Pipeless Furnace
However, the genius of the inventor was not at rest on the problem of warm-air heating, for he discovered that he could abolish the flues, which he once thought were essential, and use but one register and one flue. This is called the pipeless furnace. A register is employed which has an outer and inner section. The outer section permits the cold air from the house to pass down through it and over the drum of the furnace. The inner section of the register permits this hot air to escape upward and through the house by natural distribution. Thus the hot air rises from, and the cool air settles back into, the furnace without utilizing flues. The circulation of this system was found to be superior to the older method as ordinarily installed, and very much cheaper to install. In fact, it is the cheapest of all systems of heating. It is especially adapted to the small, low-cost house.
Hot Water Heating—Boiler
in Dining-Room
To reduce the cost of hot-water heating and make it also available for this class of small house, the manufacturers produced another type of water heating-plant. In this device the water-heater was installed in one of the rooms of the house, like a stove, but the exterior was designed to serve as a hot-water radiator for the room in which it was placed. From this heater pipes were taken off to distribute heat to other radiators, located in adjoining rooms. The principle remains the same as the former system; the only difference lies in the reduction of cost by eliminating the boiler from the cellar and utilizing it to heat the room in which it was placed.
Other attempts to improve the mechanics of heating have been more along the line of perfecting the operation of valves or the utilization of other fuels than coal. Gas-radiators have been tried, but they are so expensive to operate in most parts of the country that they are not always suited to the needs of the small house. Electric heaters, too, are not within the pocketbook of the average person owning the small house. Fuel oil-burners also have been devised to take the place of the coal-grate. Wherever oil is cheap enough to permit their use they are great labor-savers, since they eliminate all the shovelling of coal and handling of ashes. These will be discussed later.
Briefly, then, the available systems for the heating of the small house are:
Methods Employed in Calculating the
Required Size of Heater
The basis of calculating the required size of any one of the systems previously mentioned is to assume that a certain temperature of heat is to be maintained when the weather is zero, and then by means of the laws of heat transmission estimate the quantity of heat lost per hour from the house. The amount of heat lost per hour is, of course, the quantity which the heating system must supply. Knowing this, a system is installed which is capable of supplying this heat loss.