How about old furnace is still in use

[whirlcool]

There are lots of old 50s Lennoxes and Waterburys still running, the shame is the older furnace men have either retired or died and the first thing a new so called tech does is say its old and not safe, scaring a elderly homeowner into changing it to a new POS that is not a tenth as good.

Yup, if you can't talk them into upgrading a furnace scare them into a new furnace. I have had techs try that on me before. It works, especially on the elderly.

We lived in a house that had a floor furnace in the center hall when we first moved here. It was a rent house. The furnace wouldn't always light when you wanted it to. The landlord said if it doesn't light up, just stomp on the floor next to the furnace and it'll light up then. Most of the time it would light up just fine. But sometimes you'd have to stomp a few times and then it would make a big "Whoosh!" and fire right up. We never left it on when we weren't at home.

Anyway one morning I was doing the furnace starting stomp and the dog we had at the time was watching me. I'd stomp the floor a few times and then the dog would look down the grate at the floor furnace. Then he would look at me. He had learned that when we stomp the furnace would make a "whoosh!" noise. It was the funniest thing to see.

 

[norgeway]

RE Having safety check done..

If you do the first thing they will say is Its old and unsafe....That's the standard line for young inspectors who have a vendetta against anything that doesent have computer boards and electronic controls!If I were you I would crawl under the house while its burning and make sure there is no backpressure, if their is, tale the pipe loose from the furnace and be sure the chimney is not blocked.

 

[2packs4sure]

"gas going thru valve generates current" (Technical

It works on a millivolt thermostat

"In other words gas going thru the valve generates enough current to operate the thermostat with no external power source......"

Technically no, The pilot flame keeps a millivolt generator hot (like a big oversized thermocouple) , and the millivolt generator makes the voltage to switch the gas valve on thru the thermostat.

Back in the late 80's and early 90's i still had a few customers with floor heaters here in Houston that i serviced.

 

[polkanut]

RickR,

is a member here who has a 1941 Lennox gravity gas furnace in his home.  Scroll down to Reply #6. 

does anyone have vintage pre-1987 central air condtioners, forced-air gas furnaces, and thermostats?

if yall want to know why i asked this because i'm fascinated vintage pre-1987 hvac units and love to see photos of some of them. if you have any of those rare vintage ge hvac units definitely post them.

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[rp2813]

A good friend in my neighborhood has a duplex built in 1936.  Both sides are two stories and hers and the tenant's both have their original floor furnaces located near the bottom of the stairs.  She has them serviced every year around this time by a notable plumbing and heating contractor here in town.  Usually the guy will say something like, "You know I have to tell you that both should be replaced, but they're operating fine."

 

As I recall, the burner isn't anything like the pair of oblong ones on Stan's unit.  It's round and when viewed from the top it has fins all around the side, I think, sort of resembling a refrigerator compressor.  I'll try to get a picture and post it here.

 

[2packs4sure]

"It's round and when viewed from the top it has fins all around the side, I think, sort of resembling a refrigerator compressor."


http://inspectapedia.com/heat/Royal_Metal_Works_Gas_Heater_1928s.jpg

http://inspectapedia.com/heat/Royal_Metal_Works_Gas_Heater_1929s.jpg

 

[rp2813]

That's something like it.  I may be over at her place later today.  I'll try to remember to bring my camera.

 

[sudsmaster]

Floor furnaces were more or less standard in some of the various flats in SF we lived in the 60's. None of them had thermostats; you turned them on and off with a big key with a long rod down to the gas line. Of course there was also a pilot light going all the time.

 

I never did like them much. They seemed drafty to me, and if you stood on them in bare or stocking feet you'd get burned. Later built structures could have wall furnaces, which weren't much better IMHO. I remember one flat in SF where my tiny bedroom had no heater at all. I picked up an ancient electric space heater at a thrift shop. It was 20's era, I think, with cast aluminum curved legs, cast aluminum frame, a cage, and a big ceramic tower around which an electric element was wound. No on/off switch; you plugged it in to turn it on, and unplugged it to turn it off. On one cold evening I plugged it in before going to sleep, and woke up a few hours later with the room searing hot. I felt like I was dying - at all of about 13 years old. I was barely able to stumble out of bed and open the door to my room to the relatively cold air of the hallway. I think my mom tossed the heater after that. Wouldn't mind having it now, it was a classic thing. And it certainly put out the BTU's.

 

 

 

[launderess]

Early heating appliances without thermostats

It is amazing when you consider the number of appliances let lose on the consumer market in the early part of last century without any sort of heat control.

Electrically heated irons, ironers, space heaters, stoves, etc.. all had no other control over heating than connecting or disconnecting current. Consumer Union and later Consumers Reports hated these things declaring them totally unsafe.

When it came to cooking or say ironing one was supposed to use age old techniques from coal/wood fired methods of heating. You spat on the thing, touched with a moistened finger, flung drops of water or held near your cheek to gauge the temperature.

Have three Knapp Monarch "flatwork" irons from the 1920's or 1930's. They have no thermostats and thus will continue heating long as current is connected. Am here to tell you the things get hot enough to burn thick linen merely by a moments touch if left too long. Am quite sure if left prone would burn through the ironing table/cause a fire again as well if left too long.

 

[rp2813]

1936 Floor Furnace Made By ???

Here are pictures of my friend's floor furnace.   There is no manufacturer information on it that I can see.  If it's not a Royal, it's very similar.

 

 

 

[ea56]

When I first moved out on my own in 1970 the first little cottage that I rented in Petaluma, Calif, had a gas wall heater that had no thermostat, it was simply on or off, but it did have a pilot light. I too fell asleep a few times with it on and later woke up to excessive heat. A few years later I rented an apt. over a 4 car garage for the apt. building in front. It had a gas heater that had no pilot light or thermostat. I had to turn on the gas and quickly light the gas burner, if I wasn't quick enough that little heater would literally jump off the floor with a whoosh. I guess I was fortunate that I never had a serious accident with these old heaters. But back then I was just happy to be able to afford the rent. During my childhood I remember very well living in homes with floor furnaces. Once the furnace key dropped down the grate and all hell broke loose because the heater couldn't be lit until my father pulled off the grate and fished the furnace key out.

 

[a440]

Ralph, thanks for the pictures of your friends floor furnace. It is so unique looking! Could you tell if it is cast iron? Also wondering if it is controlled by a thermostat? So interesting!

 

[rp2813]

1936 Furnace

I'm pretty sure it's cast iron, considering it's going on 80 years old.  I'm also pretty sure it's thermostatically controlled, or at least has a switch.  There's no key.

 

[sambootoo]

Ahh the old floor furnaces. Used to be very popular around here, usually either nat. gas or propane. Many (if not most) have been replaced with forced air systems in this area so that central air could be added. Many of these replacements use the hole in the floor where the floor furnace was as the return for the forced air system. I always liked the floor furnaces. They made such interesting popping and crackling sounds as they fired up and shut down.

 

[norgeway]

As with cooking and water heating

In my hometown I knew of 1 gas floor furnace, and dozens of oil fired ones, Kresky, Kleer-Kleen, Oran,GeneralAutomatic,and my favorite , both to work on and for quality, a Miami 80, made by the Gross furnace company of Salem Virginia...Oh and I couldn't forget a H.C.Little and a Draco Fireball.

 

[norgeway]

I know of two 50s and 60s developments

That had floor furnaces exclusively, the Johnson development had all Orans,which were sold by Lowes, and the Gentry development had all General Automatics, which were sold by Barringer Oil Company, the Orans were all pot or vaporizing burner oil fired and the General Automatics were gun burner furnaces, the Orans had to be lit once a year just like a Oil Circulator heater.

 

[2packs4sure]

None of them had thermostats............

Every one i dealt with here in Houston had one of those old style metal heat only wall mounted 2 wire stats.

 

[supersuds]

Oh so that's what those are for

I found this NIB version in my dad' filing cabinet after he passed away.

 

[wayupnorth]

Those old thermostats are definitely the mercury type, which are not available any more. Much more precise and accurate than most of the new battery ones.

 

[2packs4sure]

Some were mercury and many were Bi Metal and none were as accurate as a modern digital stat.
Unless you get a bad one.
Then they can do things an old analog stat could never dream of.
Bad things.
Many of the new systems are all data... stat to furnace, furnace to condenser......
If any part of that process fails you're D O N E.