John P. Seddon

“ Another important point is that the flue be not too large, or currents of cold air descending will interfere with the ascending heated air. In old buildings flues are found of large size—as 18 in. by 12 in.—with wide throats, funnel-shaped, diminishing upward. But the fuel used in them was wood, and abundant, and men were more hardy, and minded not the roaring of wind in the chimney, or cowered over the embers within the vast embrasure of the fireplace, which formed an inner room of itself. ”

“ At the risk, therefore, of some waste, their scanty fuel must be consumed in the most primitive manner possible. With somewhat less force the same caution may be given to those who design apparatus for the upper classes. Every thing even for them should be as self-acting as possible, for, though individuals may for a time take a fancy to an ingenious arrangement that requires personal adjustment, they tire of it in time; servants in their succession are not to be drilled into its use, and the thing is soon left to itself, and failure is the inevitable result. ”

“ The evil may be disguised, but the poison is the more insidious from being comparatively unfelt. The lungs of the living animals, as the leather of dead ones on the book-shelves, become corroded alike by its pernicious influence. ”

“ It is as barbarous to allow the fumes from gas to invade rooms, as it is to let the door be the sole outlet for peat-smoke in an Irish cabin, or as it was to provide only louvers in the roofs of the halls of our forefathers for the smoke of their wood-fires. ”

“ Such evils are to be obviated by simple means, and yet ninety-nine out of every hundred Englishmen submit to them supinely if not patiently. Whole streets, occupied by men of means, have their skyline fringed with demon-like excrescences which tell a sure tale of internal discomfort. ”

“ So much depends upon the proper construction of fireplaces and their flues, without which no appliance in the shape of a grate can have fair play, that I shall in the first place describe the points to be attended to in the erection of these portions of a building, and in palliating evils in those which already exist.
The first essential to insure a good draught is that the flue should be sufficiently rarefied. ”

“ Our British privilege, however, of being able to poke the fire, although purchased dearly by its concomitant dust and the labor it entails upon servants, is not likely soon to be relinquished, and the luxury of an open fire is a fact which no theory can demolish. ”

“ In stoves, the heat from fuel can be almost wholly extracted and utilized, and even the little that escapes with the gaseous products of combustion is heavily taxed when its ultimate exit is by the few insignificant pipes, or diminutive chimney-stalks, which alone are suffered to peep above the roofs of houses on the Continent. ”

“ In the race to attain economy, it must be acknowledged, at the outset, that close stoves completely distance open grates, and that they in their turn are as far ahead of all gas-apparatus as at present invented ”

“ In fact, infusing heated air is a more economical and pleasanter mode of warming houses than direct radiation, and it is only by their capability of combining the two methods that open fires can maintain ascendency over stoves, and it is only by uniting proper ventilation with stoves that they ought to be tolerated. ”

“ Materials which absorb damp should be avoided for the construction, as they tend to the evaporation and loss of the heat generated; and the interior of the flue should be well pargetted, to further prevent the suction of external cold by the up-draught within. ”

“ If there be a damper to be drawn, or a handle to be turned by them, neither will be drawn nor turned except occasionally the wrong way, and if there be any cover or part that is loose, it is safe to be lost. ”

“ The use of pipes for the lining of flues has the advantage of compelling a good and non-porous finish, which would otherwise be neglected by careless workmen, who often will not take the trouble to properly parget and core the flues in stone and brick walls. ”

“ Lastly, all appliances should be simple and as self-acting as possible. This is essential for those intended for the use of the poor, whose treatment of them is of the roughest, and who neither need nor understand any thing complicated. ”

“ English ideas of comfort will not, however, permit of the general introduction of the stove system into this country, and it is hardly to be desired that it should, unless great improvement be grafted upon that in vogue abroad, in which stuffiness is ever an accompaniment of warmth. ”

“ We must needs then have the same goodly logs as fuel, and a supply which will enable us to afford the blaze that alone would suffice to rarefy a cavern. The ordinary coal-fires of our apartments do not need a larger flue than a pipe of 9 in. ”