Clean Sweeps of Michigan's Blog

What is A Rumford Fireplace?

A Rumford style fireplace is a fireplace system designed like the one that gave them their name. The original “Rumford fireplace” belonged to Count Rumford, the man who designed it and a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. Despite the title, he was an “American” physicist born in Woburn, Massachusetts, and – also a loyalist in 1776 – he understood heat!

A Revolutionary Design

In Jefferson’s day, “Rumford fireplaces” were state-of-the-art, physics-of-drafting, vast improvements over previous designs. As a result, Monticello of course needed them and they were quickly copied by everyone everywhere. They were so widespread, they were presumed to be in houses – ‘taken for granted’ — like central heating in modern homes.

These ‘odd-looking’ fireplaces are again surfacing in popular consciousness, with the televised restoration of historic homes and renovations of historical ones. They are also useful in achieving compliance with local emission-control and efficiency standards that exist in some areas. All of these things are contributing to a resurrection of Count Rumford’s fireplace design.

Back to the Future

A Rumford fireplace has a tall and shallow firebox and a curved narrow throat that slopes up from a straight fireback. Tall and shallow translate into more radiant heat, the sloped throat means less ‘turbulence in the area’ to prevent fireplace smoke from going up it. Thus, it is a more efficient source of heat, with fewer emissions due to improved draft. It is easy to see why it makes such an impression every time it appears!

The design can be reproduced exactly as a masonry fireplace, but it is also now styling pre-fabs. Again taller and shallower than other designs, Rumford pre-fab fireplaces again are more efficient and radiate more heat. In a decorative appliance that cannot handle a roaring fire, that is heat we can all learn to appreciate. Be sure to contact us for a chimney appointment if you would like help with your fireplace.

Firebox Replacement and Repair

The firebox is the part of the fireplace system that contains intended fires. It is the “fire pit” in the system, the place where you build and start your fires. It is also designed to contain heat from those fires and prevent it from reaching the structure of your home.

As a result, damage to it – as well as basic incompatibility with the rest of the fireplace system – needs correction through either repair or replacement. Cracks in fire bricks or refractory panels are cracks in your home’s defense against fire. If the firebox is an insert that really does not fit the rest of your system, you are probably losing both draft and cash.

What to Do?

Without inspecting your system, we really cannot say whether repair is an option for the cracks you see. In general terms of fireplace health, it is important to diagnose the underlying cause before attempting to treat the symptom. That said, minor firebox cracks can usually be filled with special fire clay or refractory mortar.

Crumbling firebrick or extensive cracking require more significant ‘repair’ for problems that may have more worrisome causes. Either means removal and replacement of the damaged components, whether bricks or panels. Panels are generally easier to re-place than bricks but the only bricks that have to come out are the damaged ones.

If the problem that needs correction is a bad fit of firebox to system, again, it really needs to be seen to address it. However, it is common for an existing flue to be too large for an inserted firebox. In that case, it is impossible for the chimney over the firebox to ‘withdraw’ air from the fireplace effectively. That has consequences for both safety and utility bills but repair or replacement cannot be determined until a full inspection has taken place.