Elegant clothing was a feature of the renaissance period but this was not accompanied by a similar revival in personal hygiene. Through to the late nineteenth century even medical opinion gave little regard to the cleanliness of house or person.

In 1814 a steam kitchen and range was introduced that could, besides cooking, supply constantly from 1 to 14 gallons of boiling water - all performed by the use of one small fire. The next stage was not to pipe hot water to the bath to avoid carrying it, but to carry cold water to the bath and heat it on the spot.

If you examine the floor plan of the average Australian home in the mid 1800’s, you will note that it does not contain a bathroom! The domestic bathroom of the mid 1800’s consisted of a bath located in the bedroom. It had a cold water supply only.

The new home builder of the 1850’s did not have to consider the purchase of a storage water heater.

The nomadic bath eventually came to rest in a room of its own, anchored by a complex network of piping and was often a converted bedroom, needlessly large with wallpaper, curtains and furniture, quite unsuited to a damp steamy atmosphere.

Although commercialised in 1812, it was not until the 1850’s that gas was used for heating water. Known as the “heater” it was claimed that a hot bath could be achieved in 6 minutes very economically. It had no boiler but was set under the bath.

Promoted as an indispensable requisite for the comfort and preservation of life, ease of use within the management of a child. However a bunch of flames playing on a metal bath, capable of heating even ten gallons of water in six minutes, without a flue, can hardly have fulfilled these claims.

By 1869, hot water boilers built into the kitchen range was quite common along with a whole series of fearful explosions in kitchens. The cause of these bangs was the practice of putting the hot water storage cylinder near the top of the house, with no safety valve. The cold water tank aloft freezes unobserved, hot water is drawn off and not replaced, the boiler runs dry, the cold tank thaws and the cold water enters the red-hot boiler. The plumbers learned these simple truths at the expense of their customers.

The late 1800’s saw the development of geysers which had a cold water supply pipe with a single draw off point - usually less than 2 feet away from the heater. A water pipe of copper or wrought iron takes a dining, spiral or zigzag course through a cylinder containing burners. In some early geysers, however, the water merely trickled or sprayed downwards among the flames, without a pipe. The first geysers had no safety devices, and it was important to follow some complicated instructions.

Eventually the introduction of a thermostat control that did not admit gas to the main burner until the heat of a pilot jet itself had opened and gas tap. The gas flow was dependent on the water flow which defied the chance of a “bang”.

There are still a few obsolete geysers that still occasionally give distant crumps and bangs, however a new generation is growing up without the inborn fear of the geyser.