Were There Kitchen Accessories for Steam Heat Boilers?

[Stephen Musial]

I'm helping a guy fix his house up so he can stop being a landlord and sell the house. It originally had steam radiators (1 pipe) that were replaced with forced air probably around 1990. Pulled up about 6 layers of floor and underlayment in the kitchen and found original maple floors. On the north wall was a hole where the radiator sat. On the west wall (interior between the kitchen and dining room) was the metal top off a coffee can nailed to the floor. Pried it off and there was a hole in the finished floor about 3 or 4 inches in diameter with a hole in the subfloor and a pipe that goes back to where the boiler was.

So the question - does anyone know of any sorts of kitchen accessories that hooked up to the boiler system - chafing dish, coffee maker,etc? Something was obviously there and was fed with hot water from the boiler - its base was attached to the subfloor and then the finished floor was installed around it. The house was built in the 20's by an architect for his mother so he may have been trying something new or different on her house (there's no basement which is fairly odd for St. Louis so the furnace room is behind the kitchen and the wall between the two rooms is terra cotta block for some reason)

I've looked around the internet and can't find anything in the way of accessories for steam heated houses or just can't figure out the right search parameters so any ideas, experience, etc. would be greatly appreciated because this is driving me crazy.

[Joel Goodman]

The Grand Central Oyster Bar in NY's Grand Central Station has steam powered pots (function like a double boiler) at the old part of the bar to make Oyster stew in. It's tasty!

[Rich Engelhardt]

Steam canner?

[Shawn Pixley]

Steam canner?

I initially mis-read this as "steam cannon"

[Rich Engelhardt]

Heh - that's one way to deal with bothersome neighbors......

[Bruce Pratt]

Google "steam oven"...It is supposed to be the latest and greatest thing. The steam oven has, however, been in existence since at least 1839, in Paris, where it was known as the Viennese steam oven, and is an essential part of baking the baguette. Check out August Zang (1807 – 1888) for additional details.

[Jason White]

Doesn't sound like a steam pipe was there. More like a 3-4" closet flange for a toilet. Perhaps there was a half-bath there at one time?

I'm helping a guy fix his house up so he can stop being a landlord and sell the house. It originally had steam radiators (1 pipe) that were replaced with forced air probably around 1990. Pulled up about 6 layers of floor and underlayment in the kitchen and found original maple floors. On the north wall was a hole where the radiator sat. On the west wall (interior between the kitchen and dining room) was the metal top off a coffee can nailed to the floor. Pried it off and there was a hole in the finished floor about 3 or 4 inches in diameter with a hole in the subfloor and a pipe that goes back to where the boiler was.

So the question - does anyone know of any sorts of kitchen accessories that hooked up to the boiler system - chafing dish, coffee maker,etc? Something was obviously there and was fed with hot water from the boiler - its base was attached to the subfloor and then the finished floor was installed around it. The house was built in the 20's by an architect for his mother so he may have been trying something new or different on her house (there's no basement which is fairly odd for St. Louis so the furnace room is behind the kitchen and the wall between the two rooms is terra cotta block for some reason)

I've looked around the internet and can't find anything in the way of accessories for steam heated houses or just can't figure out the right search parameters so any ideas, experience, etc. would be greatly appreciated because this is driving me crazy.

[Shawn Pixley]

Heh - that's one way to deal with bothersome neighbors......

The leftovers are mine!

[Tom Stenzel]

Early in the century commercial steam powered ovens to cook in were common. I've never heard of them for a house but I wouldn't discount it entirely.

In the basement of the Belle Isle Casino (build 1908) there were some big steam powered ovens when I walked through in the 1980's. I would imagine they're still there, removing them would be a massive job. The building still had knob and tube wiring for the lighting on the 3rd floor then. I would hope that stuff is gone by now.

A friend of mine was in charge of building maintenance for Detroit Parks & Recreation back then, I got roped into weekend "volunteering" for helping fix the heating, sump pumps, lighting, all kinds of building problems that he didn't have any staff to fix. I can tell LOTS of stories about those misadventures!

-Tom

[Stephen Musial]

No, it's a 1" threaded galvanized 90 - not a waste stack. Also not a plumbing supply as that is all original copper. The line was abandoned in 1946 as there was a bunch of newspaper stuffed into the pipe. Not sure if that's when they went to forced air or they just didn't have a plug when they took out whatever was in there. (Steam systems only run at 2-4 PSI so theoretically, a newspaper plug would work)

[ray hampton]

could this pipe be use for the gas lights

[Tom Stenzel]

could this pipe be use for the gas lights

Not likely Ray, by the 1920's gas lighting was about done. The house my Mother grew up in was converted from gas lighting to electric in 1911. The house was across Harper from the now infamous Packard plant, Detroit's near east side.

-Tom

[Stephen Musial]

No, it was all knob and tube.

[Myk Rian]

The kitchen in the Ford Rouge, Rouge Office Building cafeteria used steam for everything. There is no gas line going to the building.

As a point of interest, Henry Ford took a bet that a building could be built, roof first. They built the top floor of the ROB, jacked it up, and built the first floor.