What Is the History of the Modern Furnace?

Blog, Furnace, Heating, HVAC, OH, Ohio, Wilmington, Winter

In life, we have to adapt to the things we cannot change, the weather being one of them. For basic survival, people have been dependent on warmth, especially in the harshest climates. This crucial skill needed for survival is anything but new information. Our predecessors have a plethora of documented findings demonstrating brilliant strategies to keep safe and warm. Further, they have revised and widened technology usage to reinforce their techniques for remaining warm. Humans don’t need to utilize rocks to produce fire, and for that, the modern-day furnace is greatly appreciated! Still, your heating and cooling specialists at Wilmington Heating & Cooling would like you to know the channels society navigated through to reach the means of the modern furnace, which households still depend on currently.

The Radiator, Who Did That? 

The location is Rome, Itay. The Italians have just created the hypocaust. You may be asking, “What’s a hypocaust?” Well, I have the answer. A hypocaust is an empty area located just below the grounds of ancient buildings, which would push out hot air to heat a bath or an established compartment. Pretty cool, huh?

Nonetheless, Franz San Galli had a more inventive inkling and composed the radiator. Shuffle forward thirty years, Dave Lennox adopted Galli’s innovative technology and constructed a household heating system that operated cast-iron radiators comprised of scorching coal. These heating systems could be kept in the basement since heat rises. These radiators completed the job of keeping homeowners comfortable and warm, especially in that day and age!

Electric Heat, Who Established That?

Electric heat was unveiled in 1882. As crucial as this was in 1905 an American metallurgist named Albert Marsh, constituted that numerous metal varieties contained chrome in its configuration. This spotting guided Marsh to pursue a more effective heating element than ever understood in the past. This fresh find enabled currents of electricity to permeate through his heating unit, which recycled heat into electricity. Marsh’s preliminary idea has remained reasonably comparable, though technology has advanced over time. With that said, Albert Marsh is better remembered as “The Father of Electric Heating” today.

The Central Heating System, Who Created That? 

Did you know a female patented the first central heating system? When Alice Parker speculated in 1919 that natural gas was a more sensible, mathematical, and profitable fuel source than what was being used popularly at the given time. She was seriously onto something! She is commemorated as “The Mother of Modern Heating” during Black History Month. Her rational setup contains one heat source, generally cured in the middle of the home. Additionally, it includes a multi-burner component that would replenish heat in one’s surroundings through the pipes and air ducts.

Widespread Forced Air, When WasThat Established? 

Parker’s invention marked the path for the forced-air system to be authenticated in 1935. It drove heat from the furnace through the home by transiting the ventilation system, allowing areas to heat by a singular source. Frustrating enough, gravity was not a positive factor for this system. Warm air replicated by a furnace would encircle the home and ultimately withdraw back into the furnace to get frequently heated. Undoubtedly this threw energy out the window! Also, a gravity-fed system required giant ducts, arising an overwhelming amount of ductwork to inhabit basements. This system was a down-right waste of power, time, and, more devastatingly, money.

The Modern-Day Furnace, What Makes That Extraordinary?

Motor fans prospered as a practical antidote for the ineffective way gravity-fed furnaces heated dwellings. These devoted motor fans allowed warm air to fill the atmosphere and permeate through thinner ducts. Presently, heated air is sifted and dissipated evenly throughout the habitats we call home, pulling your monthly energy bills down to an appreciative price. What great news for our environment and our pockets! 

To put it frankly, the ability to reside in warmth while temperatures are most unbearable has grown and modernized over time, ceasing in what we now proclaim the “Modern Furnace.” Plus, there is recordable proof of just how far humans progressed while respecting the technology we can today perfect to make our lives a little more enjoyable. To this day, our technology makes comfort easily obtainable while softening our minds with the wisdom that we can access heat with the straightforward touch of a button or using an app conveniently found on our smartphones. If you sincerely desire to one-up your present household heating style, call Wilmington Heating & Cooling today at (937) 764-3575, or schedule an appointment online now by clicking here! Your family will thank you!

We hope we succeeded in educating you a tad more about your residential heating and where it’s evolved from so that you find solace in the confidence for where it’s all headed. We eagerly await the inescapable in what’s to come for the residential heating and cooling world!

Call Wilmington Heating & Cooling

(937) 764-3575

Recent Blog Posts: