Heating & Ventilation - Circa 1922

[launderess]

Having problems heating your old Victorian house?

Don't know a clinker from coke?

Did you think those beautiful floor grates covered rubbish bins?

Well rest easy, everything you need to know is right here!

*LOL*

http://books.google.com/books?id=O2...ast+Iron+Radiators&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

 

[58limited]

You mean

those pretty grates are NOT covering rubbish bins? I better stop tossing my beer bottles in there...

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Nice link, thank you.

There's some good steam heat info here:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/steam_problems.cfm

 

[sudsmaster]

Heating and ventilation is one of those areas where modern technology has definitely made significant improvements. More efficient, safer, etc.

Of course this is coming from someone who is clinging to their 30 year old water heater... lol...

 

[launderess]

"Ventilation"

Back then meant simply homes were drafty on purpose! *LOL*

I'm not joking. Post the Spanish Flu pandemic of the early 1900's common thought amoung Western Europe and the United States was that fresh air or at least frequent changes of air was a good defense against germs and disease, even in winter. So homes were built almost "porous" so that even when windows were closed air still got in from the outside.

Of course no one thought about the cost of heating, ie all that coke, coal or whatever was used to fuel the boilers/stoves. And it is the reason why if those older homes are brought up to today's standards in terms of windows and sealing out drafts, they become quite warm when central heat is on. Indeed often the whole heating system has to be rethought as all that "fire power" is no longer required.

Never had coal fired central heating, but have know those who did or had it growing up and it sounds like allot of work. Dampers, banking fires, clinkers, shoveling coal into the boilers, etc.

 

[mielabor]

In the recent past buildings were constructed in the Netherlands without proper ventilation in order to save energy. In some areas were energy efficient houses were built, respiratory diseases and other problems related to humid and dirty air are common. So now it is advised to always leave a window or some other construction open for ventilation. Older drafty buildings are maybe not as comfortable, but they are healthier!

 

[toggleswitch2]

IIRC, the masters of steam heating are now called "The deadmen" for obvious reasons; they left this plane/planet a long time ago!

Here is a linkie to a device now needed when a house or other buidlng is too tight.

An uber-efficient home that has basically a house within a house (two sets of exterior walls, both insulated with an air-space in between), should really NOT have any combustion appliances/deviced within (especially a gas stove) as these degrade the air guality within rapidly to the the point of there being more posions in the air in the house than in outside/outdoors air.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/how_your_house_works/1275121.html

 

[mielabor]

Toggles, that's the device that is giving so much problems here! Theoretically it should work fine, but only when the whole system is carefully installed and kept well maintained and that is where things frequently go wrong. Dirty filters are a microbe's paradise. Also, some people turn it off as they think that that will save more energy, but it should be kept running continuously. It is true that gas cookers produce a lot of air contaminants. On the other hand gas and other heaters that are attached to a chimney do improve ventilation and therefore increase indoor air quality. Of course there are many other sources of indoor air contamination: one source are the building materials themselves that can produce radioactive radon gas.

Personally, I am not a fan of mechanical ventilation systems: they don't work during a power cut and I have never encountered one that is noiseless.