MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
For a while, back in around 1960-ish, we lived in an old turn-of-the-century 4-family house, which was heated by ancient coal-burning furnaces (which had been encased in a 3-inch thick coating of asbestos 
). As a young teenager, part of my daily duties was to tend to the furnace, which needed attention about 4 times a day.
First thing in the morning, I would have to start by "shaking down the coals"....in the bottom of the furnace were two heavy metal grates, onto which the burning coals fell.
As the hot coals cooled, they would turn to ash, and you had to stick a heavy steel crank handle onto a square bolt on the front of the furnace, and work it back and forth, left to right, in a vigorous motion. This action rotated those 2 grates a bit, allowing the ashes to fall through into a collection box, where they had to be shoveled out into a metal bucket, to be dumped in a certain area of the back yard.
At this point, a few more shovelfuls of coal would be added to the furnace, and the draft flapper adjusted to allow more air to enter, raising the heat level.
Before bed, I would shake down the ashes once more, load up the burner with enough coal to last the night, then "bank the fire", i.e., set the draft to slow the fire down. (Coal was expensive, around $18 a ton )
). As a young teenager, part of my daily duties was to tend to the furnace, which needed attention about 4 times a day.First thing in the morning, I would have to start by "shaking down the coals"....in the bottom of the furnace were two heavy metal grates, onto which the burning coals fell.
As the hot coals cooled, they would turn to ash, and you had to stick a heavy steel crank handle onto a square bolt on the front of the furnace, and work it back and forth, left to right, in a vigorous motion. This action rotated those 2 grates a bit, allowing the ashes to fall through into a collection box, where they had to be shoveled out into a metal bucket, to be dumped in a certain area of the back yard.
At this point, a few more shovelfuls of coal would be added to the furnace, and the draft flapper adjusted to allow more air to enter, raising the heat level.
Before bed, I would shake down the ashes once more, load up the burner with enough coal to last the night, then "bank the fire", i.e., set the draft to slow the fire down. (Coal was expensive, around $18 a ton
)
