AN ELECTRIC COOKER SUITABLE FOR ORDINARY USE
Oven, grill and toaster plate, warmer and hot plate. (Messrs. Crompton & Co.)
Some Figures.
I find that in the two years we have used the furnace we have consumed 120 sacks of coke, but part of it was mixed with the coal burned in the drawing-room. I must also admit that during part of this time the fuel was carelessly used. In addition to the coke burned in the furnace, coal was needed for lighting it. We used nine tons of coal in two years, for the drawing-room fire (a large old-fashioned, extravagant grate) and for the furnace. These were partly war years, and coal cost on an average 35s. a ton, and the coke 1s. 2d. a sack; roughly £11 10s. for furnace and drawing-room fire per year. In addition, the gas bills for two years have been, for cooker and five fires (one of the latter lighted in dining-room for about three hours a day, another burned a good deal in Christmas holidays, fire in servants' hall used in the afternoon in cold weather, and two bedroom fires only for an hour or two in the evening when very cold, except during a three-weeks' illness, and one or two days when people had colds), about £40. Gas is at the war price (in London) 3s. per 1,000 feet, and (for "war reasons") inferior in quality to what it was before the war, and the figure includes meter and stove rent (two stoves, kitchen, and servants' hall).
When considering these sums it must be remembered that this is a small London house, and that the furnace in the kitchen heats that and keeps the smoking-room above from ever being very cold. The large radiator in the hall, heated from the furnace, makes an enormous difference to the warmth of the house; also the drawing-room fire was not lighted in the morning except in really cold weather. To the coal, coke, and gas bills must be added 14s. worth of wood during the two years. Old boxes were chopped up, so that if all the wood had been bought it might have amounted to 18s. or £1, say £32 10 0 for a year's fuel.
Had we used a coal range and coal fires and had no radiator, I calculate that the cost of coal would amount to at least £35, and that we should have used more wood, and certainly we could not have run the house without more help.
When counting the cost of heating, lighting, and cooking, allow for expert's figures. The average servant, and for that matter, the average mistress, is not an expert, and until she is, will not be able to obtain the best value for the money spent as does the expert.
In another household known to me, the furnace is larger and more coke is used, and it is made up at about seven o'clock, at midday, and again at night. This furnace heats water for two bathrooms, three sinks, four hand-basins, and radiators all over the house. The house is always beautifully warm, and only a small fire "for company" is needed in the drawing-room. In this house there is a coal range for cooking, but in hot weather an oil stove is used. The quantities of fuel used are for two years: 13 tons coal, 18 tons coke, 8 tons anthracite, 234 gallons of oil.
In a maisonette of three floors, gas is used for cooking and for water heating and nursery ironing ring, and coal for dining-room fire, drawing-room in late afternoon and evening, and nursery when necessary. (Child goes to a kindergarten.) The cost for coal and gas for the year 1915 was £28 10s. In flats where the bathroom is near the furnace less fuel is needed.