Warming Homes by Water 
By ERNEST C. MOSES 
PART I 
W ATER is generally considered by those who 
deal in warming apparatus and by those 
who have tried several other methods, to 
be the best for warming residences. This method of 
making the modern home comfortable and cleanly is 
commonly termed the “hot water” method, yet the 
part which the 
word “hot” plays 
in this descrip¬ 
tive term can only 
be applied rela¬ 
tively to the char¬ 
acter of the water 
circulation, and 
should not be con¬ 
founded with the 
results felt in 
the use of this 
method. 
The water 
method produces 
such a genial, 
balmy and very 
agreeable condi¬ 
tion of the air 
throughout a 
home that the 
words “warm” 
and “warmth” 
should play a 
more important 
part in designa¬ 
ting the features 
of the method. 
So, while we can 
truthfully state 
that the water 
itself is circulated 
with a very moder¬ 
ate degree of heat, 
the conditions 
produced in the 
air of the home 
can be well de¬ 
scribed by stating that they are genially and agreeably 
warm — just warm enough. 
1 he origin of water warming is veiled in ohscurity. 
To some extent it was utilized in the thermae (or 
public baths) of Pompeii, which in many respects was 
similar to the so-called Turkish baths of the present 
time; there was a bathing apartment called the 
caldarium,” the air of which was partially warmed 
by tbe hot water therein exposed. It is cjuite evident 
from a description by Monnier, the Erench writer on 
ancient structures, that there were also certain ar¬ 
rangements in this room by which a moist warmth 
was exhaled from the walls and ceilings, which were 
said to have been partially hollow. The water was 
heated in twin 
boders located m 
a boiler room in 
the back part of 
tbe building and 
was conveyed 
through conduits 
to the apartments 
for bathing and 
for warming 
purposes. 
Among the in- 
teresting house¬ 
hold apparatus 
exhumed at Pom¬ 
peii a large water 
heating brazier 
made of bronze 
was found, and 
is now exhibited 
in the British 
Museum. It is 
equipped with 
lids and draw-off 
cocks and was 
evidently oper¬ 
ated with the 
use of charcoal. 
This water heater 
was undoubtedly 
placed in the 
triclinium 
(dining-room) of 
some palatial 
Pompeian home, 
in which it was 
probably used to 
assist in warming 
the dinner party and minister to various other uses 
of the apartments. 
In more modern times the first successful trial of 
which we have any record was made by Sir Walter 
Triewald, a Swede, who lived at Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne in England and who in 1716 described a method 
of warming greenhouses by hot water. Later in the 
same century, about 1777, the method was employed 
Figure A—Showing the principle of liot water circulation through one 
radiator only, and the expansion tank in the attic 
61 
