Now homes with a coal fired boiler in the basement could deliver hot water or steam to radiators in every room. Without electricity and fans to move air, these early furnaces transported heat by natural convection (warm heated air rising) through ducts from the basement furnace to the rooms above.Īround the same time, the invention of low cost cast iron radiators would change home heating. In 1885 the first riveted-steel coal furnace was built. Prior to 1885 the majority of homes in America were heated with wood burning brick fireplaces and derivatives (pot belly stoves) of the cast iron Franklin Stove invented in 1742. It was not until 1885 that the nation would burn more coal than wood. Today several ducts can branch off one duct. The reason this furnace is called an Octopus Furnace is because of the duct-work.Įach heating vent has it’s own duct that attaches directly to the furnace giving the furnace the look of an octopus. Just blasts of very hot air naturally rising through the ducts. There was no fan to force the air on this model. A gravity furnace heats the air and the hot air slowly rises through a duct system as hot air always rises. The octopus furnace was a coal burning gravity hot air type. In 1941 however, a brand new American Standard/Sunbeam coal burning Octopus Furnace was installed to provide central heating. It’s most likely that the kitchen stove heated part of the house and the rest remained unheated. My house was built in 1910 but unfortunately I do not have a 1910 furnace. More rare to find a vintage furnace! This is the stuff your guests will remember and talk about to others. It’s rare you see a kitchen that matches the period of the house. Vintage Parlors are nice but they’re a dime a dozen. Do you have a vintage house? Does it still have an old coal burning Octopus Furnace?
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