so 
House 
& Garden 
HEATING WITH ARTIFICIAL GAS 
Steam, Hot Water, Vapor, Warm Air or Any Combination of Systems Can Be Used with 
Gas to Generate the Heat—Labor and Dirt Will Be Eliminated 
W. LAMBERT 
I F gas is used for heating the house the an¬ 
noyance of handling coal and ashes, the 
uncertainty of insufficient heat at any time 
and the problem of retaining domestic help to 
care for the furnace are eliminated. Instead, 
early in the fall the pilot of the gas boiler or 
the gas furnace is lighted and from then on, 
all winter long, any desired temperature is 
maintained automatically without any further 
care or attention other than to turn out the 
pilot late in the spring when heating is no 
longer required. 
Thermostat Control 
The luxury of having a dependable heat 
supply almost instantly available without ever 
descending the cellar steps to turn down the 
gas burners is afforded by thermostats which 
cost but a few dollars, and which may be 
placed wherever they are most convenient: in 
the hall, in the living room or in bedrooms if 
desired. By means of a clock attachment heat 
is turned on or off to any desired degree at 
any time. Thus, if it is desired to maintain 
a temperature of 70° during the day from 6 
a. m. to 11 p. m. and 50° for the remainder 
of the time the clock-thermostat is set accord¬ 
ingly. Automatically at the time set the gas 
supply is curtailed or increased as the case 
may be and the heat is turned off or on ac¬ 
cordingly. Thus, an added feature comes with 
the use of artificial gas: no more fuel need be 
burned than is absolutely needed. 
Steam heating, hot water heating, vapor 
heating, vapor vacuum heating, warm air heat¬ 
ing or any combination of them may be used 
with gas. If any of the foregoing heating sys¬ 
tems is already installed, all that is neces¬ 
sary is to substitute a gas 
boiler or gas furnace for 
the coal boiler or coal fur¬ 
nace. Gas burners are 
made which can be put 
into coal boilers or fur¬ 
naces, but as they are very 
wasteful of gas, it is an 
expensive error to install 
them. 
When the present price 
of coal, the cost of kin¬ 
dling wood and the cost of 
hiring a man to attend to 
the furnace are added to¬ 
gether, it will be found as 
a general thing that the 
cost of gas is from five to 
twenty-five per cent great¬ 
er. In some cases, as will 
be explained later, heating 
with gas may cost the 
same as heating with coal; 
and under some circum¬ 
stances, it may, and often 
does, cost less. 
Despite the various rul¬ 
ings of the state regulatory 
commissions, on an aver¬ 
age the most common arti¬ 
ficial gas supplied in the 
United States has a heat¬ 
ing value of 550 or 600 
British thermal units. This has an important 
bearing on the cost of gas for heating, because 
the higher the heating value of the gas the less 
will be required, and vice versa. 
Taking the two values given, from tests car¬ 
ried over a term of years, it has been found 
that with 550 B. t. u. gas, 32,000 cu. ft. of gas 
equals a ton of ordinary anthracite coal; with 
600 B. t. u. gas, 29,333 cu. ft. of gas equals 
a ton of anthracite coal. These figures are 
considered liberal; and under some circum¬ 
stances it has been found that 20,000 cu. ft. 
of gas will give the same amount of useful 
heat as a ton of coal. 
Translating these terms into dollars and 
cents, the following comparative costs of coal 
and gas are found: 
If 550 B. t. u. gas is supplied and gas is 
sold for 
50 cents per 1,000 cu. ft. it will equal coal 
at $11.40 per ton. 
75 cents per 1,000 cu. ft. it will equal coal 
at $16.80 per ton. 
$1.00 per 1,000 cu. ft. it will equal coal at 
$22.40 per ton. 
If 600 B. t. u. gas is supplied and gas is 
sold for 
50 cents per 1,000 cu. ft. it will equal coal 
at $10.28 per ton. 
75 cents per 1,000 cu. ft. it will equal coal 
at $15.44 per ton. 
$1.00 per 1,000 cu. ft. it will equal coal at 
$20.56 per ton. 
Most household consumers who use gas for 
cooking, for water heating and for other pur¬ 
poses probably do not know that most large 
gas companies, and very often small ones, sell 
gas at lower rates to large consumers. This is 
done to promote the use of gas for manufactur¬ 
ing; but any one using gas for house heating 
would properly come within the category of a- 
large user and should secure the lower rate. 
Such a rate would bring the cost of heating 
the house with gas almost on a par with coal. 
Such rates are known often as sliding scale 
rates, secondary rates, block rates or Doherty 
three-part rates or special rates; and it is well 
to make inquiry at local gas company offices 
whether such rates are in effect before install¬ 
ing gas for house heating. 
The cost of heating a four-story city residence 
in Baltimore, to quote one example, was about 
$466 for the entire season. In Baltimore gas 
is sold at reduced rates for house heating, 
which are fast becoming popular elsewhere. 
Another, a large suburban residence, was 
heated with gas for the entire season at a cost 
of about $305.50. In St. Louis where reduced 
rates are afforded through the block system, 
an elaborate house was heated at a cost of 
$318.03 for the entire season. 
Gas and Coal Rates 
Often at regular rates gas may be cheaper 
than coal. Thus in New York City gas is sold 
for 80 cents per 1,000 cu. ft. On Forty- 
seventh Street there is a private dwelling of 
seventeen rooms. During 1917-1918 it was 
heated with coal; and during 1918-1919 it was 
heated with gas. Cost figures were kept and 
they compare as follows: 
Coal 
15 tons coal (present price $12 per 
ton) . $180.00 
Furnace attendance, 7 months at $10 
per month . .. 
Kindling wood, 
cord at $22 
per cord. 
70.00 
5.50 
$255.50 
Gas 
299,300 cu. ft. of 
gas w T ere con¬ 
sumed during 
the entire sea¬ 
son at a cost of 
80 cents per 
1,000 cu. ft. or 
a total cost of. .$239.44 
Any system of heating — steam, hot water, vapor vacuum or warm air—may be used 
with gas. In the first three, a boiler is used. The illustration shows a tubular gas 
boiler installed adjacent to the coal boiler which it displaced 
$239.44 
Gas of a high heating 
value is supplied in New 
York City and the house is 
well sheltered so that the 
heat loss is relatively 
small. For this reason the 
same results could proba¬ 
bly not be duplicated else¬ 
where. But even under 
less favorable circum¬ 
stances the cost should 
not be more than 25 per 
cent greater, figuring in 
the actual cost of furnace 
attendance and kindling 
wood. 
