FEBnuABY 13. 1908 THc Wccfcly Florfsts' Review^ 



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73 



Self Balancing' Ventilators 



t A.RASMUSSEN 



NEW ALBANY, IN D. 



fireenhoose Heating. 



GAS FOR FUEL. 



One of your subscribers desires to 

 know whether trials with gas heating 

 have ever been made in the east or any- 

 where else, and what the results were. 

 I mean, of course, gas employed in place 

 of coal, or any other kind of fuel. I 

 would also like to know whether gas 

 would be injurious to the plants, if the 

 door were left open from the boiler-room 

 into the propagating house, as I am ac- 

 customed to do now, with a coal fire. 



E.F. 



I do not now recall any work which 

 could be called experimentation in the 

 use of gas for greenhouse heating. On 

 the contrary, I know that gas has been 

 used as a substitute for coal in heating 

 greenhouses. For fifteen, years, at least, 

 the greenhouses of the West Virginia Ex- 

 periment Station have been heated by 

 the use of gas as a substitute for coal. 

 It is convenient, reliable and requires no 

 night fireman when equipped with auto- 

 matic regulators. Unless gas escapes 

 from the pipes into the houses, it can do 

 no injury to the plants. There is less 

 danger of gas escaping into the houses 

 from good gas burners than from a coal 

 fire. In fact, I have used an open gas 

 fire to heat a current of air in a flue 

 which discharged directly into the green- 

 house, with no ill eflfects to the plants. 

 This, of course, means that there was 

 perfect combustion in the burner, which 

 is easily secured if a good mixer is used 

 on the burner. The blue flame of the 

 Bunsen burner is what you should aim 

 to secure in a gas heater. L. C. C. 



TYPE OF BOILER. 



I am in the market for a steam boiler 

 to heat my plant and wish to be economi- 

 cal in fuel. I am at a loss to know what 

 boiler to put in, as there are so many 

 on the market, so I wish some practical 

 person, who knows by experience, would 

 kindly answer the following questions: 

 What size of steam boiler do I need to 

 heat 20,000 square feet of glass expo- 

 sure, or 3,670 square feet of wall ex- 

 posure, or 150,000 cubic feet of space? 

 The average temperature required is 60 

 degrees at zero, or 50 degrees at 20 de- 

 grees below zero. Is a cast-iron boiler 

 preferable to a steel boiler for economy 

 of fuel and durability? Is there any 

 advantage in a boiler that has the fire 

 box surrounded by water, as compared 

 with one that has the water only over the 



vo. aoo. 



Improved 

 Recording 



THERMOMETER 



Just 



the Thing 



for Your 



Greenhouse. 



SEND FOR PRICES. 



Parker Mfg. Go. 



Clifton and Shirley Sts., 



BOSTON, MASS. 



Mention The Rerlew whcB jom wrtta. 



firef Which of the two boilers would be 

 the better, a steel return tubular fire box 

 or a steel horizontal tubular set in brick f 



P. M. O. 



According to the figures given, a fifty 

 horse-power steam boiler should be suf- 

 ficient to do the work. The Scotch ma- 

 rine type of boiler is one of the most 

 economical types constructed. The water 

 jacket about the fire box is economical 

 of fuel, but the diflference in the first 

 cost and the life of boilers usually 

 throws the choice to the brick set return 

 tube type. For ordinary heating and 

 steam generation this type is very siatis- 

 factory. L. C. C. 



DIFFERENCE IN RADIATION. 



In the Review of January 23, in an- 

 swer to A. H. D., you say that a boiler 

 of certain dimensions will heat five 

 houses 20x100 if used with hot water, 

 or seven houses of the same size if used 

 with steam. "What I want to know is 

 this: Are the two extra houses pure 

 gain, or will A. H. D. be able to burn 

 more coal on the same grate? W. B. 



The difference is that it takes more 

 radiation with hot water to accomplish 

 given results than with steam. In other 

 words,- the amount of radiation carried 

 in the two cases is practically the same, 



KENNETH ANDERSON MFG. GO. 



Jobbers of 



Biers Full Weight Wrought Iron Pipe 

 "S?g"{».-8 VALVES AND FITTIHBS 



HOSE, RUBBER GOODS 



ENGINEERS* SUPPLIES AND 

 SPECIALTIES 



88, 85 and 87 East Atveater Street 



Detroit, Mich. 



Tel. Mich. Main 5498 Night Call, North 2590 



but with steam the eflBciency of the 

 radiation is increased about twenty per 

 cent; hence the difference in the number 

 of houses that can be carried. As it re- 

 quires more heat units to heat water to 

 212 degrees than to 180 degrees, it will 

 take more fuel to run the seven houses 

 on a steam basis than the five houses on 

 a hot water basis, but probably not as 

 much as would be indicated by the* dif- 

 ference in the amount of work done. 



L. C. C. 



ROOF-HEATING OF GLASSHOUSES, 



On visiting many of the large market 

 growers near London, England, says a 



