Dead Men Tales: Form Follows Function

HeatingHelp

Form Follows Function

Do you ever wonder why the chimneys are on the sides of most buildings? Or why most homes have eight-foot ceilings? In this episode, Dan Holohan explores how purpose shaped design throughout our industry’s history.

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SteamCrazy

Very interesting. Thanks sharing Dan.

Manofsteam

Incredible read, I pretty much have set my eyes on everything Mr. Dan has ever written .
I made a good living based on his teachings.
People would often question why I wasn’t
Piping there boiler like the old one
I laughed to myself

DanHolohan

Thanks for listening, guys! I appreciate you.

HansonG

Great read, Dan. Thanks!

mattman

Our house growing up was built in 1907. It had a boiler the size of a Mack truck for a house of maybe 1800 s.f. The boiler was originally coal (had an iron chute door on the driveway side), then converted to oil, then gas. The house was heated with radiators in a gravity hot water system that had 6" screwed pipe for mains. Talk about some arms on the pipefitter !

Our house had the chimney right up the middle. It had a notch in one corner where the laundry chute was leading from the 2nd floor to the basement.

I think the builders put the chimney on the sides of buildings to save money. That way they only had to pour a footing and build from there, rather than extend the mass of the chimney to the basement floor and below. Also the chimney on the side did not eat up floor space as it was basically attached to the outside wall.

OuterCapeOilguy

As always, a great and instructive read. I used to have occasion to work on steam systems when I lived in St. Louis; living on the outer Cape (as in Cape Cod), I have yet to run into a steam installation; however, I read your posts religiously, Dan, because you just never know…