Re: Orlando probably has the best climate in the world...

the Omrud <usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

> Evan Kirshenbaum spake thusly:
>
>> Matthew Huntbach <mmh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

>> > Another pondian difference? I don't think BrE would use the word
>> > "furnace" for a domestic heating device. It suggests something
>> > more substantial, perhaps part of some heavy industrial plant.
>>
>> The thing that makes the air hot for a house's central heating
>> system has always (and, to my recollection, only) been called a
>> "furnace" in my US experience. What is it in the UK?
>
> I'm sure we've done this. It's called a "boiler". A furnace is
> something you'd find in the basement of a block of flats, or in a
> school, and there's a sort of undercurrent of meaning that you would
> be able to see a naked flame, as though it were burning wood or coal.

Basement (or in case of states that tend not to have basements,
garage): check. Naked flame (when looking inside, at least): check.

>> Note that this is only for a device that heats air to be fed, via
>> duct, to the entire house. Devices that heat individual rooms
>> would be "radiators" or "space heaters" (possibly other things)
>> depending on their design.
>
> Now you've changed the rules. I have no idea of the name of the
> thing which heats the air directly in a hot-air central heating
> system. They are so rare over here in private homes I don't think
> I've ever seen one.

I'd be surprised if they weren't the norm in the US, at least for
houses less than about fifty years old. I've only lived in one house
that had a different method (radiant heat under the floors) and it
dated back probably to the thirties. My mom grew up in an apartment
that had in-room radiators off a central boiler system. My dad grew
up in a house with, I believe, hot-air central heating.

> The vast majority of UK houses use gas central heating.

I'd say that ours did, too. We just use the gas to heat air rather
than water.

> Mains gas is burned in a gas boiler to heat water which is pumped
> through pipes to radiators in every room (and also through the hot
> water tank).

We have a separate water heater[1] (also gas-burning) for heating
water. I don't know whether older houses that have the type of
water-based heat you describe use it to heat hot water for taps as
well.

[1] Aka "hot water heater". Yes, we've done that one.

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
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http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ | P.J. O'Rourke


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