The Gentle Art of Central Heating

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 146, 10 September 1927, Page 26 (Supplement)

The Gentle Art of Central Heating

“Deliverance From Dust and Ashes and Spring Cleaning”...

(Written for the S UN by

H. KIRK

we are told, [((•SiofiEvl stole fire from heaven, VWf and in punishment for his indiscretion, was bound on Mount Caucasus for 2gßz'A'R§B£J ten thousand years, a vulmr'' ' T< ture being stationed by to torture him by preying daily upon his liver, which grew again during the night while the vulture slept. If the offended Jupiter, to quote Gilbert and Sullivan, “made the punishment fit the crime,” one realises how fire was valued by the gods, and we humans are equally appreciative of the gift at its worth. But because his return was hasty, or because, perhaps, he had never worn domestic shackles, Prometheus failed to bring with him the method of dealing with the attendant ills of his prize —smoke, dust, dirt and ashes. For many years the heating of the home without these disabilities has been a matter of great consideration. At this season of the year, the most fresh-air-loving of us spend, willy-nilly, a great deal of our time indoors, and it is now, we find the weak points of our homes, and enjoy the comforts. At night. My Lord occupies most of the hearth-rug, stokes the fire liberally, and grunts with content. I, in my modest little corner, manage to keep thawed, and we both shiver with dread when the time comes to retire to chilly bedrooms. Having shaken up the cushions and pushed the chairs into place, I regard the dying fire with distaste, remembering that in the toosoon morning I shall have, on bended

knees, to perform a long operation on that fireplace, there being no Gwendoline Ann “below stairs.” And so I have sought deliverance from dust and ashes, spring-cleaning, and chimneysweeps. I desire to rise with vim on the frostiest morning and to lose that horror of the cold bathroom. If I could wake, feeling there was in the house the temperature of a mild spring day, how easily I would greet the morn, knowing there would be no need to apply Coue-ism at the cold tub till I fall in from exhaustion. When I shiver and complain, I am advised by the Older Generation to wear more clothes, warm woollens. “You are nearly naked, child.” But having escaped from Jaegerism and found the delight and comfort of fuij and crepe de chine, why revert to the prehistoric age. No, not thus is the problem solved. But, sisters, gather round and hearken unto me, while I tell you that my quest is ended—having sought, I have found. Like Ulysses, I travelled far across strange seas before my search was rewarded, and the magic word, the Open Sesame, was revealed to me. Hear me, then—comfort, convenience, warmth, all without labour, are embodied in the mysterious and wonderful w-ords—“Central Heating.” I once stayed at a country boardinghouse—the usual homely place, where more than life-size enlargements of the dear departed adorned the walls of the sittingroom, and the furniture consisted of antiques—mostly horse-hair sofas and chairs. But the fireplace was of noble proportions and the fuel supplied was in like degree. Being of the cat species, E basked, but to my "surprise a fell-lodger, a Russian of great stature, left the room to reappear with his overcoat on, explaining that while his front roasted, his back froze. He told me how, in his country, the stove stood in the centre of the room, and fortunate -ones lay above the top to sleep.

This is central heating of a kind, but I shall describe the more modern style. It is installed in the basement of a bungalow which is built on a sec-* tion that slopes away from the north. The house consists of two bedrooms, a living-room, a sun porch, a kitchenette and a bathroom. The rooms are handsomely supplied with spacious windows from which the views are ma: nificent. This afternoon was wintry, with frequent cold south-west showers, but the whole o? the house was beautifully warm. There was no crouching over a fire, nor any selfish edging toward the electric radiator when the attention of the others was withdrawn. In a short time I was glad to discard my fur and our hostess was clad in a georgette frock. Afternoon tea was served in the sun porch, and though the windows wen closed, one could imagine spring wa with us, the spacious porch being so warm, and hanging baskets of fern, and flowering pot plants around, added to the illusion. The heat rose from the basement through gratings in each room, and there were no unsightly steam-pipes in evidence. The basement extended under practically the while house and had a. concrete floor, while toward one end was the central heating plant, a large furnace, capable of digesting anything fed to it. It d'-d not despise all the scraps and rubbish from the house, though its principal diet consisted of a og ot wood at intervals, supplemented by coke. The furnace is kept alight all day. and at night the fire is banked, so that early rising has no terrors lo the owners; in summer it is shut of. hut still serves the useful purpose oi a destructor.

At one end of the basement were tubs, and, joy of joys, clothes 1 nes.I thought of my poor sheets which flapped on the lines in the yard for three successive days and were then wetter, probably, than when they k the wringer. In this delightful laOß* dry one could almost become fond o washing. Near at nand was an iron ing table and a board, provided '*i an electric iron. A portion of t space was occupied by a table, but even a billiards table n*not scorn to be so comfortably house • My first real experience of cen ra heating was in Vancouver. A broiling for a week through * Tropics, we ran into cold, wet wea - which continued till we landed, 8 ering and unhappy. But on arn at the huge hotel, we were cornio - by the warmth that we found in the rooms and even in the l° ng s 3 ridors, so that home did not see far away. .. Q Central heating is a necess«America, and one finds ah -g theatres, and public buildings and comfortable Wiether leged semi-tropical climate is ing, or whether so many * ra ' * ’ abroad appreciate these conv® ll or whether, perhaps, it is *“ e the age for comfort, I cannot -• (or there is beginning to be a del t it here, and lam told that a trC has already been U ken out fo* rea jm central heating. When fay comes true, and I build bJ* Beautiful, it may have a firep ~ ’ jj t y haps—for appearance —tut no n exclusive radiators. It will c sfla f stead, central heating, and 1 my fingers at frost and rain-