Ahypocaust(Latin:hypocaustum) is asystem of central heatingin a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors as well.[1]The word derives fromAncient Greekhupó'under'andkaustós'burnt'(comparecaustic). The earliest reference to such a system suggests that theTemple of Ephesusin 350 BC was heated in this manner,[2]althoughVitruviusattributes its invention toSergius Oratain c. 80 BC.[3]Its invention improved the hygiene and living conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner of moderncentral heating.
Roman operation
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Hypocausts were used for heating hot baths and other public buildings inancient Rome.They were also used in private homes. It was considered proper and necessary by the wealthier merchant class for their villas, throughout the Roman Empire.[1]The ruins of Roman hypocausts have been found throughout Europe (for example in Italy, England,[4]Spain,[5]France, Switzerland, and Germany[6]) and in Africa[6]as well.
The ceiling of the hypocaust was raised above the ground by pillars, calledpilae stacks,supporting a layer of tiles, followed by a layer of concrete, then the floor tiles of the rooms above. Hot air and smoke from the furnace would circulate through this enclosed area and then up through clay or tile flues in the walls of the rooms above to outlets in the roof, thereby heating the floors and walls of the rooms above. These tile flues were referred to ascaliducts.[7]
Rooms intended to be the warmest were located nearest to the furnace below, the heat output of which was regulated by adjusting the amount of wood fed to the fire. It was expensive and labour-intensive to run a hypocaust, as it required constant attention to the fire and a lot of fuel, so it was a feature usually encountered only in large villas and public baths.
Vitruviusdescribes their construction and operation in his workDe architecturain about 15 BC, including details about how fuel could be conserved by building the hot room (caldarium) for men next to that for women, with both adjacent to thetepidarium,so as to run the public baths efficiently. He also describes a device for adjusting the heat by a bronze ventilator in the domed ceiling.
Remains of many Roman hypocausts have survived throughout Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.
Non-Roman analogues
editIn 1984–1985, in theGeorgian Soviet Socialist Republic,excavations in the ancient settlement ofDzalisiuncovered a large castle complex, featuring a well-preserved hypocaust built between 200 and 400 BC.[8]
Korean houses have traditionally usedondolto provide floor heating on similar principles as the hypocaust, drawing smoke from a wood fire typically used for cooking. Ondol heating was common in Korean homes until the 1960s, by which time dedicated ondol installations were typically used to warm the main room of the house, burning a variety of fuels such as coal and biomass.
On a smaller scale, in Northern China thekang bed-stovehas a long history.[9][10]
After the Romans
editWith thedecline of the Roman Empire,the hypocaust fell into disuse in the western provinces, but not in theEastern Roman empire.It is thought that in Britain, fromc. 400untilc. 1900,central heating did not exist, and hot baths were rare.[11]However, an evolution of the hypocaust was used in some monasteries incalefactories,or warming rooms, which were heated via underground fires, as in the Roman hypocaust, but retained heat via granite stones.[12]In Eastern Europe, the development of radiant ceramic or stone stoves were also used. In theIberian Peninsula,the Roman system was adopted for the heating of Hispano-Islamic baths(hammams)ofAl Andalus.[13]A derivation of hypocaust, thegloria,was in use inCastileuntil the arrival of modern heating. After the fuel (mainly wood) was reduced to ashes, the air intake was closed to keep hot air inside and to slowcombustion.In colonialBritish North America,the house of Maryland governorCharles Calvert(now part of theHistoric Inns of Annapolis) was constructed in the 1720s with a hypocaust to heat a greenhouse for growing tropical plants.[14]
See also
edit- Ancient Roman engineering– Engineering accomplishments of the ancient Roman civilization
- Ancient Roman technology– Technological accomplishments of the ancient Roman civilization
- Cocklestove– Tile-covered masonry heater(Kachelofen)
- Masonry heater– Heating device
- Underfloor heating– Form of central heating and cooling
References
edit- ^abTomlinson, Charles (1850-01-01).A rudimentary treatise on warming and ventilation: being a concise exposition of the general principles of the art of warming and ventilating domestic and public buildings, mines, lighthouses, ships, etc.J. Weale. pp.53.
hypocaust.
- ^Mitchell, Patrick (2008-03-01).Central Heating, Installation, Maintenance and Repair.WritersPrintShop. p. 3.ISBN9781904623625.
- ^Forbes (1966-01-01).Studies in Ancient Technology.BRILL. pp.54–55.ISBN9004006265.
- ^"hypocaust | architecture".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved2017-01-13.
- ^Carr, Karen Eva (2002-01-01).Vandals to Visigoths: Rural Settlement Patterns in Early Medieval Spain.University of Michigan Press. p. 185.ISBN0472108913.
- ^abForbes, Robert James (1965-01-01).Studies in Ancient Technology.Brill Archive. pp.49–50.
- ^Harris, Cyril M. (2013-02-28).Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture.Courier Corporation.ISBN9780486132112.
- ^ Kacharava, D. (1990). "Archaeology in Georgia 1980-1990 (Post-Prehistoric to Pre-Mediaeval)".Archaeological Reports.37:79–86.doi:10.2307/581171.JSTOR581171.S2CID162678366.
- ^Bean, Robert; Olesen, Bjarne W.; Kim, Kwang Woo (2010)."History of Radiant Heating & Cooling Systems"(PDF).ASHRAE Journal.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2017-12-04.Retrieved2017-03-13.
- ^Zhuang, Zhi; Li, Yuguo; Chen, Bin; Jiye; Guo (2009), "Chinese kang as a domestic heating system in rural northern China—A review",Energy and Buildings,41(1):111–119,doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2008.07.013
- ^Winston Churchill(1956),A History of the English Speaking Peoples: The Birth of Britain,Dodd, Mead & Company,p. 35
- ^"Heat Storage Hypocausts: Air Heating in the Middle Ages, Low Tech Magazine".17 March 2017.
- ^Dodds, Jerrilynn Denise; N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); Alhambra, Patronato de la (1992-01-01).Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain.Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 141.ISBN9780870996368.
- ^"Archaeology in Annapolis: The Calvert House".University of Maryland.
External links
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- About Roman baths(referring toSergius Orata), by William Smith.
- Disputing the priority of Sergius OrataGarrett G. Fagan's paper "Sergius Orata: Inventor of the Hypocaust?" published in Phoenix, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 56–66.
- About Hypocaust.