The Irish standard., 1902-02-22
ECONOMY OF FUEL.
Some Point. to he Observed in order
to Reduce the Coal Bill to
Minimum.

Since fuel is one of the important
items of living, in the winter, second
only to food, it is important that one
should learn how to obtain the great
est amount of service from the least
amount of fuel.
OF first Importance is the range;
very large one is not economical for
the family of moderate size, as the
fireboX consumes too much fuel.
Those fitted with three-piece CRATES,
which let down ashes and clinkers
without disturbing the fire bed, are
best; with this CRATE one is able to
keep the continuous fire which has
several advantages over the every
morning fre-the hot water tank is
always hot, decided advantage in
case of illness; much less labor, dust
and ashes. 1t is much easier to give
the triple CRATE a turn or two with
the shaker, open the drafts and add a
sprinkling of coal, than to clear out
the old fire and build new one.
The continuous fire saves fuel. 1t
sounds rather absurd, admit, but a
personal test of the every-morning
fire and the continuous fire has re-
suited long ago in the adoption of the
latter, says the New York Observer.
In the first place, the expense of
kindling is done away with; one need
have wood on hand only for emergen-
cies, when carelessness requires that
the fire be patched up, or when the
stove needs to be polished; again,
it saves coal. A new fire requires a
good amount of coal to give it sufi-
Gent body; only one-third this
amount is needed to renew the old
one each morning; no more is need
ed to quicken the fire for the more
active work of cooking the midday
and evening meals than for the new
fire, which leaves two-thirds the
amount used in the morning for new
fire to bank the old fire for the
night; this is not all needed, so there
is some gain each day in coal.
Another item concerns those
troublesome cinders which rapidly ac-
cumulate with the new fire, as
it is impossible to burn the coal out
entirely. The sitting and picking
over of these is such unpleasant work
that many make no attempt to save
and use them again. The continuous
fire burns the coal clean, and the
waste is consigned to the ashbarrel
with an easy conscience. Briefly, the
continuous fire saves labor, dirt, the
cost of kindlings, and small amount
of coal, about one ton to five or six
used, and it may be plumbers bill,
for pipes will not freeze if the kitch-
en- is always at u comfortable temper
allure.
But" says some one, ''can you bake
just as well with the continuous fire ?"
Exactly as wells the triple crate makes
it possible to quicken the fire in very
brief space of time when necessary.
From veteran coal dealer I have
gathered the following: Do not trust
only hard coal to careless servants who
fail to comprehend that drafts and
hampers have so much to do in regu-
lating the oven as fuel. Avoid mixed
coal, especially in heaters; the smaller
pieces fill in chinks made by the larger
ones, which hastens melting and elm
kering. Do not let the fire get ahead
of you; it not only wastes coal, but
warps the top OF the stove, burns out
the CRATES and makes clinkers, and in
removing the clinkers one has to re-
move good coal at the same time-that
is, with the ordinary one-piece crate.
To keep up steady heat, feed the
firebox of the heater by halves; when
covering the fire entirely with fresh
coal the hot air or steam is deadened
until the coal burns to certain de-
gree; by covering only one-half at a
time the remaining one-half is still
glowing and the rooms do not cool
down noticeably.
Never allow ashes in ashbox to &C.
cumulate until they touch the CRATE;
it shortens the life of CRATE and lining.
Do not blame the coal man when the
stove or heater is. clogged with fine
ashes and SCOT or iron dust, and do not
expect his coal to heat up all out-of-
doors. Bedroom windows do not need
to be kept wide open all day for flush
ing the room; the drafts of cold air
down the register are sure to affect
the fire.