Boilers

[Lewis]

Um. no, I don't think so. My former business partner owns a building with a boiler. I've never heard him refer to it as a furnace.

[Robert Bannister]

Are you sure that's not for m-i-ls?

[harry]

Domestic boilers don't get that hot. There are high pressure industrial systems that do, Pressurised by nitrogen usually.

[harry]

Well, it's interesting to hear about their primitive heating systems. They are fifty years behind European ones. Some pretty appalling stuff still manufactured. As are their houses.

[Pierre Jelenc]

That's definitely not true of all the NYC apartment buildings I've lived in. It's always "boiler": "boiler room", "boiler inspector", and the perennial "sorry, the boiler's broken" (or "da bearler's broke"...)

See the following for an official example:

Pierre

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

This thread is crossposted to alt.usage.english where discussions of the use of words like "boiler" and "furnace" is totally on-topic.

[Peter Young]

The curse of cross-posting strikes again. Follow-up set to a.u.e. only.

Peter.

[jgharston]

Which always make me picture DIY home smelting. A furnace is something you can't get close to without protective clothing and heavy machinery.

JGH

[Swifty]

Talking of "mother in law", has the subject of its anagram come up?

Yes, I know they are legion, but one seems particularly relevant having had her staying these last 10 days and 22 hours.

I'll tread carefully here, having just discovered that an anagram of my wife's name (as she signs herself) is "Lousiest wife".

For myself, I setup my desk nameplate (made up of individual letters, an anagrammist magnet) as "Steve J Swift" hoping that the "J" would make it invulnerable. My friend Marc Cohen rearranged it to "Vest fits jew" a couple of days later. Strangely,

doesn't come up with any anagrams for "Steve J Swift" in its "simple" mode.

[Swifty]

In our previous house, the boiler was in a small room, which had one door and no windows, in the middle of the bungalow. Not having a better name for it, we called it "the boiler room". So far, so good.

Our current house has no obvious boiler, as the kitchen range fulfils that function. However, we've called our scullery "the boiler room" despite it having no connection with heating at all (apart from laundry machines and refrigerators)

[Huge]

It's OK; our "cupboard under the stairs" isn't under our stairs ...