Gloria (heating system)
Gloria (meaning glory in Spanish) is a central heating system used in Castile, beginning in the Middle Ages. It is a direct descendant of the Roman hypocaust, and due to its slow rate of combustion, it allows people to use smaller, cheaper fuels, such as leaves, hay, or twigs, instead of wood.
Description
[edit]The gloria consists of a firebox, generally located outside (in a courtyard, for example), which burns the fuel, and one or more ducts which run under the floors of the rooms to be heated. The warm exhaust gases from the combustion pass through these ducts and then are released outside through a vertical flue.[1][2]
Historically, glorias used pine needles for fuel and pine cones for kindling, which both used what would otherwise be waste material and saved firewood for cooking and smithing, as well as hay and silage for animal fodder.[3]
The system is more efficient than a fireplace, because the rate of combustion (and therefore the heat output) can be regulated by restricting the airflow into the firebox, this also makes the amount of heat released adjustable.[2] Moreover, the air required for combustion does not have to pass through the interior of the building, which reduces cold drafts. Finally, because the firebox is not open to the interior, there is no risk of filling the interior with smoke.[3] An additional benefit lies in the ability to cool the building by opening the structure without firing it.[1]
The gloria continues to be used in the Meseta Central, especially in Castile and León.[1][3][4]
The modern equivalent of the gloria would be underfloor heating using piped hot water under the floor to heat rooms.
See also
[edit]- Hypocaust, the Roman precursor of the gloria
- Ondol, a similar system used in Korea
- Heat storage hypocaust, another European derivative of the hypocaust
References
[edit]- ^ a b c decker, kris de (8 February 2017). "Medieval Heating System Lives on in Spain". No Tech Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023.
- ^ a b NuriaPrieto (27 February 2013). "Gloria castellana". Tectónica (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 16 July 2013.
- ^ a b c Flynn, Marcus. "Martin Muñoz de las Posadas". Pyromasse. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021.
- ^ Agencia Atlas (29 January 2017). "Una alternativa para ahorrar luz que aún se utiliza en muchos lugares de Castilla y Leon son las glorias" [An Alternative to Save Electricity Which Is Still Used in Many Places in Castile and Leon Is the Gloria]. Público (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 March 2024.