Central Heating in Ancient Greece
The idea of warm and cold has been around forever. There was always a desire to stay warm as that is how you preserve life and stay healthy. Due to this, Ancient Greeks took the time to analyse what was the most comfortable way to manage heat and ensure they stayed warm as a whole. This includes using central hearths in their setups. The hearts would go right in the middle of the home to keep everyone warm. The walls would offer insulations and ensure the heat was retained properly. For the smoke, they had to find a way to keep it out of the enclosed space. To do this, they would cut a hole in the home similar to a chimney that would push the smoke out. It was during the 13th century when a short flue was set up for a more controlled option when funnelling smoke out of the home.
The chimney’s design continued to be improved as time went on with the hearts becoming optimised. This is when Louis Saviour came into the picture as a noteworthy French architect. He took the idea and created what is known as a fireplace. The system would use the cool air in the room and push it under the hearth while offering access to warm air from the fire through a grate. It was in the 17th century when the fireplace started taking on the shape that it does now. A lot of work has gone into fireplaces and each innovation has made it a more refined heat source.
Radiant Heating
Radiant heating was the idea of heated walls or floors. This is not a new concept even though heated flooring has been around for a long time. The idea was to have flooring that was warm to the touch including the walls too. The radiant heating systems were built using stone floors. The pillars would have a fire set up at the end making it possible to warm under the flooring.
There was a chamber set up to manage the smoke being created by the fire. This meant the fire would get pushed under the floor and out a hole rather than filling the room with smoke everywhere. The goal was to make the most of radiant heating without compromising the rest of the house. Romans were particular about this and preferred having a setup such as this one for the colder months of the year. If you are looking for electric radiators then see here.
At the time, it was not common for all Romans to have such a setup. It was only those with a lot of money that would use radiant heating. The systems they had set up included hypocaust systems even though they were not as efficient. Radiant heating fizzled out as the empire fell including examples of how the heating worked as it was innovated. Over time, the concept came up again in Poland with its own twist.
Comfort Heating Systems
Heating has all been about survival regardless of how it’s set up. This includes radiators, modern furnaces, boilers, heating systems, and hearths to name a few. This also involves comfort heating systems for transportation in the form of heated seats these days. Just pressing a button can warm you up in seconds. This is the progress that has been made across the board. In recent years, heating has further improved with the help of technology in comparison to traditional hearths that were set up during the previous centuries. This is a change that has also incorporated the use of thermostats to change the temperature.
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