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MANUFACTURED GAS IN THE HOME
Due to crude fuel and operating conditions, manufactured gas must rapidly go to a lower heating value standard. Only as the standards are lowered will it be possible to conserve the large amount of gas that is
wasted in beehive coking operations and also curtail the large amount
of oil that is now needlessly used in maintaining the candlepower or
artificially high heating value standards.
Gas for lighting should be used only in incandescent mantle burners where the illumination comes from the heated mantle and not from any illumination properties of the gas. This is much more efficient and requires less gas than the old open-flame burner. A candlepower standard is, therefore, obsolete, of no value to the public, and should be abandoned.
The inevitable lowering of the heating value content of manufactured gas, made necessary by the changed operating conditions that must be faced, will not always increase domestic consumer's gas consumption. Generally much more gas is used than is needed for various cooking operations; that is, unless the food will actually burn, the gas cock is usually wide open. This explains why the lowering of the heating value of manufactured gas has frequently enabled the consumer to get the same satisfactory service without any increase in the monthly bill. With a 600 British thermal units gas the gas cock was kept wide open, and, for instance, when lowering to 500 British thermal units, the gas cock was still kept wide open and the consumer got all of the heat needed in the cooking operation, and was, therefore, satisfied because the ordinary measure of gas performance is the finished food in the usual time and not a specific number of heat units for a given operation.
[9] For further discussion see Technologic Paper No. 222, entitled Relative Usefulness of Gases of Different Heating Value and Adjustments of Burners for Changes in Heating Value and Specific Gravity, U. S. Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C.
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GAS INDUSTRY IS RAPIDLY CHANGING [9]
Due to crude fuel and operating conditions, manufactured gas must rapidly go to a lower heating value standard. Only as the standards are lowered will it be possible to conserve the large amount of gas that is
wasted in beehive coking operations and also curtail the large amount
of oil that is now needlessly used in maintaining the candlepower or
artificially high heating value standards.Gas for lighting should be used only in incandescent mantle burners where the illumination comes from the heated mantle and not from any illumination properties of the gas. This is much more efficient and requires less gas than the old open-flame burner. A candlepower standard is, therefore, obsolete, of no value to the public, and should be abandoned.
VOLUME OF GAS USED NOT ALWAYS INCREASED BY LOWER HEATING VALUE.
The inevitable lowering of the heating value content of manufactured gas, made necessary by the changed operating conditions that must be faced, will not always increase domestic consumer's gas consumption. Generally much more gas is used than is needed for various cooking operations; that is, unless the food will actually burn, the gas cock is usually wide open. This explains why the lowering of the heating value of manufactured gas has frequently enabled the consumer to get the same satisfactory service without any increase in the monthly bill. With a 600 British thermal units gas the gas cock was kept wide open, and, for instance, when lowering to 500 British thermal units, the gas cock was still kept wide open and the consumer got all of the heat needed in the cooking operation, and was, therefore, satisfied because the ordinary measure of gas performance is the finished food in the usual time and not a specific number of heat units for a given operation.
[9] For further discussion see Technologic Paper No. 222, entitled Relative Usefulness of Gases of Different Heating Value and Adjustments of Burners for Changes in Heating Value and Specific Gravity, U. S. Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C.
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