204 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Under the old system of piping with four-inch pipes, it was claimed 

 that during the summer and fall, the water held its heat for a long time in 

 the forenoon, and necessitated the opening of the ventilators. If the 

 ventilation was properly arranged, so as to prevent a direct draft on the 

 plants, we should not consider this an objection, on the contrary it might 

 be a benefit. It is claimed, however, that the water in the pipes held a 

 large amount of heat, and that this was wasted as the water cooled. This 

 is true of course, and the loss would be considerable with large i)ipes. 

 With small pipes, however, this loss w^onld be much reduced, and if the 

 heaters are properly tended, it would not be worth consideration. 



In the above test the conditions were made as equal as possible and nei- 

 ther was favored in any way by the attendant. It may be well to repeat 

 that in their construction the two heaters were identical so far as general 

 arrangement, grate and heating surfaces were concerned. The radiating 

 pipes also were similarly arranged, the only difference being that the water 

 house had 275 square feet against 200 square feet in the steam house, but 

 200 square feet filled wath steam at 220° should be as efficient as 275 square 

 feet filled with water at an average temperature of 160°. 



In the consumption of 1,800 lbs. of coal in each heater during April, the 

 same amount of heat must have been produced in each, but as the amount 

 of heat taken up by the hot water produced a temperature eight degrees 

 higher in the house than was produced in the steam house, it follows that 

 the waste was greater in the steam heater. This is accounted for by the 

 fact that the water returning at 160° in the water heater will absorb more 

 heat than the water in the steam heater which is at a temperature of 212° 

 to 220°. 



Toward the close of the season we arranged to take the temperatures 

 of the interiors of the smoke pipes of both heaters. The fires at that time 

 were kept very low, and were soon afterward discontinued, so that our 

 records were neither complete nor definite enough to throw any light upon 

 the amount of heat that passed off through the chimney. From the data 

 obtained, however, we consider the excess of loss in the steam heater very 

 considerable, enough perhaps to account for the difference in economy of 

 the two systems as tested here. Although the result here, taken month by 

 month, indicates that hot- water heating for small greenhouses ( and dwell- 

 ing houses as well) is more economical than steam heating, some may 

 claim that this is a single test and with one kind of heater, and that it 

 might not prove so with another heater. To such may be cited the results 

 obtained by Prof. Maynard of the Hatch Experiment Station, Amherst, 

 Mass., with the Foster boilers. In 1888-9 the houses were kept at about 

 48 degrees, and the coal consumed in the water house was 20 per cent, less 

 than in the other, while the water house was 1.7 degrees warmer. The 

 past winter the experiment was repeated with even more marked results in 

 favor of hot water. The houses were about 48 degrees, with nearly 47 per 

 cent, in coal consumption and 1.5 degrees in temperature in favor of hot 

 water. 



The results of the test made here, were presented by Prof. E. C 

 Carpenter, to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at their meet- 

 ing in Cincinnati, and in discussing the paper, Mr. Charles E. Emery of 

 New York, stated that if the temperature of the water and steam in the 

 steam heater was greater than that of the water in the water heater the 

 amount of coal consumed in the former would be greater than in the latter. 

 This condition wdll always prevail, and as Mr. Emery has had a large 



