San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-12-06
HEATING THE HOUSE.
A Large Furnace just as Economical as
Small One.

Large Furnace Just as Economical as q.
Small One.
Heating the house, if one has a fur
mace, is by many persons considered
very great problem. Just why this is.
so it is easy to understand. In the
first place, the care of the. furnace is
usually left to man or maid. The
former looks at it once or twice in the
course of the day; the latter hates it,
and therefore takes no interest in it
Then the householder complains that
the furnace is no good, and forthwith
denounces this system of heating as
unreliable and unsatisfactory.
In putting in a furnace, the one
thing of prime Importance is to see
that it is large enough. A thirty
eight furnace is none too large for
six or eight room house. If of this
size, it is safer, more easily managed,
more economical and works far better
than smaller one. Many people
think it is a much greater consumer of
coal, but this is not true, if the furn-
ace is properly managed. 1t is out of
the question to maintain a good
degree of heat in cold weather with
out the use of fair amount of fuel,
and it is much better to burn a fur
mace with moderate degree of draft
and good supply of coal rather than
have small firepot that needs con-
slant crowding and refilling and have
the rise and fall of temperature Incl
dent upon putting on fresh coal when
the fire is low and turning on the
drafts to heat up again, a process al
ways attended with an extra consump-
tion of fuel.
A furnace with large firepot needs
filling but twice in the day, morning
and night The CRATES should be thor
oughly cleared out and the ashes
removed. Special care should be taken
that there are no clinkers or Stag to
fill up the CRATE bars, and thereby
shut off the current of air that is
indispensable to the proper burning
of the coal. The best furnaces
have large pipe draft so arranged
that there is but little draft from
below, but circulatory current that,
after the gas is well consumed, keeps
the fire at steady pitch for hours.
When furnace fire is built it should
be done with an abundance of wood.
There is no economy in using little
kindling. The coal falls upon the
CRATE all around, is not consumed, and
shuts off the draft as soon as it be-
comes covered with ashes, which takes
but little while. 1t is almost impos-
sible to grind this unused coal up with
the ordinary shaker, and there it re-
mains. holding the ashes and clinkers
and making a first-class, bright, eff
fective fire out of the question, until
the whole thing is turned out, and often
the coal must be cleaned out by
hand. If sufficient amount of wood
is put in to fill the bottom of the pot,
then the coal put on in proper guam.
titles until the fire is well under way,
there will scarcely be scrap of I'M
burned coal left. Additions to the fire
should be made, one or two shovelfuls
at time, until the requisite amount
is put in. Once started, it will burn
for a week or more without any
trouble. A great many householders
think it wise and economical to turn
out the fire once in a week or two,
clear the CRATES thoroughly and start
in fresh. Furnaces conducted on this
system are thought to work more sat
isfactorily and to keep much more
even heat
To heat up house quickly, especial
ly after the rooms have been cold for
some hours, is is necessary to have the
Joare oman ca that thara ann ha o;,-
culation of air. A current of hot air
pouring into room against a stagnant
body of cold air has hard work to warm
the atmosphere thoroughly. If all of
the doors are opened, and one window
on an upper floor is down at the top
for about an inch, a lively current is
established, and the house will be
warmer, more comfortable and more
healthful than if the doors were kept
closed.
For between seasons, when it is still
too early to heat up furnace, and yet
there is certain amount of warmth
required, the oil stove and the gas
stove are of great value. A very good
oil stove may be bought for four or
five dollars. But these stoves are tre-
mendous consumers of oil, and cost
more to run than an ordinary stove.
As compensation, there is neither
dirt not work, save the filling of the
lamp; and that they are a great COM
fort in rooms where there is no pro-
vision for heat is attested by thousands
of peopk who have used them.-N Y.
Ledger.