Friday, November 27, 2009

An Email Forwards About Fireplaces

By Frank Zaftra

Funny forwards are a method of passing on emails to someone who did not receive the original email. This may be a work colleague or friend that does not have contact with the original sender. The following was forwarded to me earlier today:

The fireplace is feature within a building that is intended to contain fire for heating and occasionally for cooking. They can house electric fires, fuel fires or some other source of heating. The fire itself is usually contained within a firebox or a small pit, and a chimney or similar system is used to allow the exhaust to escape. Historically fireplaces are a central feature within the house, although this is now less common.

The actual fires themselves may be powered in a variety of ways. Wood is the most ancient of fuels and was probably the first to be used as a source of heat. Peat was often used in place of wood because it lasted longer and could burn more efficiently. Coal fires became more popular around the time of the industrial revolution. The electric fire followed the development of the electric current and became very popular in the'30s. In more recent years, bio-fuels and propane have become more widely used.

Old fireplaces are sometimes kept as design features. They may not necessarily have the heating system they were built with. They may have been replaced with a modern system. An electric heater is sometimes installed to provide heat without the fire. Most are just left empty and are used simply for decoration.

A fireplace may use some or all of these components: a hearth, a foundation, a fireplace mantel, a chimney crane, a cap, a smoke chamber, a firebox, an ash-dump door, a lintel, a chimney breast, a cleanout door, over-mantel, a throat, a flue, a damper, a chimney chase, a spark arrestor, a crown, or a shroud.

There are several types of fireplace. Masonry fireplaces are constructed from brick or stone. Some are made from reinforced concrete, but these are fundamentally flawed as the concrete and metal expand at different rates. This means that many old fireplaces have vertical cracks leading up the chimney.

Manufactured fireplaces use a prefabricated design and so are popular with new builds. These usually consist of a metal firebox linked to a metal pipe that acts as a chimney to vent exhaust. Because of its metal structure it is prone to sparking, so spark arresters are usually included. Wood, natural gas and propane are appropriate fuel sources for this kind of fire system.

A duct free fireplace is almost always fueled by LP/bottled gas or a gel or some other natural gas. They tend to be easy to install and do not have the same BTUs that other fireplaces have. Some governments have made regulations that regulate the installation of this fireplace. A few duct free fireplaces can burn with 100% efficiency. However, they also tend to create a lot of moisture.

Bio-ethanol fireplaces are flue-less fires, in that they do not require ventilation or a chimney. This makes them one hundred percent efficient as they push all the heat into the room. They are powered by bio-fuels that are usually produced from starch or sugar. The do not produce soot, only water, carbon dioxide and a small amount of carbon monoxide.

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