SOME PROBLEMS OF SPACE HEATING

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31728, 11 July 1968, Page 13

SOME PROBLEMS OF SPACE HEATING

An open fire is a cheerful, untidy thing that does not warm a room very well, according to Mr J. S. Pollard, a chemical engineer who said while discussing some problems encountered with space heating: "One’s front broils while the back freezes; draughts flow across the floor (note how the family cat avoids the floor level).”

He said once the open fire was brought under control it began to look a little miserable; by the time it was confined to a small box, even with a glass porthole, the romance was gone.

“No-one ever sat swigging mulled ale in front of a closed combustion stove.

“If one were prepared to sacrifice ‘romance’ in the interests of efficiency and operating costs, serious thought should be given to removing the fireplace from pride of place, if the television set has not already ousted it,” Mr Pollard said.

Gas fires were a reasonably “romantic substitute,” largely because there was some flame.

A forced circulation hot water system offered a pleasant but expensive compromise for those who wished to retain an open fire, and the use of such a system was worth watching in the future, said Mr Pollard.

Mr Pollard said it had been advertised that for about $290, a bouse could be turned into a dream home with electric central heating. “There is a nightmare behind this. It would require an additional 10 kilowatts of generating capacity, some millions erf gallons of water storage, extra power line capacity, larger transformers and thicker distribution cables.

“For the $250 or so spent by the homeowner, the New Zealand Electricity Department and the Municipal Electricity Department will have to spend about $2000,” Mr Pollard said.

Overseas funds had to be used for electricity, as they did for fuel oil in space heating. A third fuel, coal, which also supplied gas and coke, was indigenous but woefully neglected, Mr Pollard said. In a year when more than $6O million was spent on electricity development, the expenditure on investment in the coal industry was negligible.

“Gas is a product which is showing a resurgence in usage and there seems to be a trend to use it to a greater extent in home heating at present,” he said.

“There has been surprisingly little attention to the problems engendered by increased space heating,” Mr Pollard said.

“On a national scale there are large issues: Can we afford the capital investment for electricity to provide smokeless heat? Should the gas industry produce more or better coke? Can we afford to import oil or kerosene for space heating? Should homebuilders be encouraged to install efficient and nationally

economic heating? Can we permit smoking chimneys? Can the mining industry overcome its depression and seek to provide smokeless fuels of its own accord—could we afford to buy them?”

Mr Pollard said several parties were entangled in the issue: “The New Zealand Electricity Department, Ministry of Works, Health Department, Mines Department, Railways Department Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Industries and Commerce, the Gas Council, gas boards, gas companies, power boards, oil companies, coal companies, planning authorities. supply authorities, interested parties, disinterested parties and uninterested parties, all, whether they like it or not, are involved in the consequences of space heating.

“I think it is true that this vast and Incoordinated cacophony was silenced tinder firm legislative control of a ministry of fuel and power. Mr Holyoake says we virtually have thia at present in that Mr Shand sits in the two offices as Minister of Electricity and Minister of Mines.

“Even for a politician, this is impossible and in spite of the Prime Minister’s assurance, this does net constitute a ministry of fuel and power.”