The New York herald., 1921-04-17
How to Let the Furnace Out.

The first thing to do, in the impor-
tant process Of laying up the home
heating plant for the summer, is to
let the fire 60 out. If you can make
the furnace think that 1t is midwinter
and that you are going to be absent all
the evening the fire will die in a few
hours. If, on the contrary. 1t is EVIL
dent to the heater that you want the
coal quickly to turn gray and cold 1t
may be several days before the trick
is done. In warm spring a furnace
fire has more vitality than a rich
granduncle.
Let us assume that in the course of
week the fire condescends to expire.
The next thing Is to remove the ashes.
1t is well known that at the spring
cleaning the firebox, itself only fifteen
inches square, contains 1877 bushels of
ashes. These may be left for the ash
collector or sifted into the heavy soil
Of the garden. Older and more gen.
erous commuters let the ashman have
the honor.
Next, the pipes leading to the rooms
should be looked after. If the plant is
Of the hot air variety nothing need be
removed from the pipes except such
dust, marbles, cigars and jewelry as
have fallen through the registers. The
air itself need not be disturbed, as 1t
will do well enough to warm over
next October. This is also true in the
case of steam systems. 1t is useless to
try to remove cold steam from the
pipes; 1t could not be used in the gar
den anyway.
The owner OF a hot water heating
plant has something substantial in his
pipes gallons and gallons OF fine, -ich
water that ought to be put to some
use. As there is usually hose tap
at the base of the furnace the operator
will find that by buying fifty or n
hundred feet of extra hose he can
drain this water into his garden.
Sometimes when this Is done the
water does not all leak onto the cellar
floor. The hot water system should
be Immediately reflled and left filed
all summer. Always fill with city
water. Those who have tried seltzer
and other lively waters report hear
Ing noises In the expansion tank.
Now the citizen should remove all
the clinkers from the CRATE and the
SCOT and dust from the fues which
surround the frepot. A correspond
encc course in dentistry is great help
in the drawing of obstinate clinkers,
but it Is the gymnast who is most sue
cessful In cleaning fiues. There are
many of these little hiding places, as
the gold medals at expositions are al
ways won by the furnaces which have
the largest number Of fue cleanouts
Some have hinged doors, others quaint
covers the combination Of which
should be learned from the factory
No tools are needed for cleaning the
flues except an electric tsSch, three
sets Of iron curry combs attached to
jointed rods, flexible poker, a whisk
broom, pliers and a gas mask.
Most important is the taking down
of the smokepipc between the furnace
and the chimney. Any heating expert
will tell you this. II you leave the
pipe up its contents turn into some
thing or other and the galvanized
iron has moral breakdown. The
exact process Of taking down the pipe
has never been exactly described. We
doubt whether the twelve persons who
understand the Einstein theory could
come right out and explain how to
take down a furnace smokepipc. You