Heating Museum Help Topics

Here's an interesting cleaning product for coal-fired boilers, circa-1950. Thanks to Michael Keefe Brewer for sharing.

Here is a wonderful explanation of what was involved with caring for a coal-heated home in 1943. (From The New York Times, 1944.)

Here is a report on the grades and size of coal from Spencer Heater's 1917 Steamfitters Handbook.

In the days before central heating life was hard. So hard, in fact, that it’s almost impossible for us to comprehend the difference that central heating made to people’s ...

Here is an interesting brochure from the Anthracite Institute. It is not dated, but was most likely published in the 1930s.

Here is an informative article from 1922 about the cause of creosote in chimney flues that still applies today.

This excerpt about chimney dimensions, design, construction, and troubleshooting is from Spencer Heater's Steamfitters Handbook, published in 1917.

This 1836 report came from the Committee of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts. They were writing at a time when...

From The Manufacturer and Builder magazine, March, 1872. Busting the "explosive electricity" myth.

Boiler explosion reports from Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company's Locomotive magazine. Special thanks to Frank "Steamhead" Wilsey for finding and sca...