Building a

Rumford fireplace
ployee of the Bavarian govern- the throat, for example. Indeed,
ment, which gave him the title the most popular 20th century
Easy to construct, this “Count of the Holy Roman Em- book on Rumford fireplaces is
energy-efficient tall pire.” Vrest Orton’s The Forgotten Art
and shallow fireplace Count Rumford understood of Building a Good Fireplace,
is enjoying renewed that the only useful heat gener- now in its 23rd edition, which
ated by a fireplace is radiant seems to combine the worst of the
popularity heat. So he designed a fireplace 18th and 19th century myths
with a tall, wide opening; a very and interpretations.
shallow firebox; and widely But luckily, Rumford’s essays
By Jim Buckley splayed covings, or jambs, to re- on fireplaces, although out of
umford fireplaces are more flect as much radiant heat into print, are still readily available

R popular now than at any

time since 1850. Their tra-
ditional proportions look appro-
the room as possible.
Intuitively understanding flu-
id dynamics, Count Rumford also
in libraries. The easiest to obtain
is The Collected Works of Count
Rumford, edited by Sanborn
priate in homes with higher ceil- streamlined the throat, or in his Brown (See Ref. 1).
ings, which are growing in words, “rounded off the breast” In fact, Count Rumford may
popularity. And their legendary in order to “remove those local not have known how ingenious
heating efficiency attracts build- hindrances which forcibly pre- his “rounded breast” really was.
ers who are concerned with air vent the smoke from following its Testing a Rumford at a brick
quality. Over the past four years, natural tendency to go up the manufacturing plant, we wanted
U.S. building codes have been chimney.” He essentially created to see if the flow through the
changed, where necessary, to a venturi that, like an inverted throat is laminar—that is, with
permit these tall and shallow carburetor, shot the smoke and the air and combustion gases in
fireplaces. air up through the throat and in- layers rather than mixed togeth-
Inventor Count Rumford, an to the receiving smoke
expert on the nature of heat, chamber.
publ i s h e de s s a y so nf i r e p l a c ec o n- Unfortunately, many
struction in the 1790s. Although fireplace
born Benjamin Thompson in Wo- designers and builders
burn, Mass., he was a loyalist since Count Rumford’s
who fled with the British in 1776 time have misinterpret-
and conducted most of his fire- ed his ideas and modi-
place res e a r c hi n E n g l a n d .H e fied his designs. Some
s p e n tm u c h of his life as an em- have failed to streamline

Rumford Fireplace Dimensions

Smoke Other Dimensions:
Fireplace Throat Damper Chamber
Size (AxF) (frame) (base x G) Flue Tile A B C D E F G
24" wide 24"x12" 4"x16" 8.5"x18"x24" 8.5"x13" 24" 12" 13.5" 13.5" 24"-28" 12" 24"
30" wide 30"x12" 9"x24" 13"x27"x30" 13"x13" 30" 12" 13.5" 15" 28"-32" 12" 30"
36" wide 36"x14" 9"x24" 13"x27"x30" 13"x13" 36" 14" 13.5" 18" 32"-38" 14" 30"
42" wide 42"x15" 9"x30" 13"x34"x30" 13"x18" 42" 15" 15" 21" 38"-42" 15" 30"
48" wide 48"x16" 9"x30" 16"x34"x30" 16"x20" 48" 16" 18" 22.5" 42"-48" 16" 30"

Diagrams and table show dimensions of Rumford fireplace components.

er. So we placed two thermocou- rather, it acts like an invisible steel lintel and mixes turbulently
ples at the narrowest part of the glass door, keeping the smoke with the smoke.
throat—one near the curved behind it, as they both go up Most masons assert that you
breast and one a couple of inches through the throat together. need to “cross over” or drop the
farther back near the fireback. This revelation has far-reach- lintel about 8 or 9 inches below
To our amazement, with an es- ing implications. Most engineers the damper to create a pocket
tablished 1,700° F fire, we who are trying to come up with for this smoke and allow the in-
recorded only 75° F near the clean-burning designs to meet coming room air to “roll”; if you
curved breast and 730° F near EPA emission standards assume don’t, the fireplace will smoke,
the fireback. it can’t be done with an open fire- they argue.
That proved that the flow is place because, they say, the ex- Of course, inefficiently turbu-
laminar: The room air coming cess air mixes with and cools the lent smoke and air need a huge
in over the fire doesn’t mix with gases too much to achieve sec- throat to get through. But by
the hot products of combustion; ondary combustion. keeping the fireback straight and
What we’ve found is rounding the breast to achieve
that the excess air does streamlined air flow, we can build
not mix turbulently with Rumford fireplaces with throats
the products of combus- less than half the size of a mod-
tion in a Rumford fire- ern fireplace and with openings
place with a streamlined almost a foot taller. No wonder
throat. Instead, the prod- Rumfords are more efficient. They
ucts of combustion stay radiate more heat and waste less
isolated and hot behind heated room air.
the clean room air. And Here’s how to build a Rumford
since a Rumford is tall, fireplace using a rounded fireclay
the gases driven off the throat and a two-piece smoke
fire stay hot for a long chamber:
time—long enough to at-
tain secondary combus- Firebox
tion. (Emission tests are Build the Rumford firebox us-
now being conducted on ing standard 9-inch firebrick and
Rumford fireplaces.) refractory mortar, following the
dimensions shown in the accom-
Straight fireback panying table and diagram (page
advantage 403). Keep the joints 1⁄8 inch or
Used to building mod- less. Fill any voids, and wash the
ern fireplaces, most ma- firebox with a sponge and plain
sons have trouble believ- water.
ing a Rumford will draw The firebox must be backed up
until they see it happen. with solid concrete masonryunits,
The rules are different. In so that the firebox walls are at
a modern fireplace, the least 8 inches thick. Fill the space
fireback usually is between the firebrick and the con-
sloped or rolled forward, crete block with ordinary mortar.
casting the products of Rumford fireplaces usually are
combustion forward. The about as tall as they are wide;
incoming room air spills however, lowering the height by a
over the sharp edge of a few inches can improve the draw.
 the damper and smoke chamber. about 6 inches wide around the
fireplace opening) with plaster or
Damper a relatively thin material such as
Set the flat cast-iron damper marble, slate, or tile. Adding a
over the opening left by the throat brick or stone facing that projects
a n dt h e firebrick b a c k .T h i sd a m p- into the room 4 inches or more
er should be set in a bed of wet interrupts the line of the coving
mortar, but not restricted by any and makes the fireplace unneces-
additional masonry laid around sarily deep. Traditionally, Rum-
it. Make sure the valve plate is ford fireplace surrounds were
free to open. Close the valve. plastered and often painted black.
At the top of the fireplace open-
Smoke chamber ing, place the finish material just
Set the smoke chamber over low enough to cover the edge of
the damper, making sure that the the throat, but maintain the line
Build the Rumford firebox with 9- damper is free to open. The smoke of the streamlined throat. This
inch standard firebrick; then set the chamber may be shifted to one curve is like the leading edge of
curved Rumford throat in the refrac-
tory mortar on top of the firebox.
side or the other, forward or back-
ward, or leaned to line up with
the c h i m n e ys o l o n ga st h e damper
This is especially helpful in larg- valve opens without striking the
er Rumfords because homeown- inside of the smoke chamber.
ers tend to build fires too small If installing a two-piece smoke
for the size of the fireplace. chamber, fill the joints between
Build the firebox as tall as the the two halves with fireclay mor-
opening will be, and then build tar. Lay up the surrounding ma-
the fireback up another three sonry at least 4 inches thick
courses. The covings will have to around the smoke chamber.
be built up to meet the rounded Now you’re ready to set the
Rumford throat but only after the first flue tile and continue the
Lay surrounding masonry at least
throat has been set in place. chimney just as you would any 4-inches thick around the smoke
masonry chimney. chamber.
Throat
Set a prefabricated, one-piece The surround
curved Rumford throat in fireclay Finish the surround (the area an airplane wing. Don’t ruin the
mortar on t o po ft h e firebox.These air flow by dropping a header
throats come in 24-, 30-, 36-, 42-, several inches below the opening.
and 48-inch widths. Again, because it is difficult to
Pack the area between the maintain the streamlining, try
throat and the surround masonry to avoid a brick surround that
solid with ordinary mortar as you would require an angle lintel to
lay up masonry courses to the top support the header.
of the throat. Although the throat
is designed to carry the load, for References
an extra margin of safety, place a 1. The Collected Works of Count Rumford,
volume 2, edited by Sanborn Brown, Har-
length of rebar in the first mortar vard Press, 1969.
joint above the front edge of the 2. The Forgotten Art of Building a Good
throat, which is 11⁄2 inches thick. Fireplace, by Vrest Orton, Yankee Press,
Finish the firebox by building Dublin, N.H., 1969.
the curved covings up to meet the
curved throat as high as the fire- Jim Buckley is president of Buckley Rum-
back and the top of the throat. ford Fireplace Co. in Seattle.
Fill in the space between the fire- The diagrams and all photos were
brick and the throat with fireclay provided by Superior Clay.
mortar.
Lay the surrounding masonry
up to the top of the throat and Set the smoke chamber over the PUBLICATION #M930402
the fireback to create a platform damper, making sure the damper Copyright © 1993, The Aberdeen Group
above the hearth on which to set will open and close freely. All rights reserved