Has it snowed yet in London?

[RivkahChaya]

Currently, I'm housebound due to a blizzard in the American Midwest. Everything in town has closed including the university and bus services. At least I'll get the white Christmas for which I had been hoping .

Where are you? We got about 1/2 inch. The roads were icy, but since the blizzard of '78, Indiana has been very good about snow and ice cleanup. As long as it isn't actually snowing or sleeting, it's very safe to drive here. It's quite impressive, as usually this state is pretty backward.

I was surprised to learn that many British people didn't have central heating in the early 60s. Maybe I'm just too young to know better or it could just be a difference in heating methods/technology between America and Europe. I don't know, but I'm fairly certain radiators were common in (wealthier, at least) American homes back in the late 19th century.

The tenements that went up in the big cities had boilers, and radiators, and were several stories high. They stayed pretty warm in the winter, but then people died regularly of heatstroke in the summer.

There are very few homes in the US that are very old. Aside from the huge expansion that took place after the immigration in the late 1800s-early 1900s, huge numbers of people built houses after WWII, and a lot of houses were built in planned developments. They had central heating, and even central A/C, because when a company is building a planned neighborhood, and buying parts wholesale, and hiring crews, it's a lot cheaper, and the properties are worth much more. People who bought houses in the 1950s with A/C may not have been able to afford to run it much, but they're glad they had it, because when they sold the houses in the 1970s, the ones with A/C were worth almost twice as much.

Houses in the north had central heat from the time people knew how to design it, and they had water that went under the freeze line, then up through the foundation, otherwise, the pipes froze all the time. Central heating prevented plumbing problems.

If you use the whole house, central heating is more efficient. If you have rooms you don't use much, you have to close the vents, and keep the doors closed, but it's really better overall.

We were having the warmest winter on record here, until two days ago. Now it's like, 27'F outside. I need to go spray a few more cans of chlorofluorocarbons.

[Robert]

Ah, right. I wondered if it was that.

I think we used to use wood and newspaper to get the fire going, then added the coal.

Yes, I wonder when I see literary descriptions of sitting by a roaring fire. Just how roaring?

[DrummondStreet]

By wood fireplace, I mean that it burns wood not coal. The fireplace itself is made of brick, but it still could be a fire hazard. If not properly screened, sparks might fly out of the firebox beyond the hearth and onto a rug. Chimney fires are the other possibility. Perhaps that is why "faux fireplaces" are more common, but they have their own risks, too. Heat caused the glass screens of an electric fireplace to explode at my local Starbucks.

[Robert]

Hi Drummond

Yes, I can't see the point of a fireplace with no proper fire.

Isn't a wood fireplace a bit of a fire hazard?

[DrummondStreet]

Hi Robert,

Nice Avengers video, btw. My childhood home had a wood fireplace, and my mother would light it every Christmas for atmosphere. I do remember my clothes smelling rather smoky afterwards.

Many newer American houses have fireplaces, but they are usually electric Unless it is to reduce pollution, I don't understand the point of a "fake" fire.

[DrummondStreet]

Ahhh, chute not shoot. What was I thinking! Too bad, if the chute was still there, it would have given a definitive answer as to where her body was found in the "new" Mitre Square.

I guess the chimney for your coal fire would have diverted most of the smoke outside. I'm so accustomed to electric heat that I have trouble putting myself in the proper mindset. I hope my questions don't seem too silly to you. I appreciate your patience.

[Robert]

Hi Drummond

I doubt if Kate's chute is still there.

I can't remember tons of soot but I guess the soot must have got around. We would have a coal scuttle by the fire and every so often put some on. I remember that the fire in the back room did have a glass door that could be closed. In the days of the open fires, we had a fire guard that went round the fire.

Gradually the Government phased out coal fires by creating smokeless zones. That did a lot to get rid of the fogs that we used to get from the air pollution.

I guess in the days of the coal fires we would have had a chimney sweep come every now and again, but my memory of that is hazy. I think he used to lay out dust sheets before starting work. Never had a bloke like this, though :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AlPaAj9g7w

[DrummondStreet]

Robert: Did the coal fire produce a lot of soot in your house or was there a way to contain the smoke and still allow the heat to transfer?

We had a furnace when I was a child, but upper Midwest winters are bitterly cold and my parents were fairly conservative about heating the house so mornings were always very chilly. My brother and I would run downstairs to the kitchen and then fight over who got to huddle in front of the heating vent located under the breakfast bar.

Relating to JtR: Wasn't Catherine Eddowes found directly on top of a coal shoot? I wonder if the deeper portion of the shoot is still there or if it was completely filled in during the reconstruction in the 70s.

[Robert]

Hi Drummond

Re Woods, he certainly looked young. I didn't think I'd ever see such a thing - Peter Woods looking young!

[Robert]

Hi Drummond

Well, the Romans had it 2000 years ago (what have the Romans ever done for us?)

My family I think didn't have central heating till the end of the 60s/early 70s. We had coal fires in the grates of two or three of the rooms, and electric fires. Earlier on, we had oil stoves too.

I think even after we had central heating, we still powered it with a coal fire till we switched to gas. A bloke used to stagger up the path with a huge sack of coal on his back, and tip it down the chute. One of us would be in the cellar with a shovel, evening out the coal so that the next sack could go down.

The only time I can remember being cold, was getting out of bed first thing in the morning in winter.That involved a sprint to the fire, and sit down there waiting for a cup of tea. Then bloody school.

[DrummondStreet]

Thanks for the video, Robert.

A quote from the documentary: "Peter Woods and his pipe went to investigate..."
Anyone else think Woods looks a bit like Prince Charles or (even more) Prince Philip?

[DrummondStreet]

Based upon comments about a lack of central heating in many homes during the winter of '62, I found this. (Edit: it wasn't just limehouse, it was also mentioned in the article I posted earlier. I'm not trying to single you out, Julie)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/media//pages/welsh_children_life_before_central_heating_16x9.shtml

Unfortunately, I couldn't watch as it is unavailable for viewing in my location

I was surprised to learn that many British people didn't have central heating in the early 60s. Maybe I'm just too young to know better or it could just be a difference in heating methods/technology between America and Europe. I don't know, but I'm fairly certain radiators were common in (wealthier, at least) American homes back in the late 19th century.

[Robert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAQ3Wg-I6gw

[Limehouse]

Yes, indeed Dave - I remember a really cold winter in 1980 or 81 when icicles a foot long hung from gutters. I think there was a similar situation in about 87 or 88.

[Cogidubnus]

62/63 was amazing...Ok I was only nine but recall going off to school with the snow above my waist...I believe the Thames froze that winter (first time since the old Snow Fairs?) but certainly the sea froze on the beach at Brighton...I remember going down to see it.

But wasn't there was a cold snap, I think in the early eighties, when the overnight temperature in Brighton went down to -17? I seem to recall that local radio mentioned that it was warmer in parts of Siberia...

All the best

Dave