FIRE HOOD / FIREPLACE CANOPY
Often seen as a quintessential feature of a classic open fireplace the fire hood or fireplace canopy has a central role in ensuring the smoke from your fire goes up the chimney and not into the room. They also offer the opportunity to reduce the amount of heat lost up the chimney, especially when the fire is not in use if a chimney baffle is included in the open fire hoods design.
Our aim is to assist our customers to create a centrepiece out of the fireplace but we must also create something that will do its job. This dual role often creates tension in the design process, especially in large Inglenook fireplaces.
We are one of the UK’s few remaining experts who specialise in the design of canopies and we do this all year round for our clients, but sometimes the chimney size is a real constraint in achieving the right aesthetic. To address this Paul Shaw, the second generation owner of Camelot, has created his Twin Skin canopy solution. This design means customers can have big canopies in big fireplace openings without the need for a massive chimney to match.
A fire hood or canopy that is carrying the smoke from a fire has four sides and a connector at the top of various designs to seal into the chimney. By contrast a canopy on a Thermovent has only three sides to let the heat from the convection system into the room. This is possible as the Thermovent (rather than the canopy) seals onto the chimney and takes away the smoke.
We are one of the UK’s few remaining experts who specialise in the design of canopies, but sometimes the chimney size is a real constraint in achieving the right aesthetic. To address this Paul Shaw, the second generation owner of Camelot, has created his Twin Skin canopy solution. This design means customers can have big canopies in big fireplace openings without the need for a massive chimney to match.
A fire hood or canopy that is carrying the smoke from a fire has four sides and a connector at the top of various designs to seal into the chimney. By contrast a canopy on a Thermovent has only three sides to let the heat from the convection system into the room. This is possible as the Thermovent (rather than the canopy) seals onto the chimney and takes away the smoke.
DESIGN YOU CAN TRUST
We base our design process around your needs as a customer…
Once you have confirmed your desire for a Camelot fire and a deposit is paid unique to your product, we will work with you to design a sketch of your canopy reflective of your dream fire. Once you confirm your design, we will begin the creation process using the skills and tools of our hardworking craftsmen and workshop to create your design to the highest quality.
As we have gathered experience as a company, we have developed our design process to help us create the most accurate plans and final results possible. This design process is an ever-changing asset to our company, one we rely upon confidently. This creates the most accurate and efficient fireplace furniture you could wish for.
To see examples of our design successes, visit our Open Fires Design and Customer Fires pages.
SINGLE SKIN or TWIN SKIN CANOPY / HOOD
Whether or not a Twin Skin or single skin canopy is required is the result of a decisions by you as the customer. If you are happy with a canopy of up to 650mm width, with the bottom edge at our benchmark height off the hearth, a single skin canopy will suffice. If you prefer 750mm or wider, unless you have a large chimney system, its quite likely you will need a Twin Skin solution. We can tell you which once you have supplied us with using a few simple pieces of information including photos of the fireplace and the chimney top plus the width, depth and height of the fireplace opening. A Twin Skin canopy costs approx. 60% more than a single skin canopy. For more information on costs visit our Pricing page.
OPEN FIRE CANOPY SPECIFICATION
The majority of our fireplace canopies are hand formed from 0.7mm sheet (steel, copper or brass) which allows us to create the flowing curves you can see on many of our canopies. Copper and Brass canopies have a secondary steel liner immediately behind to protect from the heat and help form the shape.
The seams on these canopies are hand rolled and joined with rivets typically featuring domed caps. Similarly the bottom edge of many of our open fire canopies feature a hidden round steel bar encapsulated into the bottom edge to give a clean, straight edge but also give your fireplace canopy rigidity.
We do also create canopies in heavier materials and with differing design details where the client or the design brief require this.
When considering the design of your canopy there are various aspects which we have tried to lay out below.
WE’RE HERE TO HELP WITH ANY OPEN FIRE PLACE CANOPY!
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
OPEN FIRE CANOPY/HOOD DESIGN STYLES
Style is the first decision regarding your freestanding open fire canopy, as we offer a variety of different styles to suit every taste and home. Below are sketches of some of the most frequently requested traditional styles of canopy. We do however make canopies for clients on a commission basis where another style is required to create their perfect fireplace. To see images of many of the fireplace canopies we have made visit the Gallery section.
Inglenook style
Cottage style
Regency style
Conical suspended style
Four sided suspended style
Inset style
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY
“Hi Paul, sorry I couldn’t spend more time, hope Madge (the awesome Bulldog) let you leave the house without too much bluster!
The fire is wonderful, worth every penny! Best wishes to you and your Father”
Alison W, Herts
OPEN FIRE HOOD MATERIALS & FINISHES
Our Canopies can be made in a variety of materials. The most popular material used for our canopy or hood as they are also known as is steel which the most popular finish is our dark gun metal grey. As an alternative we also offer an uncoated ‘armour bright’ finish plus an ‘antique aged’ finish which has texture and shades of brown leather showing through. We also create fireplace canopies in hand beaten or un beaten copper, or offer brass as beautiful alternative.
Hand scored mild steel ‘Dark gun metal’ finish featuring heat resistant matt black undercoat
Un-coated hand scored ‘armour bright’
mild steel
‘Aged antique’ effect mild steel finish
Polished solid brass sheet
Polished solid hand beaten copper sheet
Polished solid copper sheet – unbeaten
WE’RE HERE TO HELP WITH ANY OPEN FIRE PLACE CANOPY!
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
OPEN FIREPLACE CANOPY FINISHING DETAILS
Finishing details mainly apply to the appearance of the canopy but there are some functional items also. Below are some of the most frequent choices, but there are many more that we are happy to design should customers have their own ideas.
Decorative join
A decorative join can be added either as a feature in its own right or to break up the height on a tall canopy.
Swage line panel detail
Swage lines can be added to any fire canopy. They mark out the profile of the canopy more clearly and add detail in a discreet way.
Hand forged twist
Hand forged scroll cage
Studs & banding
Where a fireplace hood canopy has a waist panel at the base it’s possible to add studs and a heavy band in a variety of materials and designs to suit your taste and link into the fireplace dog irons, fire grate or open fireplace. As shown here on this aged antique steel hood we have also added banding down each side as per the clients request.
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY
“It lights easily and throws out lots of heat, the booklet was a great help and has taught me how to lay a good fire. I also love the fireguard and feel completely confident in leaving the fire unattended.
The fire has transformed the room and also changed the way we use the house – we all sit in the drawing room in the evening – the dogs have the best seat right in front of it.
Thank you for everything, and for your persistence from my initial phone call all that time ago!”
Lucy, Dorset
Flue baffle control.
A fireplace canopy creates an open vent up the chimney if its not part of a Thermovent open fire which includes a flue baffle. To reduce heat loss from your other heating systems (radiators or underfloor heating) we can include a flue baffle control to close off the chimney when the fire is not in use. It cannot be used to control the fire when it is lit.
Flue Liner spigot connector.
Where a chimney liner is in situ the canopy will need a connector to be attached ready for installation. We can supply the connector or sometimes it is supplied to us.
