A chimney is a structure that gives ventilation for hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outer atmosphere. Chimneys are normally vertical, or as close to as possible to vertical, to guarantee that the gases flow easily, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the stack, or chimney effect. The room inside a chimney is called a flue. Chimneys may be found in buildings, steam locomotives and ships.
A Quick History of Chimney
The first known chimneys were used in the 12th century in Europe. In Italy, chimneys were used near the beginning 1347. It was during the period of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century that chimneys became very admired in Tudor England among members of the higher class. Although the chimneys were infamous for smoking, they were an enhancement over the system used by the poor. The lower echelons of people were forced to burn fires on brick or clay bases, with no advantage of a chimney.
Chimneys were either built of clay or brick, and it became clear that clay chimneys were far more prone to seize fire. By 1719, England mandated that all chimneys to be rebuilt or built using bricks. While brick chimneys are unquestionably safer than those constructed of clay, the chimneys still smoked.
During those days when the earth was thought by most to be flattened, many scientists also thought the heat was a fluid. A poor understanding of heat and smoke meant that chimneys were still not drawing in the way they should.
A French physician, Louis Savot, made significant enhancements to the chimney in the 16th century. He conducted experimentations and came to the proper conclusion that a narrower fireplace and a smooth flue together create a stronger draft, meaning the chimney more efficiently carried smoke up and into the out-of-doors.
In the mid-18th century, Benjamin Franklin (once called ‘The Universal Smoke Doctor’) and Benjamin Thompson (later known as Count Rumford) got involved in chimney discovery. During the mid-18th century, the wood shortages forced inventors to create a stove which would be more efficient and decrease the amount of heat which was lost up the chimney. Benjamin Franklin was among those inventors. He invented a small cast iron Franklin stove, and it was largely adopted for the function of heating small rooms before the American Revolution. In 1787, he published “Observations on the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys.”
Then, it was Massachusetts-born Benjamin Thompson, who later became known as Count Rumford, who made the most momentous contribution to eliminating smoky chimneys. Rumford challenged the wayward theory that heat was a fluid. He invented a fireplace-chimney unit which was designed for the specific purpose of removing the smoke, and it worked. He shifted chimneys into walls rather than on the outside of houses, and that was one of the features which helped prevent smoke from being released into the home instead of up the chimney. Count Rumford invented a fireplace and chimney designed to trim down the smoke contamination in London.
Today’s the materials for chimneys include stainless steel, concrete, pumice, clay or ceramic, and plastic. Concrete, pumice and clay or ceramic as a group known as ‘masonry chimneys’. Clay and pumice chimney systems, however, are suitable for use with wood, multi-fuel, oil and gas appliances. In general, factory-produced pumice, clay and ceramic chimney systems can be retrofitted, but they tend to be reserved for new builds as they need foundations and their construction is really the greatest left to a expert bricklayer.