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Bathroom Vanities make women feel sexy!
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Is your fireplace keeping you warm and cosy? - Tips for better heat.
With the growing trend in restoring to use those fireplaces
that have been bricked or boarded up, it is important that these
restored fireplaces and chimneys are working efficiently. For
wood or coal burning fires to burn well, a good supply of air is
required along with a chimney to expel the hot exhaust gases and
smoke. Also the fuel should be held in a grate clear of the
hearth floor allowing full circulation of the air and waste ash
to fall through, so as not to stifle the fire. If the chimney or
flue is inadequate or the flow of air insufficient, the fire
will not function effectively.
In his thesis on the principles of fireplace design published
in1799, Count Rumford emphasized the importance of the size of
the flue compared with the size of the fireplace opening. He
recommended that the cross-sectional area of the flue should be
about a tenth of the size of the opening. However, fireplaces
tended to be smaller after the mid nineteenth century. Modern
flue liner manufacturers favor a ratio of one to seven, and
there are sizing charts published that give details of current
standards.
If your fire smokes or won't burn properly, see if opening a
window improves matters. If it does, you need better ventilation
in the room. One solution is to install a window vent, although
this may cause a troublesome cross draft. A much more efficient
form of ventilation is either a single ducted vent set into the
floor in front of the fireplace, or twin ducted vents set into
the floor or external walls on each side of the chimney breast.
When wood and coal are burned, flammable gases, tarry
substances,
acids and dust are given off. However, because
domestic stoves are relatively inefficient not all of these
substances are consumed. Instead, they rise up the chimney and
some of them condense on the inside of the flue. Unburned carbon
combines with these tars and acids creating soot; which builds
up over a period of time thus reducing the size of the flue. It
is important to have regularly used chimneys swept at least
twice a year, ideally before, during and at the end of the
heating season and the local trade directories contain details
of fully qualified and suitably insured sweeps. A soot laden
flue is a fire hazard, since the unburned elements of the soot
can ignite, causing a chimney fire which can reach high
temperatures and damage the chimney.
If a flue is too large, its size can be reduced to improve its
efficiency by the fitting of a liner. A variety of methods and
materials are used, including flue liners made of flexible
stainless steel, ceramic, lightweight concrete sections, or
concrete cast in situ. Other ways of reducing the fireplace
opening in order to improve fire efficiency is to raise the
level of the hearth or to fit a baffle across the top of the
opening. If raising the hearth level or adding a baffle are not
practical or unsightly then it may be worth asking a fireplace
specialist whether fitting a metal smoke hood or canopy in the
opening is the best solution.
About the author:
Richard Banks is a contractor with many years experience in home
remodelling and improvements. For more information on fireplaces
visit Fireplace
Capital
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