Freestanding fireplaces are used for heating the homes during cold months. They work on the concept of radiating heat energy through their metal bodies by burning wooden or other inflammable material and offer a safe passage of smoke through a vertical vent that protrudes through an opening or a hole in the roof. In some spaces, these freestanding fireplaces are also known as chimneys.
History of Freestanding Fireplaces
If you look at the history of freestanding fireplaces, you would find that they were majorly made from fired clay and they were not only used for heating houses but also for cooking. It is estimated that the first fireplaces of this sort were used around four hundred years ago and has its origin to Spanish traditional designs.
How it works
Traditionally these freestanding fireplaces were used for indoor purposes in keeping the houses warm but of late they have been used outdoors as well. They serve a similar purpose in the outdoor backyards and are finding a good market there. They are good entertainment sources in the outdoor settings. These freestanding fireplaces are designed in such a manner that while burning, a draught action is created that forces the fresh air into the burning fire and pushes the smoke upward through the long vertical vent thus keeping the surroundings and the people around the fireplace safe. This particular design also helps the fire to get hotter and much cleaner by leaving a minimum amount of ash as residue. As a result, these freestanding fireplaces are much easier to clean. One of the biggest benefits of the draughting action is that it burns out the fire totally in a brief period, as a result, they can be used efficiently even on wooden decks.
Types of Freestanding Fireplaces
It is quite natural to expect that most fireplaces work on wooden logs. But these fireplaces can be effectively converted to use propane and natural gas as fuel for the fire. Most modern-day freestanding fireplaces are either made up of cast iron or cast aluminium. It is hard to distinguish the two from each other as they look almost the same. They come in the same thickness and are usually cast from the same mould, the reason that these two look indistinguishable from each other. The cast-aluminium freestanding fireplaces are preferred over the cast-iron ones since they are lighter, rust-proof, easy to maintain and easy to move. Most of the aluminium fireplaces heat the surroundings just in the same as the cast-iron ones.
The most commonly used freestanding fireplaces based on their fuel type are:
Charcoal based Freestanding Fireplace – Charcoal is easily available and is most often the preferred fuel for cast-iron based freestanding fireplaces. The charcoal burns at very high temperature and cast-iron fireplaces can easily handle high temperatures so they are very safe to be operated with charcoal fuel. If someone is planning to use the fireplace for cooking apart from using it as a heater than this is the ideal fuel as it does not add its own smell or flavour to the food.
Wood based Freestanding Fireplace – Wood is perhaps the most abundantly available fuel for the fireplaces and undoubtedly is the most preferred fuel of choice for freestanding fireplaces. Care should be taken to use only dry wood as other woods like the wet or the green wood burn with a lot of smoke. There are hollow blocks of timber, which are mostly refined and are also available in abundance. They are a good substitute for the heavy solid wooden blocks used for burning.
Ethanol based Freestanding Fireplaces – Ethanol is another fuel, which is an alternative to wooden and charcoal fuel. It is highly inflammable in nature and care should be exercised while using it for fuelling freestanding fireplaces. There are specialized lighters with long nose available, which are mostly used for lighting up the ethanol-based fireplaces. This kind of fuel is great for indoor use as it burns with emitting any smoke.
Freestanding fireplaces are excellent options as anyone can easily obtain one. If you are looking for something dramatic and unique, then don’t waste your time, just go through here and get beneficial info about freestanding fireplaces.
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