Homart Furnace

[Mike Lamb]

This is a Homart gravity furnace. I tested for CO with Draeger tubes and got negative results (just kidding).

Some items I picked up on Homart furnaces from http://www.furnacecompare.com/manufacturers/homart.html

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Homart was the trade name for a brand of furnaces sold by Sears Roebuck for several decades beginning in the 1940s. Garfield Heights, Ohio-based Dornback Furnace & Foundry Co. supplied Sears with the products.

Based on old newspaper clippings, it appears that Homart furnaces were actively marketed between (at least) 1946 - 1968.

Dornback Hardware and Plumbing Co. was founded in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1923, W. H. Dornback Sr. added sales and installation of home heating equipment. In the late 1940s, Dornback became a major supplier to the Sears Roebuck Co. under the trade name "Homart." The trademark for the Homart name, owned by Sears, expired in 1992.

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[Marc]

Interesting. A centrally ducted gas space heater...if I got that right.

I never imagined such a heater ever existed.

Marc

[kurt]

They were the defacto heating system for thousands of Chicago homes. The generic term was "octopus" furnace, for all the ducts scrambled all over the basement.

Used to see them all the time. Haven't seen an active on in years.

[mjr6550]

Interesting. A centrally ducted gas space heater...if I got that right.

I never imagined such a heater ever existed.

Marc

There were quite common and I still come across them about once or twice a year. I guess you would have no place to put them down there. The supply ducts have to have an upward slope since airflow is by natural convection.

[Jim Katen]

They were the defacto heating system for thousands of Chicago homes. The generic term was "octopus" furnace, for all the ducts scrambled all over the basement.

Used to see them all the time. Haven't seen an active on in years.

Same here. When I first started inspecting, I used to see one or two a month. Lots of them had been adapted to use blowers. Now I can't remember the last time I saw one; it's probably been about ten years.