The Forgotten Art of Building a Good Fireplace

Traditional Rumford Fireplace

• Masonry fireplaces use conventional building materials, including brick and clay, for construction. These fixtures are often Rumford-style fireplaces: tall and lean structures with wide firebox openings to radiate heat out into rooms. According to the Buckley Rumford Company, Rumford fireplaces carry the name of the original designer, Count Rumford. He was a loyalist during the Revolutionary War and took flight with the British back to England in 1776. Rumford acquired his title as an employee of the Bavarian government. He continued to write essays on his fireplace design improvements, publishing two in 1796 and 1798.

Superior Chimney Construction

• A traditional Rumford fireplace does not depend on an elaborate flue system or electrical components to remove smoke or push heat into an area. The Buckley Rumford Company explains that the chimney of a Rumford fireplace uses a straight stack with a rounded breast. The breast is the stone or brick structure that extends into a room and holds the flue. This construction creates a kind of suction that shoots smoke up the chimney and into the receiving chamber. A modern fireplace uses an entirely different construction with sharp breasts. This creates a swirling effect in chimney smoke, which can potentially push airborne particles back into the room.

Radiating Heat With Physics

• A Rumford fireplace using traditional brick and clay components utilizes Planck's Law to radiate heat into a given space. Basically, the fireplace brick absorbs and re-radiates heat back into a room. Rumford preferred whitewashing the firebox to inhibit the fireplace's ability to absorb heat and encourage more reflection back into the immediate area. Modern physicists argue that whitewashing doesn't make much of a difference, though it doesn't seem to hurt the fireplace's ability to provide radiant heat. This type of heat isn't possible with a modern metal fireplace.

Efficient Fireplace Design

• Efficient fireplace design allows a homeowner to get more heat with less fuel. The flue design of a Rumford fireplace allows for efficient fuel burning because the fireplace retains heat while eliminating smoke from the given area. Achieving an efficient fireplace is still possible with a modern design, though these structures often use metals that allow more heat to escape up the chimney than remains in the room. This may require a homeowner to burn more fuel to achieve the same temperature.