is heated, and vent all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.
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As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits compared to modern fireplaces. They were used for warmth on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place inside the house. These fire pits were generally centered within a room, allowing more people to collect around it.
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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. The most famous fireplace performers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which was used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly lit, with a emphasis on the level of the substances 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 insert. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, typically in wood, granite or marble. The fit was fire burned, and was built of cast iron often backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were thought to bring a cozy ambiance to homes.Dimplex 33quot; PlugIn Electric Firebox DF3033ST DF3033ST Dimplex Video
Some fireplace units include a blower which transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, leading to a more evenly heated area and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be 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 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 ideal method to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is in case you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.
Most older fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum requirement such as in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces may also be altered by adding special heavy fireboxes developed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as large as 80 percent in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two phases. During the first phase the initial heat is provided through a big 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 several hours during the second phase. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window only offer heat radiated from the surface. Depending on outside temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.dimplex electric fireplace insert
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