My grandmother’s hot water system
I remember my grandmother’s hot water system in rural Ireland. There was a Waterford Stanley range, which contained a hot water boiler that provided hot water for the hot taps and had a second boiler that provided radiator heating water.
They’re basically the Irish counterpart to AGA and it had, if I remember correctly 3 ovens.
It burnt kerosene, using a metal wick burner, rather than a pressure jet and it was basically never switched off, just turned down.
There was a large control valve box, in beige enamel, on the wall near by and I think the oil fed in by gravity. Those systems ran constantly and probably most of the year, given the climate here.
There was no sound or odour of kerosine or anything like that. It just ran in the background 24/7 for months at a time. I remember her getting someone to clean it out - they’d basically dismantle the whole range, clean, vacuum and brush out ash and soot, replace wicks and set it back going again.
She didn’t really use it for cooking very much and had a separate gas stove for that. It just sat in the dining/living room area, often with maybe a kettle or some slow cooking item like stock or a roast perhaps. I just remember any serious coming was done on “the gas” though.
It kept the house that kinda toasty warm rural kitchen vibe at all times. She’d have tea towels airing above it and the whole kitchen was flagstone floor.
Other than that it had a sofa, arm chairs, a spinning wheel, an valve antique radio still tuned to RTE Radio 1 (Radio Éireann) or BBC Radio 4 both on medium wave or long wave (a very old AM band) and she has a TV on a high up console off to the side which was probably 1970s era as it was wooden framed colour.
You walked from there straight through to a kitchen and utility where she had a fairly modern kitchen and a laundry room off to the side which had a washer and dryer, which was an old Siemens washing machine and a 1970s Hoover Tumble Dryer Deluxe, which were very similar to Maytag Halo of Heat, as Hoover was owned by them at the time.
memories ...
Cue semi-depressing mid-1980 Irish nostalgia laden power company advert, featuring someone’s granny (or mother who appears to be in her mid 70s with a 20 something son .. but it ads to the nostalgic vibe) and a lot of 1980s random appliances lol.
post was last edited: 12/12/2020-21:38]
I remember my grandmother’s hot water system in rural Ireland. There was a Waterford Stanley range, which contained a hot water boiler that provided hot water for the hot taps and had a second boiler that provided radiator heating water.
They’re basically the Irish counterpart to AGA and it had, if I remember correctly 3 ovens.
It burnt kerosene, using a metal wick burner, rather than a pressure jet and it was basically never switched off, just turned down.
There was a large control valve box, in beige enamel, on the wall near by and I think the oil fed in by gravity. Those systems ran constantly and probably most of the year, given the climate here.
There was no sound or odour of kerosine or anything like that. It just ran in the background 24/7 for months at a time. I remember her getting someone to clean it out - they’d basically dismantle the whole range, clean, vacuum and brush out ash and soot, replace wicks and set it back going again.
She didn’t really use it for cooking very much and had a separate gas stove for that. It just sat in the dining/living room area, often with maybe a kettle or some slow cooking item like stock or a roast perhaps. I just remember any serious coming was done on “the gas” though.
It kept the house that kinda toasty warm rural kitchen vibe at all times. She’d have tea towels airing above it and the whole kitchen was flagstone floor.
Other than that it had a sofa, arm chairs, a spinning wheel, an valve antique radio still tuned to RTE Radio 1 (Radio Éireann) or BBC Radio 4 both on medium wave or long wave (a very old AM band) and she has a TV on a high up console off to the side which was probably 1970s era as it was wooden framed colour.
You walked from there straight through to a kitchen and utility where she had a fairly modern kitchen and a laundry room off to the side which had a washer and dryer, which was an old Siemens washing machine and a 1970s Hoover Tumble Dryer Deluxe, which were very similar to Maytag Halo of Heat, as Hoover was owned by them at the time.
memories ...
Cue semi-depressing mid-1980 Irish nostalgia laden power company advert, featuring someone’s granny (or mother who appears to be in her mid 70s with a 20 something son .. but it ads to the nostalgic vibe) and a lot of 1980s random appliances lol.
post was last edited: 12/12/2020-21:38]
Triple win!
