The “Rumford” Fire Place

I take “Great Pride” in trying to be the best “Custom home builder in Schuylkill County”. If you are thinking about building a home do your own research, and while your at it- Call Me to talk about your project. I’d love the opportunity to give you an estimate and discuss your plans.  I own and operate Summer Hill Building & Contracting, Inc.

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Rumford Fireplaces

Count Rumford: born in new England in the mid 1700 and died 1820’s. He was a British citizen and loyal to the crown. He left for England during the revolution and was thought a spy for Brittan.  He was responsible for many inventions the most enduring of which is the “Rumford Fireplace”.

This fireplace design was a vast improvement over the, up ‘till then, “brick box with a flue on top” concept.  This old design smoked and was very inefficient in heating the room it was situated in. His revolutionary design created a smoke chamber on top of the firebox and called for a much shallower fire box with angled sides. He subsequently improved his design by adding a shallow angle to the fireback portion of the fire box, and adding a damper to help regulate the air flow out of the box.

We all have seen brick fireplaces built into homes over the last 50 years. Most of them don’t seem to work well and may even require a set of glass doors to keep them from smoking. They are a product of builders wanting to give their clients a fireplace at the least expense possible. They were built to use the least amount if materials possible. The old “standard“ builders fireplaces were about 36” wide, 28” high and about 20” deep. I say, “If you want a cheep fireplace put in a gas unit with a zero clearance chimney.” But if you want a real heating fireplace with all the ambiance of burning wood then a properly designed “Rumford” is the only way to go. They’re dimensions are about as wide as they are high, and only about 16” to 19” deep.  There are many well written articles speaking on the merits of this great fireplace design, go and do some research.

I have built quite a few of these fireplaces in my Custom homes and have never had a complaint.  I built an especially big one in my own home and burn it a lot, It really throws the heat and is beautiful to sit and watch on those cold winters days when the snow is flying and the wind is howling.

I have attached some links to sites in the ”innertubes” for more information.

http://www.homeinstitute.com/rumford-fireplaces.htm

http://www.gobrick.com/html/fireplace_and_chimney.html

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Bob ” The Builder” Leiby