point of use water heater, Dutch style, circa 1973

[passatdoc]

I recently bought a photo slide scanner for my father, who has >100 slide carousels and no working projector. The goal is to digitalize all his old slide photos so he can enjoy them on his computer. The scanning is fairly tedious, but I find I can scan a carousel of 100 slides in about an hour. So it's a work in progress.

Last night I ran across my (Ektachrome/Kodachrome) photos from my summer in Holland as an exchange student in 1973. I had not seen these photos in about 34 years; I had taken a few rolls of print film while there, and those pictures were accessible, but these slides were in storage for over three decades. Photo quality is so-so, given that they were shot with a horrid Kodak Instamatic 35, but they are well preserved.

Attached is a candid photo of my host mother (smoking while she cooked....) Theodora, getting ready for dinner. I don't remember what she cooked that night but can assure you that there WERE peeled, boiled potatoes cut in halves. What caught my eye was the point of use gas water heater on the wall.

House built early 1960s with cold water plumbing throughout. A point of use heater in each of two bathrooms, plus the kitchen. The horizontal axis top loading washer was in the garage (not heated, but apparently it never was cold enough to freeze the pipe; I was never there in winter) and most likely there was only a cold water tap with integral washer heater.

Natural gas was/is produced in Holland and was (1973) a plentiful, cheap commodity. Range was gas, as was oven. There was an under-counter fridge and, at that time, no dishwasher, though two years later they remodeled and added a dishwasher.

What was a bit scary were all those cords draped all over the place. The only electric appliance on the counter that I remember was a coffee maker. The toaster and sandwich press (forerunner of today's pannini press) were at the kitchen table, not on the kitchen counters.

 

[toggleswitch]

Interesting!

I'm guessing the point-of-use water-heater is electric? I don't see an exhausting/flue provision. What is that copper looking pipe that runs horizonatlaly? Is that a water feed to/from the P-O-U HWH. or a gas feed for it, the electrical for the HWH?


Also, please, what is that round pipe coming out of the upper portion of the of the upper (wall) cabinet? Is that the home's heating system in the cupboard? Is it an extrator/exhaust fan flue for the stove? Is it a plumbing stack?



When this thread peaks and we are ready to go off-topic, I'm ready:

I heard today as a matter of fact, an American visitng Amsterdam (for the weekend) thought the food there was out-of-this world great. Yet, I offered to cook Dutch classics for a Dutchman (who shall remain nameless) *WAVES* visitng in NYC and was told something like UGH, PLEASE NO, DON'T, EW, GROSS. HMMMMMM!!!!!!

I visited Greece in 1973.
Everyone had "the best" German washers (Miele) and TVs (Grundig). Not a dryer nor dishwasher to be seen anywhere. No air-conditioning except in larger stores and hotels. [The unit in our hotel in Athens was a through-the-wall GE]. The mother of a friend of my father's had a GE top-loading washer, probalby "for export" from the USA. (The friend lives in the USA; his mother in Greece). Refrigeratos were NOT frostless.

Although not as techicnally up-to-date as I was used to, people had fun, ate, slept and lived very well and had a great attitude and disposition. No crime, no fear, no pockets of poverty.

My mother's aunt had only a two-burner propane cooktop that sat ON the countertop ("workbench" => UK, Austrlia) NO OVEN! Appareenly one takes what needs to be roasted to the
"FOURNARAS" in Greek, ["FOURNIER" I think in French.] How to translate this, HMMM VERY roughly the (person who is a) ROASTER/BAKER, "OVEN MASTER". On Sunday you drop off a tray with your roast, veggies and potoates, tell them what time you will be by to pick it up, and it will be ready for you then. Of course, you have to add extra food because the "chef" will sample what is there. The excuse offered is " Well, how else can I tell when the food is done/ properly cooked? Apparentlty, he and his family eat for free! LOL

Same aunt had only "half" a hoover twin-tub as a washer. There was the wash tub with the impeller at the side. No spinner. My mother had to do laundry for 5 people basically by hand, wringing every item, line-dry and then iron. It was definitely not her Maytag top-loading 1965/1966 automatic (right after the Maytag Highlanders and had an aqua panel) and gas dryer-- that is for sure! [this post was last edited: 6/1/2010-21:31]

 

[passatdoc]

I can't answer all the questions, because the woman in the photo (my host mother) is deceased, as is her husband, and the children sold the house c. 1994, at which point the father was too frail to live alone and moved in with a widowed sister. The last time I was there (in that house) was 1982; I have visited the children and friends since then, but no one lives in this village anymore, they are now scattered all over Europe. And one of the five children died in an accident in the late 1970s.

I remember that all three heaters were gas. After you turned on the tap, you'd hear a flame ignite and in a few moments you had hot water. The venting may have been built into the wall? Or perhaps the vent pipe over the cabinet is the water heater vent? I don't recall that they had a vent hood over the cooktop.

This family lived somewhat above normal middle class, for the times. Although they had five children, each had his or her own bedroom, thanks to an attic conversion, and two full baths was somewhat of a luxury for the time. The mother, a nurse, worked at the university as a house mother in the nurses' dorms (remember, in many countries the age of adulthood was lowered from 21 to 18 in the late 60s or early 70s, and in many cases an adult supervisor was required in the dormitories; the fact that this was a Catholic university may explain why house mothers were required even after the age of adulthood became 18), so there were two incomes. They also owned an old farmhouse with perhaps a 1/4 acre of land on the outskirts of their village. They used it to house their daughter's ponies and as a retreat for their kids (they could have parties there, blast the stereo, and no one would notice).

That said, the house was built I think early 1960s, they had not remodeled by 1973, when I first visited, and the kitchen was basically what people in Holland used (in new construction) in that era. Remember a lot of the country was destroyed in the war, so the emphasis was on housing people and putting roofs over people's heads, not on luxury features (having six bedrooms and two baths was a luxury in and of itself; I slept in a converted bonus room on the ground floor, so temporarily there were seven bedrooms.) The same can be said for post-war German housing....it certainly didn't look like anything out of a Miele ad.

So the kitchen pictured had been in use for about ten years by a family of seven (two parents, five kids) and was showing signs of wear. I returned two years later while in college and they had remodelled with new tile, new cabinets, and newer appliances. I think they had a dishwasher at that point too (1975). But this was how a somewhat-higher-than-middle-class family lived in Holland in that era. They had two incomes in an area where many of the women were stay at home moms (and many were Catholics with 4-6 kids, so one income didn't always go very far). [this post was last edited: 6/2/2010-11:04]

 

[foraloysius]

Fasto geiser

*Nameless Dutchman waving back at Toggles* LOL

That point of use water heater is a gas one and a pretty dangerous one as well. Not only wasn't there an exhaust for the combustion fumes, but it also lacked a safety device for when the pilot light got out. At least IIRC, it looks like it has a red turn knob just with the positions on and off. In one house we had the same one in the laundryroom above the sink there. The brand of this water heater is Fasto which was one of the market leaders together with Vaillant (There was a Vaillant in our kitchen).

Such a type of water heater is called "geiser" in Dutch while a tank water heater is called "boiler".

The little coffeemaker is a Philips, it's their first model of drip filter coffeemakers. The filter is a flat round one, these machines took ages to make a small pot of coffee. I still have one, they make great coffee.

I do believe that there were potatoes on the menu that night. What else?! LOL

Do you remember what kind of toploader H-axis washing machine they had? Was it a twintub with separate spinner? Lots of families had AEG Turnamat's at that time. Not too expensive and very reliable.

In the picture I don't see an oven. There is a gas cooktop on top of an under the counter fridge. The fridge is a Blue Air which is actually an Ariston.

I can see that there is a cord for the fridge and a cord for the coffeemaker but where does that third cord lead to? Was there a light over the countertop? Or a wall mounted coffee grinder?

I don't think it's a pipe coming out of that upper cabinet. To me it looks more like a tin cookie jar or something like that.

I'm sure there is great food to be found in Amsterdam. You can find food from almost every country in the world there. The typical Dutch classics are still not my favourite.

Louis

 

[passatdoc]

You are absolutely right: the coffeemaker made great coffee but took forever to brew. The first automatic drip coffeemakers brought to the US were Mellita and Norelco (Philips in USA used the "Norelco" brand in the old days...most people here call Philips electric razors "Norelcos").

I am not sure about the washing machine. I remember looking through a window in the top and there was a steel basket that was spinning on a horizontal axis. Not sure if there was a separate spinner. Were there H-axis toploaders in Holland then that spun out water with high enough RPM without the need for a spinner? Given that there was only cold water plumbing in an unheated garage, it must have been frightfully costly in terms of electricity to wash clothes in that machine.

I believe there was a drop-in electric oven to the right of the photo margin. The cooktop was on the left, the oven was to the right of the fridge and was built-in under the countertop. Given the relatively cheap price of gas (then) and the high cost of electricity, could one buy gas-fueled ovens for under-counter use??

There was a flourescent strip light mounted over the cooktop. I don't think they used a coffee grinder, just Albert Heijn-TM coffee. Maybe it was whole bean in the store and she used a grinder at the store. The vlokken and hagelslag (chocolate sprinkled on bread/toast in the morning---sick but true) were also from Albert Heijn. Of course.

Scary to think that those water heaters weren't vented. Yikes!! Or should I say, GVD!!

PS my school was Canisius/Mater Dei in Nijmegen. Catholic, of course. However, Catholic school in USA at that time was MUCH stricter, with boys in shirts/ties and girls in white blouses and plaid, pleated skirts. When I described the uniforms to the colleagues at Canisius/Mater Dei, they thought I was making it all up, because no one had to wear uniforms at Catholic primary or secondary schools, at least not in Nijmegen.

One of the US Senators from California at the time, John Tunney, was married to a woman from Nijmegen who was a graduate of Canisius/Mater Dei. Everyone at school was aware of it, it was sort of a big deal, and the fact that I was from California made me a minor celebrity. "Have you actually MET Mieke Tunney?" "No, there are 20,000,000 people in California. Have you actually MET Juliana or Trixi??"

 

[passatdoc]

ps

I lived in college dormitories during college, but moved into an apartment at the start of graduate school. At that point I needed to prepare coffee in my own kitchen. My first coffeemaker was a Norelco (rebadged Philips) with the little round flat filter, I think it was about 4 cm diameter. The body of the machine was black and silver, and the filter basket above the carafe was yellow and black. It had a 4 cup capacity. It lasted for about six years, but the filters became difficult to find (the model had been discontinued in favor of larger filters) and I replaced it with a Krups circa 1983-4.

 

[passatdoc]

Tunney divorce

Apparently Mieke and John Tunney separated and filed for divorce a few months before I arrived in Nijmegen. I did not know about this at the time (the newspapers gave politicians more privacy in those days; it would be noted, as it was in the article below, but not front page news). And no one in Nijmegen seemed to know about it, nor did anyone at Canisius/Mater Dei seem to know. Of course, since the school was run by the Jesuits, probably it was better that they didn't know.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944630,00.html

 

[passatdoc]

Tunney divorce

Apparently Mieke and John Tunney separated and filed for divorce a few months before I arrived in Nijmegen. I did not know about this at the time (the newspapers gave politicians more privacy in those days; it would be noted, as it was in the article below, but not front page news). And no one in Nijmegen seemed to know about it, nor did anyone at Canisius/Mater Dei seem to know. Of course, since the school was run by the Jesuits, probably it was better that they didn't know.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944630,00.html

 

[passatdoc]

the AEG turnamat looks familiar

Below is a link you posted to an AEG turnamat. I know that the machine was rectangular, NOT square as most TL H-axis machines today are shaped. It's quite possible that the spinner was there and I had no idea what it was, but I understood at the time that the washbasket was where the clothes were washed. I think they hung up the clothes to dry and there was no dryer. The parents pretty much did all the laundry, I don't remember any of the kids operating the machine (maybe the eldest daughter did) which is sort of amazing when you consider there were five teenagers in the home with a working mom washing all of the clothes. You'd think she would have trained them to help out!!

At home in California, I was responsible (age 17) to unload the washer, load the dryer, dry the clothes, and remove/fold them. I was NOT allowed to operate the washer as Mom thought I would destroy clothing or wash them the wrong way. But at least I was doing part of the work.

I remember she was a bit amazed when I instinctively cleared the table and helped with washing dishes*. I think in those pre-lib days, kitchen work in Holland was women's work.

*we had a Kitchen Aid KA-14 since 1961 at home in California, so my sister and I were trained from the ages of six and four to load, operate, and unload the dishwasher. Responsibility for dishwashing was one of our household chores.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/TD/JPEG/MODERN/2009/foraloysius++9-7-2009-13-21-59.jpg

 

[gyrafoam]

There were all sorts of gas heaters in old homes throughout the deep south, back in the day, that had no venting at all.
I guess the idea was that the insulation in the house was so poor there was nothing to worry about----a fresh breeze swept the room with every gust of wind outside.

Over in Alabama, in addition to the individual heaters in the larger rooms, there were kool little concave units built right into the bathroom wall. Kept the bathroom quite toasy in the winter. No venting! In Georgia the bathrooms just had a miniature of what was used in the larger rooms.

 

[foraloysius]

Jim

Great memories! But oy vey! Language mister!! But then again among Catholics it was pretty normal to swear.

If the washer was a toploader and it had a glass lid I'm pretty sure that it must have been a Philips. Here's a video of a similar model.

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Every automatic washer had a built in heater and they are were connected to cold water only. Most people still did their whites on 95*C although around that time due to the energy crisis people started doing whites on 60*C. The owner of a chain of white goods stores invented the "e-knop" (eco button) that extended the wash time and lowered the water temperature. I don't think electricity was that expensive that people couldn't afford to use a washer with a heater.

At that time there were gas slide in or built in ovens. But it would be far from standard in such a kitchen. The cabinets are rather standard and could be made by Bruynzeel. Normally there would be another door at the right with a slide out cutting board just under the counter. Most people in the seventies would combine the standard setup with a Moulinex "grill bakoven" as shown in the picture.

If these people shopped at Albert Heijn's they must have been at least well to do middle class. People with small incomes didn't shop there. BTW, what's wrong with chocolate sprinkles on toast in the morning. LOL

 

[mielabor]

Dutch classics

Just out of interest Mr. Toggleswitch, which Dutch classics did you intend to cook for the Dutchman anonymous? I am very curious to know which Dutch dishes have conquered the world!

 

[passatdoc]

It was a Philips!

I definitely recall that there was a window in the lid and you could see the h-axis drum spinning. Did the Philips have a spinner also? They had it arranged with the long end against the garage wall, perhaps to save space, but they only used the garage for storage; their one car was parked in the driveway. The garage was attached to the house and had direct entry door into the kitchen/dining area, like a typical modern American house.

Because this was a village (Lent--now annexed by Nijmegen, but back then an independent village) across the river, and still had farms in the outskirts, we had a dairy that delivered to the house in glass bottles (similar to what we had in California, except they stopped delivering in the late 1960s), also delicious yogurt in glass bottles. Lekker!! But I agree, I think with two incomes they were somewhat higher than average middle class, with a six bedroom/two bath house and five kids (maybe some smaller families lived that well on one income, but this was a large family), and a separate farmhouse/retreat on the edge of town (where the kids could party and where the daughter kept her ponies). They didn't take extravagant vacations abroad, but their home life was I suppose more "deluxe" than the average family of that size at that time.

As you mentioned, Albert Heijn is not cheap. It didn't look like they went out of their way to save money on groceries. Also, the father was the manager of a frozen food distributing company. They had a big chest freezer in the garage full of frozen foods. It's possible that he got the stuff for discount price or even free, which probably stretched their money even farther.

 

[passatdoc]

oven

I don't remember a counter top oven like the Moulinex. It was under counter and built in (or slide in). But I think it was on the right, not near the cooktop, and thus either it was a drop-in style of built in, or else it was a slide in without a cooktop on top of it.

 

[passatdoc]

@mielabor

Everyone knows the best food in Holland is INDONESIAN!! Mmmmm.

In English, everyone heads for Indian food, in a similar manner.

 

[toggleswitch]

Quote: Just out of interest Mr. Toggleswitch, which Dutch classics did you intend to cook for the Dutchman anonymous? I am very curious to know which Dutch dishes have conquered the world!

I didn't even have to do the research, so I couldn't say.

My guest was amazinlgy easy-to-please, was gracious and a joy to have around. No joke.

I must say The Netherlands were very hopitable to us Americans, the French and Germans (at least in Amsterdam) in that there were places of interest to go and eat and socialize that were reminiscent of what one sees "back home" in each of those countries.

Ah, tin cans on top. You are so right! [this post was last edited: 6/3/2010-11:38]

 

[foraloysius]

How else can I respond than with telling that my host read every wish from my lips and was a great host. He invited me to his house and also friends of him to make me feel at home. Steve made my trip to NYC an experience with great memories.

 

[toggleswitch]

Come again!

 

[mielabor]

Safety device

The Fasto and Vaillant water heaters did have a safety device. Not for the pilot light, but for the main burner. One of the most frequent problems that I have seen was the clogging of the pilot venturi, resulting in an unstable and sooting flame that easily extinguished. The clogging was caused by greasy deposits mixed with dust. The grease originated from baking and frying in the kitchen. Many people who had these water heaters had the same problem. Later versions of these water heaters (see picture) also had an "Oxy-Stop" device that shut off the gas flow when the atmospheric oxygen concentration became too low.

In many cases these water heaters also supplied the hot water for a shower and you shouldn't open the hot water tap in the kitchen while someone was taking a shower to avoid an unpleasant surprise.

Another peculiarity of these water heaters was that the hot water flow was essentially fixed. You had to open the tap fully in order to trigger the main burner to ignite. A water saving shower head wouldn't work with these.