HEATING THOSE BUNGALOWS EARLY-ON

[berwynson]

Ours was a great old brick house, with a "coal-bin" in the basement, accessed from the outside through a hinged basement window along the side-drive. Somehow mysteriously, my Dad did a calculation which told my Mother how much coal to order the next day- typically around 14 tons. This was delivered by a gigantic, ancient dump truck, painted green, which said, "O'keefe Bros. Coal Co.". These trucks were definitley something to see; they had a giant chain visible from the side which ran to the rear wheels, and drove the truck like a bicycle chain would propel a bike! They had the emblem Mack Trucks on them.

Invariably, the truck had a passenger, a black man, who, after the load was dumped in a giant pile in the street along the curb, unhooked a big wheelbarrow after which the truck left, the laborer staying behind to haul by hand the coal, one barrowful at a time, to the bin window, through which it was dumped into the basement. They delivered early, before 8:00AM, and by 1:00PM, if the weather wasn't too hot, that poor guy had transferred the pile to the basement. Often, he came to the back door, asking for a drink of water.

The heating boiler, original from when the house was built, cracked and started leaking water. My Dad called a guy who owned "Mitchell Welding", who welded the crack, but unsuccessfully; after one more winter, a guy from Stickney, Frank Smuda (FS Plumbing & Heating), put in a brand-new Kewaunee boiler, and we started burning oil instead of coal, the oil-burner being replaced by natural gas after a couple of seasons- that's how long it took to get the permitting required- natural gas was not yet available in huge quantities.

As an aside to this not-too-useful but nostalgic bungalow info, the coal stoker which fed the fuel into the old boiler had a manufacturer's label reading "Buffalo Springfield Corp". If the reader here is old enough to recall it, a big "protest" song hit, "For What It's Worth", was performed by, believe it or not, a group calling itself "Buffalo Springfield"!  Berwynson

[Bonster]

When we purchased our home it still had the original central air/ gravity heat system, commonly referred to as an "octopus," complete with the 12" asbestos wrapped ducts.  The thing was a monster sitting in the middle of the basement, with hot flue pipes running across the basement to the chimney, low hung ductwork, 22" return.  It passed inspection, but many folks fear these old monsters and don't want to pay for asbestos removal ( I did it myself).

On it was a coal to gas conversion kit, and a ¼" water line run to a drip pan at the bottom, serving as natural humidifier.  You can still see the area of the wall in the basement where the coal was delivered.  They left the manual for that conversion kit with it, very cool!

When I pulled the system apart I was shocked it had passed inspection; the heat exchanger cement was crumbling terribly.
As much basement space as I gained, I do sort of miss that silent giant.  In its belly a bonfire raged, and the house would quietly warm from the inside walls out.