60 
House & Garden 
IN THE REGENCY OF KING COAL 
Oil, Gas Steam and Gas Offer Three Excellent 
Substitutes for Coal Heating 
ETHEL R. PEYSER 
i. 
3 - 
We 
T HE coal shortage is 
here, and, as usual, the 
cloud has shown its silver 
lining. There are other 
things to burn than coal. 
But this article is not going 
to consider other combusti¬ 
ble or warming substances, 
rather coal substitutes, and 
for this reason we will 
stress: 
Oil burning heaters 
(a) The kind that 
atomizes oil un¬ 
der the boiler 
( b ) Portable oil 
heaters or stoves 
Gas steam 
Gas 
will not touch the 
convenient radiant electric 
heater because it is only 
good for small spaces and 
the bathroom, and it is not 
really a coal substitute. 
Furthermore at present 
the electric house heating 
plant is too costly, even 
where electricity is cheap¬ 
est, to recommend it as a 
dwelling house fuel. But 
there is a “ gude time commin’” when 
electricity will make a magnificent debut as 
a house warming party. 
If you have a boiler, keep it, take off its 
door, divest it of its grate, and slip into that 
emptiness the oil burning apparatus, and 
from that time on your home will be heated 
by oil, not coal. Whether it be a steam, 
vacuum, or hot water furnace, this change 
can be made, and ever after you will be 
spared the ashes curse, coal dust, the furnace 
man, the excessive cost of coal and the cum¬ 
bersome coal bin. 
Have you used a perfume atomizer? You 
know how the particles are sprayed through 
the nozzle. The same is done to oil so that 
each particle of oil can be entirely burned 
up with no residues, odors, dangers and 
waste. 
To do this in the home 
formerly presented a great 
problem. To do it in ships 
and factories was easy, a 
heavy oil rich in fuel value 
could be used, as it could be 
preheated and then forced 
through the burner under 
pressure. But preheating oil 
in the home necessitated the 
constant valeting of the ma¬ 
chinery, so finally the domes¬ 
tic oil heater was evolved and 
This type of oil burner runs independent of 
electricity and other mechanical aids. 
From the Petroleum Heat & Power Co. 
Gas created heat is radiated 
from this type of burner. The 
Ohio Slate & Stow Mfg. Co. 
An electrically driven pump 
sprays the oil in this type of 
heater. Courtesy of the Cornell 
Vtililies Co. 
is among us now in a few re¬ 
liable and tested types. 
Most domestic oil heaters 
use kerosene oil, or an oil 
not heavy enough to require 
preheating is forced through 
to the atomizing burner. 
In the main the equip¬ 
ment is: a buried storage 
oil tank, pipe lines to and 
from tank in cellar which 
feeds the heater by gravity, 
an electric motor, a pump, 
fan, electric or gas pilot 
light for igniting oil and a 
thermostat near the operat¬ 
ing motor and also located 
in convenient part of house 
to regulate the heat auto¬ 
matically. The thermostatic 
control keeps the house 
evenly, turns off the “fire” 
when the house is warm 
and starts it when the 
rooms get cold. 
In another type of oil 
heater, instead of a motor 
is used hydraulic, or water, 
pressure to force oil and air 
through the burner. This 
obviates the rare contin¬ 
gency of electric disability for any cause 
whatever, though remote in non-electrical 
storm seasons. 
If the machinery is kept in condition the 
oil that is burned should depart from the 
chimney in a simple haze and not as smoke. 
Oil steadily flows from the wells to the 
consumer by the most highly developed 
and powerful organizations known in mod¬ 
ern commerce. The tank wagon is your 
benefactor. It is best to use kerosene burn¬ 
ers as kerosene has greater delivering fleets. 
Costs depend on your vicinity, but it will, 
in every case, be cheaper than coal. 
Anthracite coal usually gives off about 
ii,ooo heat units per pound; one gallon of 
kerosene 136,000 units per gallon. Thus 162 
gallons will be equivalent to 2,000 pounds 
or a ton of coal. Of course, 
these things vary according 
to oil quality, coal quality 
and boiler efficiency. 
The cost of oil burned 
under the usual and same 
conditions as coal shows that 
the amount of oil required 
to produce the same heat 
effect as a ton of coal, costs 
from seven to ten dollars. 
Also the coal industry is 
constantly in throes of con¬ 
flict. Uncertainty of quality, 
