how quickly can a furnace raise house temp 20F?

Yah - that was kinda my point from the beginning :)

OK - I'll answer you. It is not "flowing through too fast to absorb the heat"hat causes the problem. It is the unrestricted flow does not force/allow full circulation, so some of the coolant does NOT flow fast enough (it stagnates in certain cooling passages on certain engines) so although the rad temperature is cold, CERTAIN parts of the engine DO overheat. You get local boiling, and the vapour pockets do not get scavenged out

- so you get larger pockets - which causes the local overheating to get worse. So the engine overheats, causing valve problems (the "pockets" around the exhaust valves are one point where this has been an issue in the past) and detonation.

One example was the circa 1969? Olds 350 Rocket. If you towed a trailer it tended to overheat a bit unless you advanced the timing (late hot and lean school of emission control) - meaning Super gas was MANDATORY. Guys used to pull the 'stat, figuring that would help cool the engine. With the stat pulled you were GUARANTEED to get detonation, timing advanced or not - and even on premium. The rad didn't boil over any more (usually) but the engine was still suffering from overheating.

That's just one example that I can remember right off the top - there were many more.

Not confusing the two at all. Just going from years of experience, and knowlege of how engines actually function.

Your theory doesn't hold water.

I'm ME too!!!! Oh, you said AN ME. Well, I'm a certified automotive technician as well as a computer technician. No iron ring - but but lots of varied experience.

I think you got it right there. The house MIGHT heat up just as fast, over-all but the perceived heat would be a lot less - a "cold draft" instead of a "bit of heat". Could be the same number of BTUs or KCalories or whatever unit you want to use.