Older than me and Roy Cooke togeher

[Charley L. Bottger]

This was in the basement of my tear down this morning I googled the company and could find no info; MFG by security MFG Co Kansas City 3 MO probably in the area of 100 years young. Never observed one like it in my life time. Gas fired burner no water no blower strictly convection. Ducts connected to registers on the first level

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by cbottger

This was in the basement of my tear down this morning I googled the company and could find no info; MFG by security MFG Co Kansas City 3 MO probably in the area of 100 years young. Never observed one like it in my life time. Gas fired burner no water no blower strictly convection. Ducts connected to registers on the first level

Very Very interesting .
Yes I agree it sure looks different.
I expect the Light insulating Material Could be the BIG A.
Thanks for the picture .
..Cookie

[rwand1]

Thats an Octopus furnace. Likely burned coal then converted to gas.
Most certainly its abestos given the age of the furnace.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by rwand1

Thats an Octopus furnace. Likely burned coal then converted to gas.
Most certainly its abestos given the age of the furnace.

To small Ray I think.
I was raised on an octpus coal furnace .
I think this was originally coal gas the converted to natural gas.
I remember sifting out the ashes to save to take out the clinkers and save the coal.
.... Cookie

[rwand1]

You are right Roy there is no ash door.

[Charley L. Bottger]

Originally Posted by rwand1

Thats an Octopus furnace. Likely burned coal then converted to gas.
Most certainly its abestos given the age of the furnace.

Raymond don't know if Coal was ever used in this State to hard to come by back in those days used a lot of Buffalo chips though
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[Charley L. Bottger]

Guys it was always a gas furnace I could still read some of the lighting instructions on the name plate.

[David P. Valley]

Charley,

I'd like to get a high resolution pic of that ancient furnace.

Got one?

[Charley L. Bottger]

Originally Posted by dvalley

Charley,

I'd like to get a high resolution pic of that ancient furnace.

Got one?

Sorry I'm just an old poor inspector my camera is low quality

[sparksnmore]

Back when I first started in the HVAC business there were a lot of those around Kansas City.

Now I shudder to think about how many we removed by knocking the old asbestos ductwork apart with a hammer, without even a mask and an asbestos dust cloud filling the basement.

But, as the song says "I'm too old to die young" now.

[jking2]

I had one like it in my first home, which was built in 1943. Since gas heating was new, gas furnces resembled the coal fired furnaces the manufacturers had been making recently. What is that gray cylinder in the right background?

[Greg Veal]

In the early days of my HVAC career (Atlanta - Mid/Downtown),we replaced a lot of gravity type gas furnaces (usually converted from coal operations), for reasons of upgrading the home to central A/C, and we obviously had to convert to F/A gas furnaces
I remember the nasty conditions, nasty and rusted 16"&18" round pipe attached to wall & floor S/A registers,to the interior of the space, and R/A floor mounted grilles near the exterior. We usually gutted the entire system, including the asbestos flue vent, gas piping, etc., and start completely over. The old systems were usually located in Hi-Crawl / Cellar type basements, close to the exterior foundation, next to an old coal chute door or window. I can still remember the filth and smell.
It's a wonder any of us are still alive, exposed to some the stuff we were.

What's that saying...We've come a long way baaabeee.