Convenient Houses, With Fifty Plans for the Housekeeper

by Louis H. Gibson

CHAPTER XI.

HEAT AND VENTILATION.—COMMON HEATING ARRANGEMENTS.—PRESENT METHODS GENERALLY UNSATISFACTORY.—IDEAL CONDITIONS.—PROPER AMOUNT OF MOISTURE RARELY ATTAINED.—A FURNACE DEFINED.—METHODS OF REACHING BEST RESULTS.—SUPPLY OF PROPER AMOUNT OF MOISTURE.—REMOVAL OF FOUL AIR.—SUPPLYING FRESH AIR WITH PROPER MOISTURE FROM STOVES.—STEAM AND HOT WATER HEATING.—DIRECT AND INDIRECT RADIATION.—LOW-COST HEATING APPARATUS.

It is only within a short time that the heating and ventilation of buildings of any kind have been in any measure satisfactory. This applies only to the largest buildings; the heating and ventilating of smaller structures are still in an unsatisfactory condition. Most dwelling-houses are heated with stoves, which, as now arranged, are not successful. The same air is heated over and over again. Fresh air in the proper quantities or from the proper source is not supplied to the interior of the building. Grates are very well in their way in that they take large quantities of air from the room. Thus far they ventilate. The supply of air is necessarily irregular, unless special means are provided.

Furnaces are used for heating a very large number of houses. While they are satisfactory in some respects, they are deficient in others. The same thing may be said of steam, hot-water, or other heating apparatus.

As the statement has been made that heating systems in general, as applied to dwelling-houses, are unsatisfactory, it may be well to state the fault, and what is to be desired. It is not the purpose to consider this question chemically, or from a highly scientific standpoint; there is no occasion for it. It is well to bear in mind that we are considering the heating and ventilating of a house during cold weather, and not its ventilation during the summer, when natural means are to be relied upon. Then it may be asked, What is to be done? Primarily the air should be at the proper temperature at all times; it should be in its pure state, as found on the outside of the building, and not contaminated with any of the gases of combustion. It should be supplied with its proper equivalent of moisture at the temperature at which we find it in the room. As it becomes impure from natural causes, there should be some means of effecting its withdrawal.

These are the ideal conditions. How far do they exist in practice? The temperature is ordinarily high enough. The air of the room is apt to be contaminated by the gases of combustion, and vitiated by breathing and otherwise. Rarely indeed does it contain its proper equivalent of moisture; it is dry and parched. Now that we know the conditions in their ideal state and as they exist in fact, we will consider in detail what may be done to bring about more satisfactory results. If the heating apparatus be a furnace, it should be constructed of steel or wrought-iron plate, the joints thoroughly riveted and calked; or, if of other material, it should certainly be gas-tight. Every precaution should be taken to prevent the passage of the air of combustion from the furnace to the warm-air chambers and from thence to the rooms above. The furnace is nothing more or less than a large stove with various radiating arrangements, surrounded by an iron or brick enclosure, with a supply of fresh air from the outside, and with connecting tin pipes to the rooms above. It is important that the inner parts, the fire-pot, the radiating surface, etc., be thoroughly well built and gas-tight, to prevent the heated air from becoming contaminated by the gases of combustion. The supply of outer air should be ample. It should be so arranged that it can never be entirely cut off. The furnace should be of sufficient capacity so that means of reducing the outer air supply should not be necessary. However, if such arrangements are made, they should be limited.

The proper equivalent of moisture should be given to the air at the temperature at which it reaches the room. It may be said that there is a water-pan connected with every furnace, that will do everything necessary in supplying moisture. This is a mistake. So far as I know, the furnace or other heating apparatus for dwellings has not been constructed which is provided with a proper evaporating apparatus. The pan is set in the side of the furnace, with an opening to the outside into which water may be poured. It is small, and has very little evaporating surface on the inside. Oftentimes the joints at the outside are so poorly made that the cold air from the cellar may be drawn in over the water in the pan, and in that way prevent its proper evaporation. Winter air heated to a summer temperature is dry and parched, whereas natural summer air contains the proper amount of moisture. The outer air during the winter time has its proper equivalent of moisture for the winter temperature, which is a much smaller amount than would belong to it at a higher temperature. Therefore when we take winter air into the furnace or other heating apparatus, raise it to a summer temperature, and carry it into a room, we have a very dry air, which seeks its equivalent of moisture from the occupants of the room, from the furniture, carpets, walls, ceiling, and everything in it. The air will not take additional moisture unless that moisture be supplied after it has reached a higher temperature. For instance, if a spray or a series of wet blankets be arranged in the cold-air duct, before the air gets to the furnace, the air will not take the moisture from that spray or from the damp blankets. The moisture must be supplied after the air is heated. Where the water-pan is set on the side of the furnace, and where there is a supply of air through the pan from the cellar, as there frequently is, evaporation is naturally retarded by the cold air, as indicated. Again, if this pan be never so well protected, it is small, the proper amount of evaporating surface is not presented. An evaporating pan or other device should be placed above the fire-pot and should occupy a large proportion of the area of the heating chamber. The supply of water should not be dependent upon some one’s attention. It should be constant by means of a ball-cock or otherwise. It should run into or drip into a shallow pan, or should be supplied to sheets of felt or blanket so that the air will come in contact with the moist surfaces, at the temperature at which it is to go into the room. Thus it has the proper amount of moisture which belongs to it at that temperature. In this way we have winter air from the outside going into the room at a summer temperature and with a summer equivalent of moisture; that is, we have summer air in the winter time. People sometimes undertake to get around this by putting water-pans in the registers, but they are rarely ample. They are neglected, or they interfere with the supply of warm air, and are abandoned.

Where a furnace is already in a house, or where it is not possible to make elaborate arrangements for providing the air with moisture, there is a very simple makeshift which is quite effective. It consists in suspending in the registers in the floor small water receptacles—a quart bucket answers every purpose—in which is placed a broad strip of linen. This cloth should go to the bottom of the receptacle and be long enough to hang over and below it for several inches. When the bucket is filled with water this piece of cloth acts as a siphon, and carries the water, a drop at a time, into the furnace-pipe, where it is converted into steam. A piece of old table-linen is the best material to use, for the reason that it carries the water fast enough, that the heat from the furnace does not dry it out before it can drop into the pipe; otherwise the cloth becomes dry at the end, and the siphonage ceases. For the same reason it should be broad,—about twelve inches. Where a moderate heat is carried through the furnace-pipe, three quarts of water may be evaporated in this way in twenty-four hours from each bucket. A bucket of the size mentioned does not in any way interfere with the passage of heat.

The next point for consideration is the means of getting the foul, contaminated air to the outside. One way is through the use of grates. Another is by means of ducts in the wall, opening near the floor, which draw the foul air from the room to the outside. These should consist of heated flues, with connecting registers in the ceiling and floor, which may be open when necessary. Under any circumstances, the grate is best. Sometimes the flue may be heated by a supply of warm air from the furnace, or by a steam-pipe in case steam is used for heating the house. In natural-gas regions, the supply of additional heat in a flue from a furnace or by a jet would be a small matter.

We have mentioned heating by stoves, grates, and furnaces. The same principles which apply to the furnishing of fresh air to a furnace may be applied to a stove. The fact is, they never have been. A stove should be made, and will be made some day, that is surrounded on the outside by a second jacket, the space between being connected with the outer air by means of a tin tube to the under side of the stove. The supply of cold air could be so arranged as to be shut off when there was no heat in the stove. The warm air would pass out at the top of the jacket. On top of the stove could be placed an evaporating pan, and the supply of moisture come therefrom. In connection with the stove-pipe, which should be jacketed, a second ventilating flue, starting from the floor and having an opening both above and below, could be arranged, and in that way the supply of fresh air and withdrawal of impure air could be accomplished.