Again, it is idle to propose installing plumbing fixtures unless the
house is properly heated in winter time, and this calls for a furnace
for at least a portion of the house. Usually the kitchen is kept warm
enough through the winter nights, so that running water may be put in
the kitchen without danger from frost; although the writer knows of a
house where it is the task of the housewife each winter night to shut
off all water in the cellar and to clean out the trap in the sink drain
in order to prevent freezing in both the supply pipe and drainpipe.
Usually a water-pipe may be carried through the cellar without danger of
freezing, but in most farmhouses heated by stoves, except in the kitchen
and sitting room, water-pipes would, the first cold night, probably
freeze and burst.
Various makeshifts have been employed to secure the convenience of a
bath-room without adding to the expense by installing a furnace. In one
house the bath-room was placed in an alcove off from the kitchen, with
open space above the dividing partition, so that the kitchen heat kept
the bath-room warm. This is not an ideal location for a bath-room, but,
in this case, it avoided the necessity for an additional stove or
furnace. In another house the bath-room was placed above the kitchen,
with a large register in the floor of the former, so that the kitchen
heat kept the room warm; and in still another case the bath-room was
over the sitting room, and a large pipe carried the heat from the stove
below into the room above. The stovepipe also went through the bath-room
and helped to provide warmth. It is better, all things considered, to
defer the installation of a bath-room until a furnace can be provided,
since then there is no danger of frozen water-pipes at intermediate
points where the cold reaches the pipes. A full list of fixtures and
piping required is as follows:--
1st. A tank in the attic to store water in case the main pipe-flow or
pump-capacity is small. This tank, of course, is not needed if the
direct supply from the source is at all times adequate for the full
demand.
2d. A main supply pipe from the outside source or from the attic tank
connecting with and supplying the kitchen sink, the hot-water boiler
through the kitchen stove, the laundry tubs, the bath-tub, the
wash-basin, and the water-closet tank. It is wise, in order to save
expense, to have all these fixtures as close together as possible; as,
for instance, the laundry tub in the basement directly under the kitchen
sink and the bath-room fixtures directly over the kitchen sink.
3d. A hot-water pipe leading out of the hot-water boiler to the kitchen
sink, to the laundry tubs, and to the bath-tub. Although not essential,
it is desirable to carry the hot-water pipe back to the bottom of the
hot-water boiler, so that the circulation of hot water is maintained.
This will avoid the necessity of wasting water and waiting until the
water runs hot from the hot-water faucet whenever hot water is desired.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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