Fireplaces

Fireplaces are any appliances that are built into homes that consist of a space designed to contain an open fire, generally for heating but sometimes also for cooking purposes. A chimney or other vent must allow particulate exhaust and gas to escape the building as well.

In many colder climates around the world, the hearth or fireplace has been, traditionally, the center of the household, as it provides warmth for survival through extended winter coldness. Many times people have slept close to this centrally located source of warmth, and meals were prepared in and served around the fireplace as well.

Fireplaces are still popular because humans will always enjoy the warmth, crackle, sight and smell of a nice fire. People throughout history, as well as still today, gather around fireplaces for celebration, conversation or planning in a more intimate fashion. Oftentimes families will gather around the fireplace at the end of the workday to converse about events before retiring to their own rooms.

A famous use of the fireplace in this way was the tradition in the United States during the Great Depression for the president to deliver weekly ‘fireside chats’ in which he made use of the fireplace family gathering time to state his views about issues of national importance.

In may locations, coal, peat or wood burning fireplaces are being replaced by cleaner, safer and usually cheaper electric and gas fireplaces. Gas fireplaces very often burn off a small amount of their fuel and produce a visual effect similar to a wood burning fireplace in that a flickering display is produced. Also, flame-shaped paper streamers are sometimes a part of these types of fireplaces and wave vertically in the air, held up by the updraft that is produced by the heating element.

Many lower priced houses are not equipped with fireplaces because its heating function has been replaced with central heating systems, and the home entertainment center has replaced the fireplace as a social center. Many fireplaces have been closed off, usually on both ends in order to keep conditioned air from escaping through these entrances.

Prefab fireplaces has become quite popular today, because of their lower cost of construction, but these fireplaces only come in a limited range of colors and styles. Stone and brick fireplaces have the greatest durability and can often be designed in custom shapes and sizes that will fit the exact dimensions of your home. You will be able to specify what type of material will make up the surface and front pieces of your fireplace as well. Though custom made fireplaces are expensive, it may be worth the extra cost if you have a unique fireplace design in mind.

A fireplace is made up of a foundation, firebox, hearth, ashdump door, hearth, cleanout door, lintel, lintel bar, breast, damper, smoke chamber, flue, throat. chimney chase, crown, shroud or cap, and spark arrestor. Prefab or manufactured fireplaces with sheet metal fire box and triple for double walled metal pipe going up the inside of a wood framed chase with a chase cover and cap or spark arrestor is at the top in order to keep birds out and the sparking pieces in. Within a hundred yards of distance, this type of chimney will dry and rust out. If you don’t live in this type of area however, it’s a good alternative to the much more costly masonry chimney.

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.