F. A. DeBoos followed with a paper on the same subject. He showed the importance of keeping the air from outdoors from entering the basement, thus cooling the floors and basement generally. He advocated weatherstripping all windows, but this was the subject of some discussion as affecting the ventilation of the home. He emphasized the importance of proper draft and the effect of a dirty flue as obstructing this. The proper size of the furnace to secure the required amount of heat with the most economical coal consumption was discussed. He added a list of "Do's" and "Don'ts" on good furnace operation that brought forth considerable discussion. It was agreed that this subject of proper operation was one in which the Chapter could take an active part and it is their intention to work out a series of suggestions along this line to place before the home-owners of Kansas City. This work is to be carried on by the publicity committee, of which John Pease is chairman, the other members of the committe being Benjamin Natkin, F. A. De Boos, John H. Kitchen and F. A. Griffin, Jr.

The second subject for the evening was the "Heating and Ventilation of Moving Picture Shows, Theatres and Churches." Mr. McMorran opened the subject with a paper on the standards of heating and ventilating in public and semi-public buildings as worked out by the Society. These standards are given as minimum requirements and cover the proper amount of floor space, the proper amount of air and the proper change of air per person. E. A. Cline followed with a paper on the split system of heating for such buildings. He outlined the method of arranging inlet and exhaust ducts, fans and heaters and explained the method of taking care of certain problems occasioned by the stage and raising curtain. Discussion of the solution of these problems ensued and was followed by a paper by R. L. Dunlap on the furnace fan system of handling such buildings. The conditions where the heating problem and where the ventilating problem controlled the size of the plant were outlined and some details of installations given.

A well-gotten-up chapter programme for 1917-1918 has been issued by the Kansas City Chapter, containing, among other things, a list of topics to be presented throughout the winter, at the chapter meetings which are held the first Friday of each month. For the December meeting the

topics were wind leakage and hot water heating for domestic purposes. The other topics are as follows:

January 4, 1918: "Heating and Ventilating Army Camps and Cantonments," B. Natkin, chairman. (Mr. Natkin designed part of the heating plant at Camp Funston, erected under the supervision of Lieutenant Foster and installed by F. J. Sellers).

February 1, 1918: "Heating and Ventilation of Hospitals" and "Comparative Costs of Heating with Different Kinds of Fuel," Walter E. Gillham, chairman.

March 1, 1918: "Cooling and Refrigerating Systems," F. A. De Boos, chairman. April 5, 1918: "Heating and Ventilating of School Buildings," John H. Kitchen, chairman.

May 3, 1918: "Comparison of Hot Water, Vacuum and Vapor Vacuum Sytems of heating," John Pease, chairman.

The membership list contains forty names, with five members in military or naval service, as follows: C. A. Bennett and Leslie Byson, at U. S. Navy Yard, Puget Sound; F. Chockley, in Engineers' Corps, Fort Sill, Okla.; B. D. Foster, lieutenant; and F. C. McIntosh, with the Sixth Nebraska Infantry at Fort Deming N. M.

The chapter tendered a luncheon on November 19, at the City Club to H. W. Booth, Kansas City manager of the United States Radiator Corporation, who was leaving for Chicago to take charge of the company's Chicago branch. Mr. Booth was succeeded by H. M. Hillman, who up to that time had been connected with the company's New York branch.

New York Chapter Hears About the Fuel Situation.

Some first-hand information concerning the fuel situation in the East and the urgent need of awakening the public to ways in which coal was being wasted held the attention of a large gathering at the November meeting of the New York Chapter, held. November 19, in the rooms of the Building Trades Club.

The principal speakers were Arthur F. Rice, commissioner for the Coal Merchants' Association of New York; William M. Mackay, George D. Martin, president of the National District Heating Association and Perry West.

Mr. Rice stated that the normal consumption of coal in New York during the heating season was 6,000,000 tons, or 30,000 tons per day. He said there was at present

an inordinate demand for coal due to the large increase in the number of industrial plants, which was accompanied by a car and labor shortage.

He suggested the resizing of coal so that it would not be necessary to have so many separate storage bins for the various sizes. Almost all coal entering New York comes by boat and it would relieve congestion if stove and chestnut, for instance, could be stored in the same bin, the same applying to No. 1 and No. 2 buckwheat.

The lack of sufficient storage room for coal, he said, in large office buildings, is a most serious matter, it being quite common to find an office building with room for but one day's supply. Many hotels, also, have to be supplied daily.

He said one effect of coal price regulation by the government was to make steam coal abnormally high as there were no restrictions on the prices of the steam sizes. He thought the price of soft coal would have to go to $3.00 per ton because, he claimed, the government went too far in reducing this price. The price of anthracite, he said, was fixed higher than was expected, although he considered that the domestic sizes are not too high.

As a matter of fact, he said, chestnut is being used on buckwheat contracts, due directly to the lack of restrictions on the price of the steam sizes.

Mr. Rice then took up the many ways in which heat and light is wasted in hotels and office buildings. He also spoke of street lights he had seen burning at 8 a. m. A campaign of education is needed, he said, among small consumers.

W. M. Mackay said that some churches had arranged to hold their week day meetings on the first and third days of the week only so that the heating plants could be shut down the remainder of the week. He also recommended a lower temperature in the schools. He considered that damping the fire at night was not ordinarily an economical proposition. Where draft and grate permit Mr. Mackay recommended the burning of cheaper grade of coal.

George W. Martin, the next speaker, said that the National District Heating Association is working up a set of rules for conserving steam to be sent out to consumers generally. He recommended the appointment of a committee to prepare similar rules to be turned over to the Building Managers' Association.

Americans, he said, practice great wastefulness in the use of heat and light. Great clusters of lights will often be found burning in broad daylight.

On the matter of intermittent heating

his own observation was that under some conditions the heating plant can be shut down and coal saved thereby. He cited the case of a large department store in which the night temperature had risen to 85° before the practice was adopted of shutting down at night.

We do not properly educate firemen, he added, and sometimes the building engineer is to blame for fuel waste. He instanced one case where the pressure always went down during the cleaning of the fires. It was suggested that the refrigerating plant might be shut down during that period. This was done with satisfactory results, but the engineer had never thought of doing it.

Perry West said the engineering department of the Newark Board of Education was sending experts around instructing the firemen in the public school plants. He suggested that the present was a very good time for getting away from "hothouse" standards of heating.

In addition to practicing economy, he said, it is important to eliminate unnecessary demands for heat. In this connection he urged no mechanical ventilation in the early Fall and Spring, the cutting off of heat in stairways and corridors except in extreme weather, consolidating the activities of the school classes, and perhaps eliminating some of such activities; and adjusting the human elements, that is, assembling the poorly-clad children in such a way that they could be in the warmer

rooms.

Mr West said one important source of fuel economy was to keep the fires properly proportioned to the load. In this connection it is good practice to have dampers on the boilers in addition to the automatic dampers. He said Newark had saved $7500 in one year through regulation of the fires, or 25% of its total fuel cost for the year.

He urged the graduating of the temperature according to the outside conditions and suggested the following scale depending somewhat on the humidity and "rawness" of the outdoor air. Outside Temperature

Deg. F. 0

30

40

50

60

Temperature of Air Entering Room Deg. F.

70

60

64

62

60

Arthur K. Ohmes, discussing the topic of the evening, said in Switzerland they are holding one school session a day. The same is true in Holland. In addition the children are taking their vacation in the

winter time to save coal and are going to school most of the summer.

Walter S. Timmis declared that the real responsibility for the high temperatures in the home belongs to the ladies who insist on wearing summer finery in winter weath

er.

On his motion is was voted to have the chapter, through its officers, get in touch with the mayor and find out if the chapter could be of any assistance in preparing specific recommendations on the matter of fuel economy for general distribution throughout the city.

In connection with "standard", heating temperatures, W. L. Fleisher said that the catalogues of boiler manufactures reach a greater proportion of the general public than is reached by heating engineers and that such catalogues invariably give the 70° indoor standard. He thought one of the first steps should be to induce the boiler manufacturers to change the wording of their catalogues.

Before adjournment it was announced that the December meeting would be devoted to high temperature drying.

It was also announced that a series of lectures on heating and ventilation is being conducted at the Bronx Y. M. C. A. on Wednesday evenings, beginning December 5.

New Publication.

AN INVESTIGATION OF PIPE CORROSION is the title of Bulletin No. 30, issued by the A. M. Byers Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. The investigation was prompted by local agitation on the part of property owners who charged that chemicals were being used in the water filtration plants which destroyed the piping to such an extent that not even brass was immune. This subject was taken up by the Pittsburgh Board of Trade, and a report rendered which showed that no chemicals were used which could in any way be held responsible for the trouble, but the thought was expressed that the city should not be held responsible for the fact that much pipe of inferior quality had come into use in recent years.

In order to determine the life of pipe under varying conditions of service, Thomas F. Payne, a sanitary engineer, of Pittsburgh, was commissioned by the A. M. Byers Company to make a house-to-house canvass of buildings, "with a view to ascertaining all the pertinent facts which might

aid property owners in meeting the rust question in the most efficient manner." After several unsuccessful atempts to obtain accurate data from private residences and other buildings, it appeared that apartment buildings offered the best field for investigation, and 125 such buildings, all in Pittsburgh, were investigated. A tabular statement gives the name and location of each apartment building investigated, the year of its erection, the length of time which both hot and cold water lines of brass, steel and wrought iron had been in service, where rusted out and their present condition where still in service.

The investigation showed the corrosion. to be most severe in hot water mains (exposed basement piping) and the recommendation is therefore made that pipe one size larger than that used in regular practice be used. The larger size, having a greater thickness and larger bore, would not so easily rust through or become stopped with rust.

The hot water risers, which are usually concealed, proved to have a much longer life than the basement mains. It is therefore a question whether the practice of specifying brass pipe for risers, and iron or steel for mains, might not better be reversed. Brass pipe in this investigation did not show up as well as might be expected, and many complaints were heard on that account.

Genuine wrought-iron pipe, in 65 buildings, ranging in age from 8 to 20 years, did not show a single failure when used for cold water supply, and in only one or two of these buildings did the wrought-iron hot water risers require any repairs in the same period of time. Lead pipe, for hot water risers, seem to have an average life of 18 years, one complete failure being recorded after 14 years' service.

It appeared from the investigation that the pipe lasted a little longer where an automatic water heater was used. This undoubtedly is due to the possibility of maintaining a lower temperature of the water than with a heater not having a thermostatic control, for corrosion increases with the temperature, reaching its maximum between 140° and 170° F. Temperatures. from 115° to 130° F. are therefore to be recommended wherever they will serve the purpose.

The rusting out of pipes is one of the prolific sources of trouble for the heating. engineer and he will welcome any research work on this subject. A copy of the complete report can be obtained from the A. M. Byers Company by asking for Bulletin No. 30.