Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.
If our community has helped you, please consider making a contribution to support this website. Thanks!

Miracle Iron Holland Furnace

Natalie28
Natalie28 Member Posts: 1
in THE MAIN WALL

I recently purchased a home built in 1910, which has a fully functional Miracle Iron furnace in it. I hear they are rare and people are interested in them. If you would like more information or photos please let me know

Grallert

Comments

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 18,050

    @Natalie28 , how about some pics?

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 11,266
    edited September 6

    The Holland furnace company founded in Holland Michigan in 1906, made a decent product, but the unethical sales tactics landed the owner, P.T. Cheff, in jail.  A great success story until the founders died and the next generation took over and drove the company into bankruptcy. I remember stories of the salesmen in dress fire department uniforms, knocking on the door to offer a "free fire inspection" of the home. After recommending a few easy to do fire safety ideas, they would take a look at the furnace and ask "How can you feel safe sleeping in this house with this time bomb burning coal in your basement?" Then his partner, an other Holland Furnace representative, would sell a new, over priced, furnace on the time payment plan.

    Once the job was done, the laws of the day were such that the customer had no recourse and needed to make all the payments. That is the main reason there is a three day right to recision statement in every contract that is signed in the consumers home today. Siding, windows, all kinds of home improvements were using the same kind of tactics and the federal government needed to crack down on this practice.

    Holland Furnace went out of business in 1966.

    I have removed my fair share of old Holland furnaces, and other brands like it in my time.

    Screenshot 2025-09-05 at 9.53.24 PM.png

    We used to call them Octopus furnaces.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 18,828

    @EdTheHeaterMan I remember growing up that Holland Furnace had a bad rap (maybe deserved) in my area

    In your pic the return drop looks newer than the rest of the ductwork. It probably was converted from taking outside air in for the return.

    The only good thing about the octopus was they kept the basement nice and warm

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 11,266

    @EBEBRATT-Ed The returns, as a rule, were not insulated with Asbestos, so they looked better because they did not hold on the the dust as much as the supply runs did.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 14,602

    Looks like they painted the returns and the furnace jacket up to the bonnet with silver paint. looks like the returns have asbestos tape on the joints even thought they are just open to the basement anyhow.

  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 6,581

    it is a classic

    Value

    $0

    costs more for asbestos removal and then the weight then it’s worth!

    mattmia2
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,498
    edited September 6

    I have seen a few of the gravity flows like that.

    One notable system had return air tunnels under the basement floor and the furnace set over a plenum pit. The returns were on the outside walls under windows (as was common until the 60's even with forced air). They were ducted down under the floor with wooden boxes. This saved a lot of head room in the basement.

    Some shallow basements had a pit for the beast so there would be adequate slope for the supplies. There was an after market blower assembly most often added on to the top.

    The inside wall supplies with ornate sloping registers made for excellent return air grills whenever the furnace was updated. I would then cut in floor registers around the perimeter of the house for supplies.

  • PC7060
    PC7060 Member Posts: 1,748
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1864160#Comment_1864160

    @JUGHNE - We had one of the large gravity hot air monsters in the 1880’s Victorian where I grew up in Nebraska. Always wondered why that room was 2’ lower than rest of basement. Now I know. 🙃

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 18,828

    I saw a few of those where a blower was added but it was always on the return. Those furnace and the ductwork took up so much space the basements were almost unusable

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 14,602
    edited September 8

    One of the stores here in ann arbor was heated with a gravity furnace that had the blower in the bonnet, it had a huge sheave on the blower on top of the bonnet with a motor mounted to the side and a really long belt, it was a standard L series belt. It had a honeywell fan control that looked to be from the late 40's to early 50's. I don't remember what conversion burner was on it other than it was a gas atmospheric. It might have been a bryant.

  • Grallert
    Grallert Member Posts: 999
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/202031/miracle-iron-holland-furnace

    Yes Please

    Miss Hall's School service mechanic, greenhouse manager, teacher, dog walker and designated driver

Categories