It’s a Boiler, not a Furnace!

The Gas Breathing Dragons were serviced in October - A yearly committment

The cellar of the Dayton House is home to two gas breathing dragons; Dunkirk1 and Dunkirk2.  These are gas boilers and are the source of heat for the lower and upper floors, respectively.  People often refer to the permanently installed major heat providing appliance of a home as a “furnace,” but there is a difference between a furnace and a boiler.  A boiler differs from a furnace in that a boiler supplies heat via intermediary fluid movement – water or steam through a radiator.  In the case of the Dunkirks, they are residential gas boilers that feed water through a number of beautiful radiators throughout the house. 

Unlike a boiler, a furnace distributes heat through a blower.  To make it simple; Boiler = Water, Furnace = Air.  In a conventional boiler, fuel is burned and the hot gases produced are passed through a heat exchanger where much of their heat is transferred to water, thus raising the water's temperature.  This is highly effective form of heating and is ideal for allergy suffers as dust and mold are not blown through the house every time the heat kicks in.

These old-style boilers are not to everyone’s taste; however once you live with them you come to appreciate them as a steady type of heat that is attractive not only to humans, but small furry four-legged animals who like to curl up on or next to them for warmth.  They are easy to service and require a yearly check-up and a periodic twist of a key to let excess air out of each radiator.  We keep a collection of keys, which we’ll pass on to future caretakers.  The radiators work best when they are periodically bled of air.

While technology has made advancements and improvements on this form of heating, the standard form of hot water boilers are still in use in the Dayton House.  New high efficiency condensing boilers are now becoming popular in Europe but have not taken on wide-spread use in the US.  This is likely because their high prices don’t offer a very attractive return on investment as compared to the standard boiler like the Dunkirks in the cellar.  Dunkirk does make high efficiency condenser-type boilers and they, like their standard-style counterparts are well-made and dependable, with one of the best warranties in the business.  But at this point, it’s moot – the two gas breathing dragons in the basement are young and have many years of life ahead of them.

One note in regard to the two previous dragons that met the end of their days in the cellar; boilers use to be completely made of cast iron.  They were heavy.  It took two large men and a lot of effort to remove their carcasses for disposal.  The bottom two steps of the cellar were completely destroyed in the effort of transporting the old gas-breathers to their final resting place.  Anyone who has and old house that might still have an ancient cast-iron boiler needs to be advised; when you get a replacement, make sure installation includes removal of the old monster.  It’s not a job you want to do yourself!