Your Old Radiator Is a Pandemic-Fighting Weapon

[babylonsister]

Your Old Radiator Is a Pandemic-Fighting Weapon
Turn-of-the-century faith in ventilation to combat disease pushed engineers to design steam heating systems that still overheat apartments today.
Patrick Sisson
August 5, 2020, 4:28 PM EDT
Age and inexpert maintenance have given century-old radiators a bad reputation. But when first installed, steam heating systems represented a powerful tool to fight infectious disease.

Photographer: Orlando/Hulton Archive via Getty Images


The coronavirus pandemic has revived interest in the role design has played fighting infectious diseases. Most famously, the trailblazing modern architecture of the early 20th century — open to nature and filled with light and air, as practiced by designers such as Alvar Aalto and Richard Neutra — reflected au courant ideas about health and wellness, especially in combating the scourge of tuberculosis (which also influenced bathroom design).

The battle against pathogens reshaped the inner working of buildings, too. Take that familiar annoyance for New Yorkers: the clanky radiator that overheats apartments even on the coldest days of the year. It turns out that the prodigious output of steam-heated buildings is the direct result of theories of infection control that were enlisted in the battle against the great global pandemic of 1918 and 1919.

The Spanish Influenza, which caused just over 20,000 deaths in New York City alone, “changed heating once and for all.” That’s according to Dan Holohan, a retired writer, consultant, and researcher with extensive knowledge of heating systems and steam heating. (Among his many tomes on the topic: The Lost Art of Steam Heating, from 1992.) Most radiator systems appeared in major American cities like New York City in the first third of the 20th century. This golden age of steam heat didn’t merely coincide with that pandemic: Beliefs about how to fight airborne illness influenced the design of heating systems, and created a persistent pain point for those who’ve cohabitated with a cranky old radiator.

Health officials thought (correctly) that fresh air would ward off airborne diseases; then as now, cities rushed to move activities outdoors, from schools to courtrooms. When winter came, the need for fresh air didn’t abate. According to Holohan’s research, the Board of Health in New York City ordered that windows should remain open to provide ventilation, even in cold weather. In response, engineers began devising heating systems with this extreme use case in mind. Steam heating and radiators were designed to heat buildings on the coldest day of the year with all the windows open. Anybody who’s thrown their windows open in January, when their apartment is stifling, is, in an odd way, replicating what engineers hoped would happen a century ago.

Leeds claimed that the “spent breath” of the occupants of poorly ventilated homes contributed to 40% of the deaths in the country.

more...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/the-curious-history-of-steam-heat-and-pandemics

[hlthe2b]

1. Not to mention the source of "white noise" for those able to tune them out.

But, the humidity added during the dry winter conditions was likewise a benefit.

[Hugin]

2. Toasty!

I was just pondering this situation over in LBN.

[milestogo]

3. I remember burning my butt in the bathroom on one of those.

[Hortensis]

4. Really interesting. Of course in those days many more multigenerational

and extended families and friends lived together, both in one apartment and in separate apartments in the same buildings. And birth rates were higher. Don't know about energy costs except that some would be struggling to pay them normally, a complication that had to be well known to those designing to prevent another infectious holocaust.

Reminds me, though, that I have some househunters shows recorded that I haven't seen or deleted yet, and families will be requiring an "en suite" for each child.

[PCIntern]

5. Thank you for this fascinating article.

K and r

[GulfCoast66]

6. Living most of my life in Louisiana and Florida I'm not real familiar with these things.

I’ve seen them in Europe and even had to turn it on in Iceland.

We rarely turn on the heat here. Of course this is the time of year when many Floridians spend time outdoors.

[2naSalit]

7. The worst issue in some older rental apts that have such systems...

Is when the landlord seals the windows closed. Been there endured that.

[yellowcanine]

8. Those old radiators were a pain in the ass.

Even when they worked properly it was hard to moderate the heat. It was mostly just on or off. The valves would get clogged and sometimes fail altogether, spewing scalding steam into the room.

[llmart]

9. Interesting article.

For a long time I have thought that there were some things from the past that were much healthier/smarter than what our modern world sees as progress today. When my children were just starting school I questioned the fact that their rather new building had windows that couldn't be opened. I questioned the fact that the schools wanted to do away with outside recess. In most of my later days of my career working in an office, I was in newer buildings where you did not have windows that opened and the air conditioning would be on way too early in the spring and run for months on end. One of my offices in an older building had a window that opened and I opened it all the time. Just being able to hear a bird singing or feel the breeze cut down on any work stress.

There is so much about progress that I am extremely thankful for, but I also think we should be more thoughtful about throwing out everything from the past that worked just fine. Having said that though, I'm quite glad they do not think revisiting coal furnaces such as the one I grew up with should be brought back.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. NYC is loaded with "steam" systems

that occasionally blow up under the street.

I grew up with the same type of radiator but as a hot water circulation system and we kept covers over the bigger ones in the house (house was built not long after WWI) -



to yes, keep from burning body appendages on them (although the small ones in our bedrooms weren't covered and I always kept my windows cracked in the winter). They also had to be "bled" a couple times a year (at least ours) to get the air out and keep the water flowing. Ours (different sizes) looked like this (my mom kept them all painted white) -





And damn when it cycled, you'd end up with that damn BUMP.... BUMP.... BUMP all night long.

Now I'm in a house with central air and OMG it has taken forever to get used to and deal with it - "intake vents" and "exhaust vents" and... (humidifiers are blasting right now).

[smirkymonkey]

11. I have lived in apartments with those heaters and the heat was unbearable even in the dead of

winter. I always had to crack the window open just to feel like I could breathe.

I no longer have that kind of heater, but I still open my balcony door or window just for some fresh air unless it goes below 30F (at night). I love sleeping in a cold room with lots of blankets.

[NBachers]

12. They took the radiators out of my building and replaced them with dollar-burning electric heaters

in the wall. It burns money, and barely heats the place. I miss my radiator. I'd take my wet clothes out of the washing machine, hang 'em up over the radiator, and let it dry them.

The independent home-care center I work in just received a big new shipment of radiator pans, to put under the radiators to catch the drips. As so-called "winter" comes to San Francisco, the radiators will be used more.