A fireplace is located within a building and is intended to hold a fire for heating and sometimes for cooking purposes. Fireplaces can use electric fires or fuel fires or perhaps some other form of heating system.
The fire is usually held within a firebox or a small pit,
and some kind of chimney or a similar system helps the exhaust to escape the house. Historically the fireplace was a central feature within the home, although this has become 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 1930s. In more recent years, bio-fuels and propane have become more widely used.
A few older fireplaces are kept as features within the building. They may not have the heating system they began with, but are left intact to add to the room's ambiance. A few of the heating systems have been replaced with a more modern equivalent. Often an electric heater is added to provide a source of heat without the hazardous fire. Many are just left empty and are used 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 many different types of fireplace. A masonry fireplace is built from bricks or stone. A few were made from reinforced concrete, although these are flawed because the concrete and metal reinforcement expands at different rates. As a result many older fireplaces of this design have cracked chimneys.
A manufactured fireplace uses a prefabricated design, so are extremely popular with newer builds. They usually consist of one metal firebox connected to a long metal pipe, effectively a chimney that vents the exhaust. As it has a metal structure it is susceptible to sparking, and so spark arresters are usually installed. Natural gas, propane and wood are the standard fuel sources for this system.
A duct free fireplace is fueled by LP/bottled gas, gel or a natural gas. Most are easy to install and do not utilize the same BTUs as other fireplaces do. Many countries have enforced regulations regarding the installation of this kind of fireplace. Some duct free fireplaces can burn at nearly 100% efficiency. However, they do tend to produce a lot of moisture as a side effect.
A bio-ethanol fireplace is also known as a flue-less fire, in that it does not require any kind of ventilation or chimney. This means that they are 100% efficient because all of the heat generated goes into the room. They are normally powered by bio-fuels that are produced from the starches or sugars from various crops. There is no soot produced by these fires, only water and carbon dioxide.
