OCR Text |
Show 1 FIRST-AID to the AILING HOUSE By ROGER B. WHITMAN Roger B. Whitman WNU Features. CIRCULATING TYPE OF HEATER USEFUL FOR SMALL HOUSES ONE of my correspondents is worried wor-ried about the heating of his house in the coming winter. It has only four rooms, with no cellar. The chimney has two flues; one for the kitchen range and the other for a stove in one corner of the living-room. living-room. Last winter, which was his first in the house, the bedroom was cold, and he had one or two freezes in the bathroom. He wants to know if he can do anything that will make the heating more uniform. Under the conditions he could make very good use of what is called a circulating circulat-ing heater. This is a stove with a sheet metal jacket around it, open at the bottom and . with . a grille across the top. It works something like a chimney. Air within the jacket jack-et is heated by the stove, and can escape only through the grills at the top. By the force of its movement, move-ment, it spreads along the ceiling and is carried through open doors to the rooms adjoining. Cooler air that is displaced, sinks to the floor and makes its way to the openings at the bottom of the jacket. The movement move-ment carries the air upward into the jacket where it is reheated. A circulating heater thus keeps the air in motion all through the room in a way that is not possible with a stove of the ordinary type. This idea will not work well in a house with ceilings ceil-ings 15 inches or more above the tops of the door openings, for then the heated air will be trapped, and cannot move freely from room to room. With low ceilings, results should be excellent. When ceilings are high, openings can be cut in the walls as high as possible to permit the circulation of hot air from room to room. Where this is not possible, a small electric fan directed towards the ceiling will keep the heated air in circulation. . . Damaged Linoleum. Q.: Blue linoleum has been dam- aged by an alkaline drain cleaner. How can this be neutralized? A.: The alkali has eaten into the linoleum, which cannot be restored. Get a new piece of linoleum of the same pattern, big enough to cover the spot; lay it over the damaged place with the pattern matching, and cut through both layers with a very sharp knife. Remove the old piece, scrape the floor clean, and inlay the new piece with roofing cement softened by heating. Smears on the surface can be taken off with turpentine. If you cannot get a new piece of the same pattern you can get an ornamental square or panel that will do the trick. Locating a Fuse One of my correspondents writes of having had occasion to replace single electric outlets on his second floor with double outlets. With other families in the house, he could not cut off all of the current in the house by opening the main switch. The alternative was to unscrew the fuses one at a time until he had cut off the circuits on which he was working. As the fuses were not marked, he conceived the idea of connecting his radio to the outlets and turning it on full, so that he could hear it in the cellar. He then loosened the fuses one at a time, until the radio stopped. This was a very neat solution to a common problem. Wall Linoleum. Q.: In changing a pantry into a bathroom I want to finish the plaster plas-ter with linoleum. Should I use floor linoleum or felt base? The wall is painted. Should it have special treatment? Is there danger that the linoleum will let loose or bulge? A.: Wall linoleum is a thin variety vari-ety made for the job and should be applied by a trained linoleum layer. Floor linoleum or felt base will not do. When properly applied, wall linoleum is an excellent finish and can be strongly recommended. Starting a Coal Fire. Before starting a fire in a heater, the ash-pit should be cleaned out: grate bars that are warped or broken should be replaced. The grate bars should be covered with a layer of coal, on which the paper and kindling are laid. When these are well ignited, coal should be put on top. Coal above and below burning burn-ing kindling will ignite quickly. Full draft should be on until the coal if burning brightly. Roots in Sewer. Q.: How can tree roots be prevented pre-vented from growing in a house sewer? A.: Use copper sulphate, also called blue vitriol. Dissolve one-half pound or so in any plumbing fixture and let it drain into the pipe. |