1925 Wall Heater?

[pgoodcake]

Hello,

I was looking at a real estate this weekend - a 1925 bungalow - and saw this heater (?) on the wall in the upstairs bathroom and the bedroom next to the bathroom. The other two bedrooms did not have one. Does anyone know what this is and how it worked?

Thanks

1925 heating vent.PNG (661.35 KiB) Viewed 783 times

[phil]

a lot of old houses had a big vent in the middle and the heater in the basement looked like an octopus with air vents running up. I dont; know if they worried about returning air. mine 1924 had a big vent in the hall. later mods changed to forced air but the early systems just used convection.
It might be from steam heat though, or hot water heat. not sure? nice casting !

[Shrimpdip]

I have something similar, less fancy in my upstairs bathroom. It is was piped into natural gas. The knob controlled the flame height and a small metal flue was run inside the wall up to a thimble on the chimney in the attic. I lit it once to see how it worked and then disconnected the gas line in the basement.

[pgoodcake]

Thank you so much for the information!

[phil]

I looked at a house with a really beautiful antique gas heater insert in the fireplace. The inspector said it was not vented so it burns up air and presents a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and shouldn't really be used. so before you assumed it could be used I'd at least check into the venting. Maybe that one is ok? Not sure.