Whats Hot About Your Fireplace? HGTV

Historical fire pits were sometimes built from the floor, within caves, or in the middle of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made fires is present on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of premature indoor fire pits was that they generated toxic and/or annoying smoke within the dwelling.Fire pits grown into elevated hearths in buildings, but ventilation smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally situated hearth, where a open flame 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 covered so rain and snow wouldn't enter.

Additionally during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to stop smoke from spreading through 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 allowed 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 outside. They made it possible to give the fireplace a draft, and also made it possible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings conveniently. They didn't come into general usage immediately, however, as they were more expensive to build and maintain.

In 1678 Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I, increased the grate of the fireplace, improving the airflow and venting system. The 18th century saw two important developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace that greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a longer area at the top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing the smoke up and out of the construction. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected to the room. Rumford's design is the foundation for modern fireplaces.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took to a more traditional spectra based on stone and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Rather it depended on simple designs with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into 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 remains the notion today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficiency, 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 laundry and kitchen fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel pub, 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 frequently a corbeled brick crown, in which the projecting courses of brick function as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud functions to keep rainwater out of the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a far greater problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners than with the standard masonry chimney, that soaks up all but the most violent rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated 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 can pose a substantial health threat. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it is not good for you.

Types of fireplacesManufactured fireplaces are made out of sheet metal or glass flame boxes.Electric fireplaces can be built-in replacements for gas or wood or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.A few kinds are, wall mounted electric fireplaces, electric fireplace stoves, electrical mantel fireplaces and fixed or free standing electric 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 either gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the USA, several states and local counties have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. They must be properly sized to the area to be heated. Additionally, there are air quality management problems because of the quantity of moisture that they discharge in the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces are fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed in the area that is heated, and vent all exhaust gasses into the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesA wide assortment of accessories are used with fireplaces, which range between countries, regions, and historical periods. For the interior, common in recent Western civilizations include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, along with fire puppies, all of which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel for a fire. Heavy metallic firebacks are occasionally utilized to catch and re-radiate heat, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames placed in front of the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash. For fireplace tending, tools comprise pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and instrument racks.

As time passes, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of interest. Early ones were fire pits than contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for heat 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 renowned fireplace designers of this period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design that was used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly lit, with a emphasis on the quality of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their size.

From the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of two components, the surround and the insert. The encircle comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, usually in wood, granite or marble. The insert was fire burnt, and was built of cast iron frequently backed with decorative tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were believed to add a cozy ambiance into homes.

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Some fireplace units include a blower which transports 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 piece of metal that sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex concept though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider only the effect of heating of the air. An open fireplace is not, and never was, intended to heat the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a toaster, and has done so as the 15th century. The ideal way to estimate the output signal of a fireplace is if you notice you're turning the thermostat down or up.

Most elderly fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency rating. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of at least 80% (legal minimum requirement such as 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 large as 80% in heating the atmosphere. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a large fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two stages. During the first phase the initial heat is offered through a big glass window while the fire is burning. During this time period the construction, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This warmth is then equally radiated for many hours during the next stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just offer heat radiated from the surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are enough to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace remodel