11/22/2023 0 Comments Steam radiant heating systemThe repair and refinishing of old radiators and the sale of antique ones is now a thriving business.įor residential heat, steam was used less than hot water, but both systems are easily repairable. With the arrival of central HVAC systems by the 1960s, hot-water radiator installations faded, except for a growing number of restorationists who delight in decorative antique radiators. After World War II, the hand- or machine-stoked coal furnaces were replaced by ones automatically fed with relatively clean-burning oil. New models from Runtal fit a variety of old houses.Ĭommon in the late 19th century and standard until the recent past, radiators provide generous heat and are relatively easy to install. (Fires of Tradition offers traditional grates in a dozen different styles.) Valor Fireplaces offers a variety of gas-fired inserts, which provide heat through power outages. For actual wood fires, energy-conserving inserts based on the shallow Rumford design are available. A Fires of Tradition model features not only faux flames but also smoke in a Victorian-style cast iron unit that requires no venting. Electric heat inserts with faux flames upgrade the old fireplace without gas piping. Many attractive metal Victorian-style inserts for coal or wood fireplaces are made with optional matching mantelpieces. The traditional cozy fireplace can be updated and improved with innovations that include a natural- or propane-gas fire, or new types of inserts. The Modern FireplaceĪdding an insert-wood-burning, gas, or electric-is an easy way to make original fireplaces more efficient. Several outlets may be needed in each room. It can be invaluable for old-house retrofits because the vents, usually in the ceiling, create little impact on the walls and framing-the tubing can be snaked through and around obstacles, avoiding many of the problems of caused by retrofits of large, solid ductwork. It blows treated air at high velocity through flexible 2″ or 2½” nylon tubing through unobtrusive vents. Widely known as the Unico System after one of the companies making it, mini ducts are usually employed for air-conditioning, though the system also can be used for heating with an optional electric furnace. Mini ducts’ flexible tubing allows for installation just about anywhere, without sacrificing a ton of space. This is where many old-house enthusiasts come in, having bought an old house with one of these antique heating systems. Hot-water- and steam-piped systems with decorated cast iron radiators soon followed. Sometimes, in the better systems, sheet-metal ducts fed warm air to other rooms as well. The post-Civil War era ushered in hot-air furnaces made of cast iron with a large main grate set in the floor above. Coal’s advantages were many: small, compact chunks that burned slow but hot-and were delivered directly to the cellar through a coal chute located on the exterior of the house. As American mines opened, the use of coal increased rapidly, and coal grates often replaced wood in both fireplaces and kitchen stoves. Ducted hot-air systems appeared in some upscale homes, and buildings were warmed with heat generated by huge brick furnaces in the cellar, which vented into rooms through floor and baseboard registers, usually with decorative rotating vanes to regulate air flow. The 19th century brought improved heating and ventilating systems. German settlers made good use of cast-iron stoves, either projecting from a fireplace (the five-plate stove) or freestanding (six-plate). Benjamin Franklin’s “Franklin stove” was a cast-iron insert designed to keep more heat inside the room. The simplest was the fireback, a decorated slab of cast iron placed at the rear of the firebox to retain and radiate heat. Improvements to chimney flues occupied many scientific minds. See Heating Solutions for a Colonial Revival Addition Built-in grates of iron or steel were a quality fireplace feature few have survived intact. From the late 18th century and increasingly in the early 19th, more fortunate residents of East Coast cities used coal in fireplace grates. Still, our colonial ancestors relied mostly on open fireplaces with simple andirons to hold split logs. So, what’s the best way to add heating to your old house?Ĭentral heat, as opposed to fireplace heat, is not a new idea-the Romans used an early version called a hypocaust, and there were isolated steam and hot-water heating systems in Europe by the end of the 18th century. Yet adding or adapting HVAC systems to old houses today often involves a complex web of issues, and modern systems and devices can compete with our desire to preserve the past. In our automated age, it’s easy to take heating systems for granted-the wood-fueled fireplaces and coal-stoked furnaces once critical for winter comfort in most American homes are long gone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |