Posted on 12/27/2006 4:12:16 PM PST by AnalogReigns
Wonder if anyone in 2016 will read this.....
I have gas pipes in my fireplaces.
Throw some wood on, fire up the gas for 5-10 minutes and you are good to go.
I know it’s cheating, but the older I get, the lazier I am.
Had to light a fire tonight...still cold out there.
I had a bonfire Friday night. It was LOVELY! Hit 80, today. Short-lived, but I’ll take it! :)
Well, folks, It still works, after 10 and 200 years!!!
If a fireplace is built wrong, then of course that is a problem. I actually have the book in your photograph, about Count Rumford’s ideal fireplace design. Most 20th & 21st Century fireplaces vary from Rumford’s design, but do so conservatively—that is their draw is still fine, but they just don’t reflect the heat in the room as well as a true Rumford will.
For example, a typical modern fireplace is at least as deep as half it’s width, if not deeper. Rumford’s design allows a shallower fireplace 1/3 as deep as it is wide. Building codes with built in smoke-shelves do make a fireplace draw (assuming the chimney is tall enough above the roof) OK, but the fire just won’t add as much heat into the room as a true Rumford design will.
Most important, is to get a good draw going before the fire itself is lit. I do that by newspaper stuffed up the flue, beyond the fire-shelf. Light it....let it flare up for a minute or so, and only then light down below. Doing that, with an adequate fireplace, will ensure no smoke goes into the room.
If there are problems with a smoking fireplace—get the advice of a chimney sweep—they are specialists in keeping things safe, and smoke free.
Excellent. The book was written by Vrest Orton who founded the Vermont Country Store in Weston, VT. Several FReepers mentioned on the thread that they shop there.
Another of his books I treasure is the *Forgotten Art of building a Stone Wall*. I’m not positive, but they may be out of print [but still available online]
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