Rumfords: Real Fireplaces That Really Work

Two hundred years ago the American-born scientist and adventurer, Count Rumford, turned his interest to the perfection of the wood-burning fireplace. His revolutionary design burned cleanly and efficiently while giving off far more heat than conventional fireplaces.

Now, the superior design of the Rumford Fireplace has been rediscovered and is available as an affordable new system of preengineered modular masonry components These Rumfords are real fireplaces, built of solid masonry-not sheet metal. In use, they easily heat entire rooms; and even with the fire out, they bring warmth and elegance to any setting.

Radiant Heat

Count Rumford was the first to realize that a fireplace heats a room solely through radiation of visible and invisible light. Armed with this insight, he set about designing a fireplace to maximize its effectiveness as a radiant heater. His research produced a tall, shallow firebox with widely flared sides that gives off huge amounts of heat over a very wide arc.

Rumford Throat

While his radical new firebox design succeeded in giving off far more heat, it also initially gave off liberal amounts of smoke into the room. Ever the scientist, Count Rumford switched from thermodynamics to aerodynamics and developed the smooth, streamlined throat that became an unique feature of his fireplace. This Rumford Throat captures all the products of combustion and guides them smoothly and without turbulence into the chimney. Because of its streamlined efficiency, it also greatly reduces the amount of warm air lost up the chimney.