Anglo-American communications studies

[Trei, Peter]

Central heating did not develop until well after
the US and Britain split. There was little 
technology transfer, so it's not too suprising that
the terminology is different. 

When I moved to Britain in the late 60's, central
heating was still rare enough that it was noted in 
real estate listings. The Brits and other Europeans
developed some rather odd devices to retrofit older
houses....

1. The Geyser (alt pro: geezer). A box attached to
the wall in or near a shower, which provided instant
hot water. Some were gas powered (in which case
a balanced flue was fitted through a hole in the wall
to the outside). Some were electric. Having several 
hundred watts of electricity in intimate contact with 
the water and metal piping of the shower was rather 
nervous making (saw many still in use in Scotland 
this summer).

2. The 'storage heater'. The CEGB (central electricity 
generating board) rates were far lower at night
than during the day or evening. A storage heater
was a metal box, typically 4' wide, 2.5 ft high, 
and about a foot deep, filled with electric elements
and firebrick. During the night, the bricks would be
heated electrically. By morning the box was a 
serious burn hazard, and radiating heat for the rest 
of the day as it slowly cooled. At my boarding 
school, we used to toss matches on the top of one 
and make bets as to which would be the first to light.

Peter Trei