no 



THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



ELECTRICAL WORKING COSTS. 



Data Obtained from a Typical Large Country House Description of the Electrical Plant And 

 of the Subsidiary Machinery Meeting the Farm Requirements Details of Costs for Tico Years. 



ALTHOUGH one still occasionally hears the remark that electricity is in its infancy, it cannot 

 be denied that it is a singularly well-developed child. Hence it is but natural that a general 

 interest should be evinced in the experience of those who are employing the most modern 

 apparatus obtainable. The particular branch with which we are at present concerned is the 

 utilisation of electricity for country house requirements. It has therefore been thought best 

 to proceed by giving an example of what has actually been done in one instance, rather than 

 to set down the figures of electrical consumption in various classes of machine as given by 

 the manufacturers. It is seldom that accounts and data have been compiled with sufficient care and 

 accuracy to enable an exact comparison to be made, and it is therefore satisfactory to be able, through 

 the courtesy of Mr. Philip Foster, M.P., of Canwell Hall, Sutton Coldfield, to set out the tabulated figures 

 which have been compiled by his staff. 



Canwell may be described as a typical country estate, the house containing thirty-seven bedrooms, 

 six reception-rooms, with stabling, garage and farms adjoining. Until 1905 the light and power were 

 obtained from private gasworks, the gas being used everywhere except in the drawing-room. Power 



was derived from gas engines for both 

 pumping and farm machinery, the 

 gas consumed being charged to the 

 tenants at the ascertained cost of 

 production. In 1905 an electric plant 

 was installed, consisting of two 

 engines, each of 30 h.p., with suction- 

 gas producers and two dynamos, 

 also an accumulator capable of main 

 taining for nine hours all the lights 

 that are likely to be in simultaneous 

 use, besides supplying current for 

 pumping, sawing and other purposes, 

 at times when the engines are not 

 running. The dynamos are constructed 

 so that the whole or either half of the 

 batten 1 connected to the three-wire 

 system can be charged from either 

 machine. 



The engine-house is erected on 

 the site of the old gasworks, the old 

 buildings being used for producer- 

 room, coal store and accumulator- 

 room, and the water supply for the 

 engines is obtained from rain and 

 surface water collected in the old gas 

 holder, which is used as a storage 

 tank, the water being pumped electri 

 cally. One of the illustrations shows 

 the interior of the engine-house, and 

 the main switchboard at which the 

 different circuits are controlled and 

 the consumption recorded. There is 

 also a room for the producers or 

 suction-gas plant, this apparatus, like 

 the engine, being duplicated, and 



136. GAS PRODUCER PLANT. 



137. IN THE POWER-HOUSE. 



