A manual of home-making

If the draft trouble proves to be due to leaky connections or to oI>st ructions, it can readily be corrected. If the heater or the chimney is too small, the difficulties may be lasyoned cither by firing more frequently and keeping the fyel-l>ed thinner, or by using larger coal, or fairly uniform size, in order that the air may more easily flow through the fuel-bed. Conven^ly if the draft is very strong, a smaller size of coal may possibly be used to good advantage, lender no circmnstances should the top of the chimney be lower than the highest part of the roof, or a current of air may Ije forced down the chimney and the base- ment be filled with smoke when the wind blows in certain directions. Similar trouble may be experienced if the chimney is not as high as an adjoining building. If thi* bottom of the tush pit is on a level with the floor, or only a shfvrt distance l>elow the grates, £us is orrlinarily the case, ashes cannot l)e allowed to accunmlatc under the grates for more than two days, or possibly more than one day, except in moderat e w^eat her. Brightly tinned hot-air furnace pipes oft^n lose less heat when bare than they do when covered with one or two layers of asbestos papier, since the latter riuliate^s heat so much more readily than the bright tin as more than to balance the insulat- ing effect of the thin asbestos covering. Of course if the pipes were originally black, the covering would lie useful, and if the insulating material were thick enough {^/% inch or more) it would save heat even on bright tin pipes.* SUGGESTIONS FOR FIRING AND CLEANINO A FUBNACE t Suggestions for firing and cleaning a furnace that apply re- gardless of the fuel used may be given as follows: • l\ S, Hur. Stiindards, Cirr. 55. t L. P. Breckenridge and S. B. I'lagg. U. S. Bur. Mines, Tech. Paper 07, I I HEAT AND LIGHT 199 The fire should be attended to regularly, and not left until it has burne<.l low aruj heat is needed throughout, the house. Often the need {*an f)e arititipated and by attention at tlie proper time trouble can be avoiited. la addition, economy of fuel is more likely to lje obtained by fairly uniform rates of burning than by attempting to supply a large amount of heat in a short period and then suddenly cliecking the &re. The size of the coal fired should be as nearly uniform as pos- sible. Using eoal of uneven size prevents an even flow of air through the fuel-bed and increases the tendency of the fire to burn through in spots. One should tr>' to keep the fuel-bed free from air boles, as they cause waste of fuel and may prevent the heater from main- taining the desired temperature. Excessive shaking of the grates should be avoided and thus the amount of coal lost by falling into the ash pit reduced. Ordinarily, the shaking of the grate^s should be stopped as soon as bright particles begin to drop through or, under some conditions, as soon as hght from the fuel-bed l>egins to show in the ash pit.