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All about fireplaces
by Paul Bramber
http://www.fireplaceez.com
A space built into many homes designed to contain a fire,
fireplaces are generally used for heating. A chimney or
other vent enables gas and particulate exhaust to escape
the building. Fireplaces have become embedded in our
culture with stories such as Santa Claus coming down the
chimney to get in houses and in fairytales such as The
Three Little Pigs, in which the wolf enters the third
little pig's house, which is made of brick, through the
chimney
Fireplaces have been around since humans came out of the
caves and built their own homes to live in. The fireplace
was the most important part of a home because all of the
cooking was done in the fireplace as well as heating the
home.
Most fireplaces in homes back then burned wood, coal or
peat and was the central gathering place for family and
friends during cold winter months. Back then the fireplace
was built directly within the home. Today, many fireplaces
are built in a factory and then re-built in the home. They
have more burning options today also like gas and
electricity, although with electric fireplaces your fire is
fake with flame shaped paper and heated with a heating
element.
Many lower-priced new homes are not equiped with a
fireplace, as its heating function has long since been
replaced by central heating and its social fuction by the
home entertainment center. Some owners of older homes have
closed off the fireplace completely in oder to prevent warm
air from escaping through the chimney. For those who do opt
for fireplaces, pre-fabricated models have become popular
because of their lower cost of construction.. However, they
offer limited selection in size and style. Traditional
brick and stone fireplaces provide greater durability
because they can be designed to meet exact specifications,
but they are much more expensive.
With pre-fabricated fireplaces today, you have a choice of
which kind of fireplace is right for you and your family.
If you like the smell of burning wood, then wood burning
stoves are available. There are some that don't want to
deal with all the mess so a gas burning stove with three
different kinds of venting systems are available, direct
vent, vented and vent free. The direct vent fireplaces
have a pipe inside of another pipe and allows for the
system to be completely sealed. Vented gas fireplaces use
air-cooled pipes or flex vent liners and vent free gas
fireplaces are the one's that do not require a chimney.
This kind of fireplace is very efficient and can be set to
shut off when the room reaches a certain temperature.
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