The Case for Hot-Air Heating 
THE STRONG ARGUMENTS OF HEALTHFULNESS, EFFICIENCY, EASE OF OPERATION, FUEL 
ECONOMY, COST OF MAINTENANCE AND FIRST COST IN FAVOR OF THE HOT 
AIR FURNACE—THE MODERN ADVANCEMENT MADE IN IMPROVING THIS SYSTEM 
BY William F. Colbert, A. B., M. D. 
Editor's Note. — “What heating system shall I use?” is the constant query of the home-builder. To assist in solving his difficulty, House & G.xrden 
has had experts in heating engineering present the advantages of their own favorite types of apparatus. For the first time the whole case of the best 
heating method will be presented to the public as a jury. The last article was on steam heating; its predecessor was on hot water. Another will fol¬ 
low presenting the characteristics and advantages of the indirect system. 
T N this age of hygienic progress, how many people insist on 
provision for automatic ventilation of their houses during 
the winter months, when doors and windows are closed and storm 
doors, storm sash and weather stripping are used to keep out 
the cold winter winds! 
Yet health officers over all this broad land tell us that lack of 
ventilation is the most important cause of the increase in “Bad 
Air Diseases” during the winter months. In fact, pneumonia, 
bronchitis and tuberculosis — “The Bad Air Diseases” — are, gen¬ 
erally speaking, winter dis¬ 
eases. As we spend more 
than half of each twenty-four 
hours in our houses, during 
the winter months, the condi¬ 
tion of the air in our houses 
is the most important factor 
in determining our ability to 
throw off infection by these 
diseases. 
The “Bad Air Diseases” are 
by no means the only ones to 
which lack of ventilation les¬ 
sens our resisting power, but 
the list is too long to discuss 
within the limits of a short 
article. 
The ventilation or lack of 
ventilation of a house is prac- 
tically settled when the sys¬ 
tem of heating to be installed 
in a house is decided on; that 
is, when you select a system 
of heating for your house, you 
unknowingly, but most cer¬ 
tainly, decide what risks you 
are willing to take with your 
own health and the health of 
your family. It would seem 
from this that the selection of 
a heating system for a new 
house is a matter of prime im¬ 
portance and one deserving 
more careful attention than is 
usually devoted to it. It is 
of such importance that the 
system of heating to be in¬ 
stalled in a residence should 
be the first item considered, instead of the last, as is usually the 
case. 
The intelligent selection of a heating system for a building 
requires careful consideration of many factors, such as health¬ 
fulness, heating efficiency, ease of operation, fuel economy, cost 
of maintenance, and first cost. 
If the building is intended for occupation by human beings, as 
a residence, factory, office building, school building, theater. 
church, hall, etc., the item of healthfulness becomes of increas¬ 
ing importance in direct ratio to the number of hours per day 
human beings occupy the building. Our school buildings are 
ventilated as well as heated, according to a stringent legal stand¬ 
ard. Many of our large corporations are placing ventilating sys¬ 
tems in their office and factory buildings in states where ventila¬ 
tion is not required by law. And why? 
Because our school officials discovered long since, that the 
standard of health, regularity of attendance and ability to acquire 
knowledge was much higher 
among pupils in ventilated than 
it was in unventilated buildings. 
Our large corporations find the 
increased efficiency of employ¬ 
ees pays the cost of mainte¬ 
nance of a ventilating system 
plus a handsome dividend on 
the investment; this without 
considering the saving in doc¬ 
tor's and druggist's bills, etc., 
which they do not have to bear. 
In recent years the relative 
humidity of air in heated build¬ 
ings has been the subject of 
lively discussion, but it is now 
accepted as fact that the air in 
artifiqially heated buildings 
should be maintained at ap¬ 
proximately the same percen¬ 
tage of relative humidity as the 
average percentage in the out¬ 
door air. To do this it is neces¬ 
sary to use special air moisten¬ 
ing apparatus. As usual, the 
school and corporation officials 
have been among the first to 
avail themselves of this knowl¬ 
edge. The experience of school 
and corporation officials points 
the way for the man building a 
house for himself and family, 
for he stands to profit by the 
saving in doctor’s and drug¬ 
gist’s bills in addition to the in¬ 
creased working efficiency of 
himself and his family. 
The direct method of heating 
in' which the air in the rooms is directly warmed by heating ap¬ 
paratus within the room, does not include provision for ventila¬ 
tion. The direct steam, vapor and hot-water radiator systems of 
heating are the most common examples of heating by the direct 
method. 
Enlightened opinion of the merit or lack of merit of the direct 
method of heating is well illustrated by the opinions cited 
herewith: 
The simple lines and economy of space of the register put it ahead 
of anything that has been discovered in the making of radiators 
(24) 
