An accessible text that explains how to install a fireplace and chimney safely and successfully.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #397746 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

Synopsis
This book gives a careful and comprehensive explanation of how open fires work. The emphasis is on the technical aspects of their operation. The information to design, construct and operate open fires plus their chimneys is included. The principles of draft and air flow are described. The details of design optimisation to maximise attractiveness and thermal efficiency of fireplaces and throats are explained. The history of fireplace design is traced from Roman times through the heyday of open fires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to their subsequent replacement by other heating systems and recent revival of fires and stoves as items of beauty. Also included are chapters on the principles of combustion of solid fuel, choice of fuel, principles of heat, materials used in fireplace construction, choices of grate and gas fires. It is essential reading for anyone involved in fireplace design or maintenance be they architects, builders or DIY enthusiasts.

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Customer Reviews

At last, a real book about fireplaces
Most fireplace books concentrate on how they look, and are full of lovely glossy photographs.

This is quite different. It is a practical, readable book about how they work, and how to make them work. It is about fireplaces that don't smoke, and firebacks that don't crack, and gives hard facts about heat efficiency and what grates are best for which fuels. It revives, in easy language which any intelligent person can understand and enjoy, the science of good fireplace and chimney construction which died out with the working open fire in 1950.

It's a fascinating read, whether or not you are planning to build a fireplace and, if you're not, you may find yourself inspired to build one anyway after reading this book!