 |
|
Page: 
|
|
When steam heating was new, back at the turn of the 19th century, coal was the fuel of choice. It burned hot, and it burned long. A good coal-fired boiler would stay lit for eight to 10 hours on a load of coal. Those early boilers contained cast iron grates that were similar to what you have in your barbeque, but much thicker and far sturdier. The person tending the fire (and it was almost always the woman of the house) had to know how to start the fire and spread the coals so that the air could enter from below and keep the home fires burning.
It was because the man of the house might try his hand at building a fire on the weekends. The writers of the old engineering books flat out wrote that the men didn’t know what the heck they were doing when it came to making a proper coal fire (it was women’s work). The writers figured that if they gave the husbands more room in which to play, there would be less chance of a lousy fire on the weekends, and fewer complaints to the heating engineer. Seventy-five percent extra space in the combustion chamber for the husband, because he didn’t know what he was doing.
And there’s something else you may not know, something that had a huge impact on the development of house heating back in the early days of the 20th century. It was the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918-19. The flu killed 40 million people worldwide. Roll that number around in your mind for a moment. Forty million people.
|
And I know that it was the women making the fires because my antique engineering books tell me so. The writers of those books made a big deal about this gender thing, and most suggested that a smart heating engineer choosing a boiler for a house will add up to 75% more capacity to the coal-burning grate area than is actually required to get the job done. Can you guess why?
How about that?| Dan Holohan - [Intro] | [Email] | [Website] |
| The views expressed in this article are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of MasterPlumbers.com |
