Iron is used very extensively because it is a very good conductor of heat, and can be made into very convenient forms. Iron stoves, however, often become superheated, dry up, and sometimes burn the air around them, and produce certain deleterious gases during combustion. When the fire is confined in a clay fire box, and the stove is not overheated, a good supply of fresh air being provided and a vessel of water placed on the stove to reduce the dryness of the air, iron stoves are quite efficient. =Hot-air Warming.=--In small houses the warming of the various rooms and halls can be accomplished by placing the stove or furnace in the cellar, heating a large quantity of air and conveying it through proper tubes to the rooms and places to be warmed. The points to be observed in a proper and efficient hot-air heating system are the following: (1) The furnace must be of a proper size in proportion to the area of space to be warmed. (2) The joints and parts of the furnace must be gas-tight. (3) The furnace should be placed on the cold side of the house, and provision made to prevent cellar air from being drawn up into the cold-air box of the furnace. (4) The air for the supply of the furnace must be gotten from outside, and the source must be pure, above the ground level, and free from contamination of any kind.[16] (5) The cold-air box and ducts must be clean, protected against the entrance of vermin, etc., and easily cleaned. (6) The air should not be overheated. (7) The hot-air flues or tubes must be short, direct, circular, and covered with asbestos or some other non-conducting material. [Illustration: FIG. 14. A HOT-AIR FURNACE. The cold air from outside comes to the COLD-AIR INTAKE through the cold-air duct, enters the furnace from beneath, and is heated by passing around the FIRE POT and the annular combustion chamber above. It then goes through pipes to the various registers throughout the house. The coal is burnt in the fire pot, the gases are consumed in the combustion chamber above, while the heat eventually passes into the SMOKE FLUE. The WATER PAN supplies moisture to the air.]