Take Valentine’s Day To Learn About Heating Things Up
Things are heating up as it gets closer to Valentine’s Day. Not only is it the most romantic day, but it also happens to fall in the middle of winter. Heating technology didn’t just develop by chance. It took centuries of people looking for a better way to stay warm through the winter months.
This Valentine’s Day, skip the speed dating event. Take a moment to learn more about the technology that keeps us warm throughout the rest of the year.
How Did Central Heating Develop?
Modern stoves and fireplaces have very low-efficiency ratings, somewhere in the range of 5-15%. That means that 85-95% of the heat they produce goes right up the chimney and isn’t used to warm the people in a home. If that’s the case with modern equivalents, it’s easy to see why people that used open flames to heat their homes for millennia sought a better way.
One of the first problems early civilizations struggled with was the ability to heat the population. Deforestation became a problem because of the substantial heating demands placed on the area surrounding cities. The Romans were one of the earliest examples in the archeological record of developing central heating systems.
The Roman heating system was an ingenious way of heating their baths for their upper class. Baths were built on a false floor that was about two feet higher than the surrounding grade. The walls had hollow bricks embedded that acted as chimneys to the fire that was kindled in an opening at one end under the raised floor. As heat traveled under the floor and up the bricks in the wall, both the floors and walls were heated.
What Was the First Modern Heating System?
After the Roman invention, society struggled to find better ways to heat their buildings. Slightly more efficient stoves were built, and the discovery of fossil fuels like coal and oil helped ease the burden on forests. Once fossil fuels were realized for their full potential, engineers found better ways to transport heat.
Franz San-Galli was one of the inventors that revolutionized heating. In the mid-1800s, it was discovered that heat could be transported more efficiently by heating water or turning it into steam. When San-Galli patented his radiator, it allowed people to heat their homes more efficiently and precisely.
Who Invented the Thermostat?
The technology that would become the thermostat was invented by Andrew Ure long before it was used to control equipment. A thermostat consists of two different metals that are fused together. When heated, their shape distorts.
The first thermostats were used as visual indicators to household servants to vent more heat to various rooms in the house from the furnace. They were “automated” when some people chose to control their furnaces from different floors through the use of wires and cables. The thermostat had its heyday once the first electrical heating and cooling systems became available, and it has been useful ever since. Thermostats have even progressed to be able to help homeowners reduce their energy usage with respect to heating!
About Skovron Mechanical Services LLC
Skovron Mechanical Services LLC gives excellent attention to its customers in Manchester. Their highly qualified technicians are ready to provide quick help at any time. Honest and upfront pricing prevents surprises once their work is done. Contact them to learn more about heating services in Manchester, NH!
