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Coal furnace thermostat. Was: Programmable or standard thermostat ?
QUESTION:BTW I realize I don't know how a coal furnace works or how it might
work with a thermostat.
ANSWER: /mumble/ years ago I grew up in a house with a manual load coal central
furnace. I was too young to load it, but remember dreading the saturday
morning chore of cleaning out the ash pit and disposing of the ashes.
Ours had a thermostat that opened/closed the draft door below the fire
box and at the same time closed/opened a door on the flue pipe leading
to the chimney to control the air flow to the fire. Dad would
bank(several corn scoop shovels full) the furnace with big chunks of
coal in the morning and at night and the furnace would fire away. If the
house got cold the thermostat called for heat, the draft door would be
opened mechanically by means of a small elect. motor and a chain and
pulley set-up and the flue door would close via the same mechanics and
the fire would flair up heating the house more. IIRC,if the electricity
went out, the doors could be operated manually to keep heat going as
desired.
The heat ducts were big (12"?) round and each room had it's own register
which could be dampered if desired. The furnace was dirty and noisey
when being loaded, but I don't remember ever being cold.
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