Fireplaces

Fireplaces: For heating houses only, which is a contraction of the former expression fireplace-home, which indeed it referred to the whole and not only to the humerus.

It may also be due to the importance given to the invention of a duct to evacuate the fumes.

The expression of the French fireplace is also used when it is especially decorative.

Although it rarely exists, it is very convenient to build a suction cup, a duct in charge of bringing the outside air directly to the home, without passing through the premises, which would prevent its cooling and the uncomfortable air currents generated by the shot.

The suction cups can obtain air from outside directly or from a basement, which can also be useful to provide adequate forced ventilation to it.

Instruments 

In the home, there may be various tools to facilitate fire management, and it is very common that they are gathered in a kind of vertical hanger;

These instruments are:

Bellows, necessary to blow air that fuels the burning of the coals.

Atizador, to split and distribute the embers and logs.

Picker, metal stick to collect ashes.

Metal bucket to deposit the ashes after removing them from home.

Modernly the use of ash vacuum cleaners to remove these from the home has become widespread.

These vacuum cleaners consist of a metal tube for the aspiration and a bucket for the deposit of the same and a filter for the exit of the air without allowing the exit of the ashes.

They can be autonomous (with their own engine) or depend on an external vacuum cleaner to create the airflow.

Fireplaces for heating:

Its great drawback, especially from an ecological and monetary point of view, is that its yield is very small, between 10% and 15%; therefore, its CO2 emissions per unit of useful energy achieved are much higher than those of any other, more modern system, in which, with the same amount of fuel, a minimum of 50% or more is obtained, so no its use is advisable rather than as a decorative element on certain occasions.

Types of Fireplaces for Heating:

A traditional fireplace, is a fireplace with an open-hearth, which produces heat mainly in a radiant way and is inspired by its conception and image in traditional models.

Ventilated chimney, is an open-hearth fireplace, which unites radiant heat production with significant production of hot air through special heat exchangers.

The built-in fireplace also called heat recovery, actually, a variant of the stove, is a type of fireplace with closed fire with uncoated glass door, suitable to be placed inside the home of existing (traditional or ventilated) chimneys, whose performance can increase even 3-4 times.

Metal chimney, based on the wood-burning stoves where the pipe is seen, the difference with them and for what they are called metal chimneys is because they have a beautifying hood where the smoke evacuation pipe runs inside.

They stand out for their rapidity of assembly, and for heating, apart from radiation such as wood-burning stoves, by convection, since the trim hood is hollow and has slots through which cold air circulates, which is heated by the heat of the tube and leaves to the environment through these grooves making an enveloping movement that allows heat to reach the room faster and more distance.

These metal fireplaces are usually made of steel and finished with heat-resistant paint, having some cast iron parts such as the door or the grill where the logs are placed, which are the areas that are most often affected by the heat of combustion.

Operation 

There are two basic ways of making fire: live fire, with logs of a certain size and latent fire, or of embers, with embers almost buried under ash. In the first case, the fuel is consumed faster than in the second.

In both cases, the heating heat is diffused by radiation, so that it only heats the side of the people facing the home or, to a lesser extent, the walls of the premises.

For combustion to occur, the air is required and in addition to that necessary for the combustion reaction, more air must also be used to help evacuate the fumes it produces.

The air must enter from the outside, cold, so it is constantly cooling the environment where the fire is lit, to a much lesser extent when it comes to embers because it requires much less air for combustion and to evacuate the smokes.

For these reasons, the energy efficiency of this heating system is very small, of the order of 10 or 20%.

Home-stove system:

Homes are currently sold with a glass lid closing the mouth while allowing to see combustion.

Actually it is a stove and it is a more efficient system because the combustion air is priced at the entrance (which allows regulating the power easily), while the fumes have no choice but to go out of the chimney, not by the mouth, so you do not have to let in extra air in the heated room.

Bioethanol Stoves:

These are open fire homes that run on bioethanol (ethanol or ethyl alcohol).

The combustion is silent and clean and does not produce ashes, smoke, or smell.

They release carbon dioxide and water vapor to the environment, so in many countries, it may be mandatory to have an external evacuation duct or, if only adequate ventilation is available, much of the heat produced will go through that ventilation hole.

They provide the charm of a home with open firewood, without the discomforts associated with the handling of logs. Its most valued attribute is that of setting and decoration, however, its heating capacity is unimportant, given a large amount of cold air that must be introduced for combustion and to evacuate combustion products, depending on the situation. They heat by convection instead of radiation, which contributes to your comfort.

They come in various models and configurations, which allow you to enjoy a fire in multiple situations and architectural styles. Generally built-in sheet steel, stainless steel, and tempered glass, they combine with all kinds of styles, from the most modern and minimalist, to a classic or rustic. As they do not need a chimney, they can be used in all types of premises:

apartments, houses, restaurants, hotels, offices and commercial premises.

Like all systems that produce combustion in an inhabited environment, it has the serious drawback of requiring good ventilation (cooling the room) to prevent oxygen from running out of the environment and incomplete combustion, producing the dangerous carbon monoxide. (CO).

In addition, water vapor produced in combustion can lead to a very uncomfortable ambient relative humidity.

Advantages and disadvantages

Among the advantages, it could be listed that:

• It is economical or has no cost (if you go personally to the forest to look for firewood).
• It is easy to build.
• It is easy to use and control.
• It is easy to change places.
• It can be used with different fuels.
• It adapts to the shapes of the containers.

However, the open hearth has a very low energy efficiency of between 5 and 17 percent.

On the other hand, the combustion of biomass in these devices is incomplete and uncontrolled and therefore generates a large number of particles and polluting gases.

 Burning firewood reacts with the oxygen in the air becoming carbon dioxide.

In cases of oxygen deficiency, the reaction results in incomplete combustion products:

basically, carbon monoxide, but also benzene, butadiene, formaldehyde, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and many other health-hazardous compounds.

There is little information regarding contaminants resulting from the combustion of biomass in traditional stoves. However, it is known that, in addition to CO2, particles, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide, sulfur oxide (mainly in coal) and carbon monoxide (CO) are emitted, all with adverse health effects.

There is also a large number of chemical compounds generated by the combustion of wood.

According to, seventeen substances considered “priority pollutants” are generated, thus defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for which there is evidence of toxicity, and which form 4.8% of the particles.

More than 18 carcinogenic compounds are generated that represent about 0.5% of the particles.

Gas Fireplace Repair