Need Rumford Help

Captainsls

Does any one have any experience building a Rumford style throat? There will be a straight back on the firebox, and it's 36" wide. Has anyone ever built the throat, or just purchased it?

chisel1

Rumford fireplace kits come in several sizes and usaully include throat, smoke chamber, and flue liners depending on the size. Or if you want you can build your own just gotta be good, if not it will be a smoker.

neolitic

http://www.rumford.com/index.htm

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Captainsls

The kit is available for $1400, is that a fair market price?

Tscarborough

The best value is the 1/4 rounds and the covings, then corbel build the smoke chamber (be sure and parge it). I would not attempt a Rumford without having built them using the parts, or doing some in depth study on how and why they are designed as they are. Dimensions and angles are critical, and if it a Rumsford only because of the depth and opening size, you are guaranteed a smoker.

(1400.00 is reasonable for a 36" kit)

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jvcstone

I've built maybe 40 or so --first one back in 75 or 76. Never did use any kits--just constructed the throat, smoke chamber, and shelf out of common brick parged inside and out. After foolling around with several homemade damper designs, I found that a chimney top damper was the ticket. Also figured out that the damper sized for the flue size constricted the flue area too much, so would increase the flue size at the top and install the next size damper. As T says, there is a lot of details that need to be followed as far as proportions and angles for it to work, and raised hearths are not recommended. They are the best fire place going for efficiency and providing heat.

JVC

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John VanCamp
www.jvcstoneworks.com

Tscarborough

They have redesigned the damper, JVC, making it a tad wider and with a locked as opposed to loose plate, but they are still too small per standard in my opinion, esp. with small Rumsfords. I prefer a 30" for a 36" (instead of a 24"), an so on, up to a 48" standard cast iron for a 60" or 72". It all depends upon the stack and the fireplace location in relation to the roofline, though. I never ever trust what the architect has drawn and specified for the fireplace in any case (although there are a couple of architects in Austin that actually understand the concept of Rumsfords and design them correctly; William B. Travis knows his chit for example).

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A W Smith

Though I'm not a mason. And I have never built one. There was a book out in the seventies that was all about the Rumford fireplace. its theory. its design. smoke chamber details. etc. I'm sure any mason who got their hands on this book could build a Rumford out of common masonry materials. No mention of a "kit" in the book

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Al Smith
http://www.awsmith.com

Tscarborough

Count Rumsford did not have a kit either. The parts and kits are made to allow those with little or no knowledge of the theories to build a fireplace that will have superior performance to a standard fireplace. They are expensive, but not as expensive as tearing out a poorly built "Rumsford" built by someone without the knowledge involved.

The design is not complicated (well, the throat is pretty intricate) it is just different than standard fireplace construction.

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A W Smith

You mean to say they didn't even have kits or heatilators back in 1753?

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Al Smith
http://www.awsmith.com

Captainsls

Thanks guys, quality responses. Purchasing the 3 piece kit seems like cheep insurance.