Good Advice.
Before deciding on any special fires, stoves, etc., the customer should ask the gas company to inspect the premises and to give advice as to the best method of dealing with that particular house or flat, because the choice of apparatus must depend on the situation of the boiler, the length of pipes needed, the height of the house, the position of the bathroom, and the kind of grates available.
In some houses it would be out of the question to heat water by gas, in others it would be possible and even economical.
But I regret to have to say that the gas companies do not always seem to have employees capable of giving the best advice. In London, the Gas Light and Coke Company have a clever staff, amongst whom are several ladies known as the Women's Advisory Staff. These ladies are extremely helpful, and when they have talked the matter over with the prospective customer, will call in experts who deal with the questions of cost, of fitting, etc. Two heads are better than one, and therefore I always advise the would-be gas-user to pick the brains of one of these ladies (who are trained cooks as well as gas experts), as well as those of the male staff.
When the cookers and fires have been installed a lady will then call, free of charge, and demonstrate the use of the various apparatus, and it can also be arranged that the fires, cooker, etc., are inspected and kept in order for a nominal sum per annum.
Gas for Water Heating.
Regarding the use of gas for water heating, it would be useless for me to go into details, for only an expert who has seen the house can know how best to deal with the matter, and whether to advise the use of geysers, califonts, hydrotherms, etc.; or whether gas circulators should be ruled out and a coke furnace substituted. Excluding the cost of installation, and under suitable circumstances, it is estimated that a large hot bath costs rather less than twopence, and one less full and not quite so hot, rather more than one penny. The cost must vary a little, as in summer time the temperature of the water before heating is higher than in winter, also the size of baths varies.
When using gas for heating, the baths and fitted basins should not be unnecessarily large, and note that a square-bottomed bath will need more water to fill it than that which is curved. Do not forget that every pint of hot water costs something to make it hot.
Many improvements have been made in geysers of late, and they are now as fool-proof as any apparatus can be. But when one has to deal with a girl who will turn on the gas in the oven and forget that she has not lighted it, shut the door, and then, when the house reeks of gas, arm herself with a lighted taper and start looking for the escape, it is difficult to estimate against what depth of human folly the gas apparatus must be made immune.
Geysers are now contrived so that the one apparatus will serve several taps, and circulators are fitted with concentric burners, so that when the water is hot the ring is put out and only the small inner burner used.