[AT] OT - Old Chimney Question (Rumford)

[George Willer]

Rob,

I've built a couple dozen full masonry fireplaces over the years that we 
always considered to be Rumfords.  It's pretty much a standard design.  The 
dampers always come with a chart listing all the important measurements, 
making them pretty much fool proof.  The one constant is the depth... 16". 
Our dampers were usually Majestic or Donnelly.

I think it is Count Rumford's smoke shelf where the damper is located that 
gives the name, rather than the fire grate type.

The offset smoke shelf and the splayed reflective sides do make the 
fireplace more efficient, but the hard truth is that they are still horribly 
inefficient.  Their purpose is to give you a fire to look at.

No fireplace can burn without smoking unless there is a source of primary 
air.  They simply require too large a volume of heated air to carry the 
smoke out.  The larger the opening, the larger the flue must be and the more 
heated air must be wasted.

George Willer

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Wilson" <rowilson at infinet.com>
To: "'Antique tractor email discussion group'" 
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 11:22 PM
Subject: RE: [AT] OT - Old Chimney Question


> Larry,
> That's now code for building a new fireplace. It must
> have external air feeding it for combustion. When I had
> ours built the mason told me this and put it in. We
> wanted an old style called a Rumford and I thought it
> was going to be hard to find a mason to build it but the
> supplier of most of the parts listed a local guy that
> was great. Rumford's were used to actually heat with
> and are rather odd looking compared to most modern style
> fireplaces. They are very shallow and use no grate for
> the logs to rest on. The logs are stacked against the
> back wall and burn standing on end. The floor has the
> clean out connected to the outside air and draws it like
> a blast furnace. It starts VERY easily and puts out a
> lot of heat. Here's a link to the one we built. It's
> a little different but not much. There's a ton of info
> on this site. The one in the picture is actually not
> being used correctly as the logs were not stacked on
> end.
>
> http://www.rumford.com/cookfp.html
>
> Rob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Larry D. Goss
> Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 11:51 AM
> To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
> Subject: RE: [AT] OT - Old Chimney Question
>
>
> The fireplace in my current house actually has combustion air piped
> directly to the hearth from foundation vents.  In addition, it has
> convection heat vents into two rooms and circulates the heated air from
> the living area separately.
>
> Larry
>
>
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