Fireplace design was continually developed and improved, when it evolved into a primitive form of central heating. If your smoke chamber is in need of repair, you can trust our team of CSIA– and NFI– certified chimney and fireplace professionals to take care of it for you. Some of these important items are expanded upon . Fireplace Firebox Design / Rumford Fireplaces / Rumford Components. When your chimney isn’t drafting correctly, smoke flows back into your home rather than up your chimney. This contributes to poor draft, especially if one side of the smoke chamber is vertical and the other has a dramatic slope. Fireplace smoke chambers are a hot topic among homeowners. below. By providing a better distribution of heat, the central heating concept rendered the fireplace obsolete. It angles from the wide area of your fireplace to the narrower opening of your chimney to funnel smoke from the firebox into the chimney. On an exterior chimney where only one side of the flue is facing indoors, the cool exterior side promotes convection. As I understand it, the smoke shelf helps to form the convective loop that carries smoke up the chimney. A smoke chamber is the area above the fireplace firebox (where you see the fire) and below the flue (in most cases the flue is constructed of terracotta tiles), used to allow smoke to mix and rise into the flue.
Good design typically involves the smoke chamber front and both side walls having equal slopes. What exactly is the smoke chamber, you ask? It’s the funnel-shaped section of your fireplace that directs smoke from the firebox and into the flue. Chimney. By using these Rumford fireplace components you can be sure that all the critical ratios (depth to width, throat to fireplace opening, smoke chamber and flue size) are engineered so the fireplace will be efficient and draw well. The fireplace in Richard T. Kreh Sr.’s article Building an Efficient Fireplace has a smoke shelf, but it also has an interior chimney. see the enclosed drawing details ; for : further : clarification. smoke chamber. Also the chimney walls needs to be 4 inches thick. An improperly sized or improperly constructed smoke chamber can impede the flow of smoke into your chimney, causing a bad draft.
The smoke chamber needs to be placed as to allow the damper valve to open freely. Chart No.1 ; Size of Room in Feet 10 x 14 12 x 16 12 x 20 Fireplace Opening in inches 24 to 32 32 to 36 36 to 40 ; Please read the entire tek spec 3 before proceeding with design and construction. When the flue is offset to one side of the fireplace or the other, the smoke chamber wall slope has to be asymmetric. The combustible materials need to be at least 2 inches away from the outdoor of the chimney walls. Corbelling brick, a method of laying bricks like steps to achieve the desired shape, forms the funnel shape. What does the code state? Also . We’re members of the National Chimney Sweep Guild (NCSG) and the Massachusetts Chimney Sweep Guild (MCSG) , and we are registered MA Home Improvement Contractors and licensed MA Construction Supervisors. The walls of the smoke chamber need to be at least 4 inches thick and fixed with refractory mortar.