B Y 
What 
Type of Heating? 
Charles K. Farrington 
T HIS is the problem that faces every house builder, and also 
any owner who must replace a worn-out furnace. Each 
of the three forms of heating most used at present, hot water, 
steam and hot air, has its enthusiastic adherents, but there are 
some special cases in which each system appears to have argu¬ 
ments in its favor over the others. 
A man whose business was building houses and then renting 
them told me that he would not use steam or hot water in any of 
them. This was not because he did not 
THE HOT AIR highly value these forms of heat, but he 
FURNACE had found by costly experience that if 
these systems were carelessly or improp¬ 
erly managed (as is too frequently the case in rented houses), 
they would be damaged far beyond that which hot air plants 
would be under similar misuse. Here a certain heat seems best, 
not because it is considered superior, but on account of local con¬ 
ditions ; and in any home where no thought or supervision can be 
given the furnace by the occupants whether they be the owners 
or not, by all means put in a hot air heater, of sufficient size to 
properly heat the house. By this I do not wish to give the im¬ 
pression that there is anything difficult or complicated in the man¬ 
agement of a steam or hot water heater, for this is far from being 
the case, and anyone can easily learn to care for them, but their 
construction is such that if they are misused, they will be much 
more likely to be injured than will a hot air one. For example, 
the writer knows of a hot water furnace which has an automatic 
attachment for opening or closing the draft and damper according 
to the state of the fire. But the occupant of the house (who was 
also the owner) would on cold winter days detach this arrange¬ 
ment and open the draft wide, and also a large door underneath, 
which was only intended to be used for taking out the ashes. This 
he did simply because he desired as much heat as possible in a 
hurry. Such treatment was very injurious to the heating system, 
and warnings had to be given him that a continuance of such 
practices would be likely to prove costly. I have seen steam fur¬ 
naces which were abused in a similar manner, and have known 
fires to be lighted in both steam and hot water heaters with no 
water in the boilers. But where steam and hot water heaters are 
managed with a small amount of care, they are very desirable for 
house heating in the average home. 
It is well to use a hot air heater when a sufficient supply of fresh 
air cannot easily be obtained from outside. This is a strong point 
in favor of the hot air system, as it constantly supplies fresh air 
without bringing the chill of outdoors into the house. 
We will now suppose that a person decides to use either a hot 
water or a steam furnace; what are their good points ? It is pos¬ 
sible to heat a house well with steam no 
STEAM VERSUS matter how cold the weather may be, if 
HOT WATER the heater is large enough, and it will also 
heat up rapidly in the mornings after the 
fire has been cleaned, and the draft and damper adjusted; but a 
steam heater requires more attention than a hot water furnace 
does. I have found from careful observation that it is necessary 
to coal a steam furnace on an average of every two hours when 
heat is needed in cold weather. This is caused by its construc¬ 
tion ; for you cannot obtain steam without draft, and when you 
have the draft opened you must burn coal in large quantities, and 
yet it is not possible to put a large amount on at one time, for if 
you do you will cause the steam pressure to fall; so the only prac¬ 
tical way seems to be to put on coal in moderate amounts at fre¬ 
quent intervals. With a hot water heater, it is possible to put on 
a far greater quantity at one time, and as heat is obtained without 
having so much draft on the fire, it can be coaled every five or six 
hours, even in cold weather. It would be beyond the scope of this 
article to enter into a technical discussion as to why this is, but I 
will give an illustration which can be understood by every house¬ 
wife. When you have a low fire, with all draft closed below in 
your kitchen range, you can still obtain some hot water in the 
boiler. But when you have the draft opened as is usual on ironing 
days, do you not often have to open the hot water faucet in the 
sink to allow the steam which is then generated to pass off? Now 
apply this reasoning to a steam furnace; if you have a low fire 
without the draft being opened in it you will obtain no heat in 
the radiators, in fact you might as well have no fire; and before 
steam can be raised you must have a good fire with plenty of 
draft. As everyone knows, water must be heated to 212 degrees 
before steam can be generated. But in a hot water heater if the 
water is heated to only 80 degrees you will obtain some heat in the 
radiators, and if the system is well designed and sufficiently large, 
140 degrees will heat a house well, even on a cold day. So re¬ 
membering this we simply use a very large heating surface in the 
radiators, and also a heater of large enough capacity always to 
supply them without being forced. 
^40 V 
An important consideration is the size of the radiators. When 
you figure the heating surface of your radiators be sure and have 
them large enough. Do not be afraid of 
RADIATION your being too warm. You can easily 
SURFACE and economically regulate this at the fur¬ 
nace by having a large or small fire as 
required. When you have figured the total heating surface of the 
radiators add twenty-five per cent, for the heating surface of the 
pipes leading to them, and also twenty-five per cent, for a mar¬ 
gin of safety on the side of excess heat. So many people do not 
figure this last item, and so obtain an outfit which will never be 
satisfactory. They may be able to heat the house if the fire is con¬ 
tinually forced, but only by burning a large amount of coal. Let 
me give the following examples: 
Well Designed Heating Plant. Poorly Planned System. 
Heating surface radiators.800 feet.800 feet 
mains. 200 “ .200 “ 
“ Margin of safety excess heat 200 “ none allowed 000 “ 
_ (( _ (( 
1200 “ 1000 “ 
So for the first example a heater supplying 1200 feet would be 
required; but let us suppose that the nearest size made to this was 
1150. Then by all means use the next size above. Always be on 
the safe side as regards excess heat. The slightly additional cost 
of the heater will soon be made up in the coal burned. But so 
many plants are figured according to the second method shown, 
and they are invariably disappointing. It must be remembered 
that in a well designed plant it is planned to heat the house by hav¬ 
ing a large heating surface in the radiators heated by moderately 
hot water. This allows you to have a much smaller fire than 
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