You might just want to thank the ancient Romans the next time you come in from the cold.
As you sit warm inside your home thanks to your properly maintained heating system, you may pause to reflect on the vast accomplishments in heating technology that created that comfortable environment. Heating systems have come a long way from the earliest days of building a fire in a cave, and probably date back a lot farther than you might expect.
As long ago as the days of the ancient Greeks there has been some form of indoor central heating systems, but — according to the gurus of knowledge at Wikipedia — it was the Romans who really became the superior heating engineers of their world thanks to their hypocast system of conducting furnace-heated air underneath the floors and from out of pipes installed in their walls.
Cistercian monks of 13th century Europe improved on the Romans‘ system, creating indoor wood-fired furnaces. Central heating continued to grow in popularity — and necessity — during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, as buildings grew in size and there was a need for economical ways to maintain the warmth inside, Encyclopedia Britannica reports.
In the early 1700s, Russian engineers began designing their own hydrologically-based central heating systems, with the summer palace of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg a famed example. By 1716, water was being used in Sweden to warm buildings. In the 1830s, Angier March Perkins created some of the earliest steam-heating systems, and the first was installed at the home of John Horley Palmer, the head of the Bank of England, to enable him to grow grapes in England’s cold climate.
The radiator was invented around 1855 by Russian businessman Franz San Galli, and in the late 1800s, Fayette Brown patented the blast furnace charger. In the early 20th century, American William Baldwin created his version of the radiator using cast iron, bringing the convenience and comfort of central heating to the homes of many Americans.
Heating systems have come a long way since that first fire was lit, and continue to become more and more efficient, economical, and effective. To see the latest state-of-the-art heating equipment on the market today, give Family Danz a call at (518) 427-8685.