CHAPTER XIV.
FIRING: STOVES, RANGES, AND ECONOMICAL MANAGEMENT OF FUEL.
91. The fuel used for cooking our food and warming our dwellings is usually coal or coke; in some parts wood or peat is employed, and occasionally coal gas.
92. The heat produced during the burning of fuel is given out when the carbon of the fuel unites with the oxygen of the air, and carbonic acid gas is pro-duced, as it is by the breathing of men and animals. This poisonous gas usually passes up the chimney with some unburned carbon which forms the smoke.
When charcoal is burnt, the carbonic acid is pro-duced without smoke, and therefore it is often used in stoves without chimneys, and the carbonic acid escap-ing into rooms is frequently the cause of fatal accidents. All stoves without flues or chimneys to carry off the carbonic acid are dangerous, and many persons have been poisoned by their having been used.
93. The heat produced by the burning of any kind of fuel makes it rapidly in and around the fire much lighter, and it rises rapidly over the fire, usually passing up the chimney. More than nine-tenths (9/10) of the heat of a common grate passes up the chimney in this manner, and is wasted. If the grate is constructed of thick solid metal, this conducts away a large quantity of the heat so that it is impossible to keep in a very small fire in an iron range, whereas a mere handful of fuel can be kept alight in a grate lined with fire brick or fire-clay which does not cool the burning fuel in the same manner metal does. Part of the heat produced is thrown out by the fire, and passes into the room. In ordinary grates the amount of heat passing off in this manner is very much lessened by the thick bars which are frequently placed in the front of the grate.
94. Ordinary fire-grates are most extravagant modes of using fuel, and are not employed by the people of any other nation. Not only is a good deal of the heat carried away up the chimney, and by the con-ducting power of the iron, but the shape of the grate and the bars also prevents much being thrown out into the room.
95. An ordinary grate may, however, be made more economical. If it be lined with bricks, tiles, or fire-clay, and the open bars underneath be closed, either by fire-clay or a piece of tin plate, the air will have to enter in front where the fire will be brightest, and no heat will be thrown down into the ash pit.
96. Cooking ranges with an oven on one side are very useful in a small family. If well constructed they will bake bread, meat, and pies or puddings very perfectly.
Even when there is a low fire the oven can be used for stewing, and slow cooking can be done on the top much better than over a common fire.
A boiler by the side is not so important as an oven. Boilers are liable to get filled with the deposit or rock from the water; and if they are of cast iron, they are apt to crack.
As an example of a good cheap open range, the following may be taken;
prevent the heat passing away where it is not required, a good sized oven with the door to let down in front, and a boiler. Grates of this kind are now made by many manufacturers, and are sold at a low price.
97. Cooking stoves are much more convenient and economical in use than ranges. They are used by almost all persons in America, and are now very largely employed in this country. A very good pattern is shown in the engraving. It has an open fire which can be used for broiling and toasting. This fire is quite under control, and can be raised or lowered in a few minutes by opening or closing the doors so as to cause a strong current of air to pass through the burning fuel or over it as required. The size shown will bake a joint as large as a leg of mutton, or two tins of bread admirably.
The cooking vessels can be put down on the fire or placed on the hot iron top, and shifted so as to receive as much heat as required.
The stove can also be used as a hot plate for