0 VJR N A ^ 
*&: SUBU_ RB AN 4jVo 
Vm.. LXVIII No. 4015 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 9, 1909. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
HEATING THE FARMHOUSE. 
Steam Compared With Other Systems. 
Till 1 ' HOUSE.—Wo heat our house with low 
pressure steam. The house was *1 uii 11 in 1900; (lie 
sheathing is not matched, but is covered with paper, 
and the sides are shingled It is nearly square, 
39x41 feet; contains ll rooms and lower and upper 
hall, the upper hall running the whole length of the 
house. The kitchen stove heats the kitchen, also 
the hath room, the hot water tank being located there. 
Every room is piped and a pipe carried to the attic, 
and we have radiators in all the rooms hut one 
chamber, .300 feet of steam radiation, equal to .310 
feet of hot water. We have had no trouble in 
keeping warm although some da.\ ■ the thermometer 
with us registered below zero all day, with strong 
winds. Our heater is satisfactory in every respect. 
'I'll E 11(31I.KR is No. 3 F; 24 inch grate, jacketed first 
with sheet iron against 
which the flames draw, 
(as they draw around 
both sides of the water 
tubes) then an asbestos 
and lastly a galvanized 
iron jacket. After the 
boiler gets down to real 
work yon can bear your 
hand anywhere on the 
jacket or smoke-pipe 
without discomfort. The 
top of the boiler is cov¬ 
ered with asbestos; the 
piping (which is also 
covered) is the single 
pipe system. A two-inch 
pipe starts from the 
boiler, which is in the 
middle of the cellar; 
iiscs as high as possible, 
runs to the wall, then 
across the corner to the 
side Wil'd; follows the 
wall about 1.3 feet, then 
back towards the boilin', 
.and when opposite enters 
it, There are but a few 
feet over 100 feet of 
piping in the cellar; as 
the pipe passes around 
the cellar "tees" are put 
in and a pipe carried up • 
through the floor where 
the radiators are wanted 
and the condensation 
flows hack in the same 
pipe to the boiler. One-half of the cellar has no 
pipes in it and it keeps vegetables well. 
COS r. By reference to my receipts, 1 find that 
the expense for material bought was $27.3.(30. I put 
the apparatus in, and were ! looking for a job would 
be glad to put in another just like it for $:.\3. The 
expense of running no doubt most people will think 
is large, because they do not realize the difference 
between a house thoroughly heated and one or two 
""mis boated; that the dirt and bother of earing for 
itting room and chamber stoves is all done away 
with, all done in the cellar where the coal bin is 
bandy and the ash pile can lie till Spring. We have 
bad all the heat we wanted in any part of the house 
night or day, and as near as I can judge we burn 
six tons of Cumberland coal and four tons of un- 
fhracitc screenings (that cost per ton), from the 
lust of November till the first of May. 
C ()M PARI SON.—As to the three systems of 
house.warming, I know that you will find sincere 
persons who are certain that each system is best. 
I believe that each has its merits, and when properly 
installed under the right conditions will give satis¬ 
faction. Not air has the advantage of being the 
cheapest; it costs about half or little more to install 
than a steam boiler. It has another advantage; if 
the air used in the heating lluus is taken from out 
doors it is an excellent method of ventilation. It 
is better adapted to small houses than large ones. 
Steam is my hobby, yet I recognize that in com¬ 
parison with hot water it has some disadvantages. 
You must carry a water line in the boiler and keep 
all surfaces exposed to the fire covered with water. 
We put in water once in six weeks, and have no 
trouble. In turning on steam, the air escaping from 
the radiator will make a noise, but this is no more 
disagreeable than the ticking of a clock. The ad¬ 
vantages are that it is about 20 per cent cheaper to 
install; it is easier managed and under better control. 
The radiators are smaller; my boiler is rated for 
53ft feet radiation using steam; Hl)0 feet radiation 
using water. Radiators cost 2.3 cents per square 
foot; also more piping is required. There is an 
automatic arrangement worked by the pressure of 
the boiler that opens and shuts the draft, and by 
means of a lever and sliding weight can be set to 
carry from one to sis pounds of steam; it blows off 
at seven pounds. Starting with cold water you can 
heat a room or house quicker, although you get no 
heat milil the water is hot enough to make steam. 
The beat is under better control; by turning a valve 
you can stop or bring it to your room almost in¬ 
stantly; it is adapted to buildings of any size. 
Hot water is noiseless, and it lias an advantage 
in Full and Spring, when you want u little beat, 
as the water begins to move as soon as you build a 
lire. The system requires more care in installing, 
or some of the radiators will not take the hot water. 
The valves are made so they do not shut close, and 
the circulation, though slight, is enough to keep 
them from freezing in unused rooms, but I am 
personally acquainted with otic case, where a radiator 
did freeze and burst in an unused room. Hot water 
is better adapted to small than large buildings, l i 
either system it is poor economy to buy a beater 
that has to he run at its full rating to do your work. 
I’lie draft should be good and the grate large enough 
to hold and burn coal enough so that the fire will 
not have to he disturbed more than three times in 
21 hours. It is expensive to be obliged to renew a 
lire before it is properly spent. The coal is shaken 
through tile grate and is lost, .when if let alone if 
will burn. As an inducement to sell the plumber is 
apt to recommend the smallest heater that will do 
the work when driven to its full capacity, and when 
the cold wave comes it is found wanting. After 
the plumber has given the size needed nine cases 
out of ten it would he good policy to take the next 
larger size, and in the 
years to come the extra 
expense would he re¬ 
turned mnny times in a 
three-fold manner, sav 
ing of fuel, saving at¬ 
tention and comforts en¬ 
joyed. fi. e. <;. 
Rockingham Co., N. IT. 
The Advantage of Hot 
Water. 
My experience with 
hot water heating com¬ 
menced in’ Isttti. I have 
never found a belter 
method of heating a 
farmhouse. My father 
bought this farm in 
ISItp. This house, which 
was built in is is. was 
extensively repaired, the 
old chimney taken out. 
etc., I(’• years ago. We 
have never used over 
six tons of coal during 
any season. We usually 
start a lire in the healer 
early in November, and 
keep it up late in the 
Spring, until about May 
I or even later. 1 wou'il 
not advise buying a 
second hand boiler, as l 
believe the first wear of 
any article to be the 
best. We have six radi¬ 
ators, four of them quite large. The largest, in the 
hall downstairs, also warms the hall upstairs, The 
radiators in the living rooms are just where we 
need them, We use them to dry the children's shoes 
and stockings, rubber boots and other articles. If 
the radiators are hot nothing is scorched or set on 
lire. The heater is partitioned off from the rest of 
the cellar where vegetables are stored. This partition 
is made of hoards. In extreme cold weather we. 
leave the doors of the heater room open. The pipes 
in the cellar are not covered. They help to keep the 
floors in the living rooms warm and it makes hut 
little difference with the temperature of the bottom 
of the cellar where potatoes, etc., arc kept. \s we 
do not have running water in our farm buildings, 
the water for the boiler, etc., is taken to the attic 
and put into the expansion tank. This takes nearly 
too gallons. W'e usually draw olT the water in the 
Fall ami put in fresh. While this may not he 
necessary we believe it best to do so. My heater 
A STEAM HEATED DININU ROOM. Ft.;. 490. 
