In ancient times, Russian stoves were in every peasant's house. Such heating equipment, of course, has many advantages. However, unfortunately, the Russian stove has two rather serious drawbacks. Firstly, such equipment is not very economical. Firewood for the stove of this variety needs to be harvested a lot. Secondly, such heating structures during operation, unfortunately, are rather poorly warmed up below. Accordingly, the floor of the house remains cold. And the lower crowns begin to rot due to condensation of moisture in the log house.
Alternative Russian stove
In ancient times, peasants, of course, knew about all these shortcomings of the most popular heating equipment in villages. However, the Russian stove always had more pluses than minuses. Therefore, she remained popular for a long time and they did not look for alternatives. In addition, there was much more firewood in ancient times, like forests, than now. Accordingly, there was no particular need to save fuel and extend the service life of log cabins.
We thought about replacing the Russian stove with a more economical model in Russia only after the revolution, during the time of impoverishment of the population, general hunger, etc. In 1929, a special model of the Russian stove, the “heating pot,” began to gain popularity in our country. The domestic engineer Podgorodnikov came up with this heating design. To improve the Russian stove, he simply directed the gases from the cooking chamber down.
Subsequently, Podgorodnikov developed several types of greenhouses, varying in size, efficiency and location of fireboxes. All these models made it possible, among other things, to select the mode of operation and heating of individual parts.
Description and principle of operation
Like an ordinary Russian stove, all modifications of heaters can be heated both with wood, and coal or peat. In this case, such equipment is heated up, usually in no more than 30-60 minutes.
Like Russian stoves, heaters can be used not only for heating the premises of a house, but also for cooking. In addition to everything else, they also have an oven. Also, in the underflooding part of almost every heating chamber, water can be heated.
Design features
The main feature of Podgorodnikov’s heating lodges is that they always have 2 cameras. The lower one is called heating, and the upper one is called the “crucible”. In the lower part of "Teplushki" there is a water box and poles.
Fuel in such stoves is burned in a firebox of a special configuration located in the side wall. In this part of the design of the heater there are a grate and a blower. However, the overlapping in the firebox of such a furnace is not provided. Gases from firewood in equipment of this type rise into the crucible and heat it, and then go down to the lower chamber. Then the cooled smoke goes into the chimney.
If the house is warm, the owners have the opportunity to open a special damper when cooking. In this case, the gases will immediately go into the pipe. They will not fall into the subfire and it will remain cold.
Order and construction features
They put tepushki practically by standard technology. The methodology of their construction is practically no different from the method of building a Russian stove. In any case, exclusively heat-resistant building materials are used for masonry of such structures. The order of the furnace of Podgorodnikov’s heating stove may look, for example, as follows.
In addition to fireclay bricks and a heat-resistant clay-cement mixture, before the start of laying such a furnace, a grate, doors for two cleanings and a furnace, a hot-water box made of galvanized steel, etc. are purchased. In any case, the laying of the heating stove is technologically quite complicated. To undertake this work is only for the master who already has some experience in the construction of furnaces, including Russian.
Such stoves are built on a solid foundation with waterproofing. In this case, the first row of masonry is made continuous. Further construction is carried out, according to the selected order.
Reviews about stoves
Almost all models of Podgorodnikov owners of country houses with stove heating respond very well. Of course, in the construction of such furnaces are quite complicated. However, they are also very convenient in operation. Firewood for equipment of this variety does not need to be harvested too much. It’s easy to cook food in the stews, and they warm the house perfectly.
In addition to brick, today there are also metal furnaces of the same name on sale. Modern steel stoves also earned excellent reviews from the owners of country houses. Efficiency of such models is large and in terms of fuel consumption, like brick stoves, they are considered economical.
Interesting Facts
There are just a huge number of modifications of Podgorodnikov's ovens and other engineers at the moment. And each of these models has its own highlight. For example, at Teplushka-15, the most popular model to date, the shelf in front of the furnace is also a stove. The result is a furnace, behind the cooking surface of which there is a chamber covered by a shutter.
The left firebox in this model is designed to use the stove, and the right - for heating. At the same time, the gas circulation in Teplushka-15 is organized in such a way that smoke warms up the entire structure of the furnace, no matter how it is used. The dimensions of this model are quite large. However, drawings of a reduced copy of Teplushki-15 were also developed.
The efficiency of this type of oven is higher than Russian. It may be considered interesting that Podgorodnikov managed to achieve such a result only because he guessed to use the theory of free motion of gases when developing his models. Previously, all attempts by other engineers to improve the Russian stove ended in failure.
How to cook
The heating furnace is heating the premises in this way, very efficiently. Such structures heat up quickly, and cool for a long time. Warm enough, as mentioned above, are also considered quite convenient in terms of cooking. But of course, you need to use the stove in this way correctly. It is believed that one should start cooking, stewing or frying in the chamber or on the stove only when it is well melted and only coals remain in the combustion chamber.
As in an ordinary Russian oven, in the oven of such equipment all dishes can be placed at the same time. Their preparation in the future, therefore, will go synchronously. However, it is recommended to bake bread separately in modern Russian ovens-podlodachki Podgorodnikova, as in the middle of the last century. In this case, it will turn out to be especially tasty and fragrant.
A brief biography of the creator
Heating stoves have been used for heating country houses for almost 100 years. Their creator I. S. Podgorodnikov was born in the city of Mogilev (Belarus), in 1886, in the family of a locksmith. After graduating from a real school, he entered the Technological Institute in St. Petersburg. Having received a diploma of higher education, Podgorodnikov got a job at the Putilov Shipyard.
During the revolution, an engineer tried to emigrate to Europe. To do it then was difficult. To leave Russia, Podgorodnikov decided to walk to the Crimea and try to board the ship. However, on the way the engineer was detained by the Red Army on suspicion that he is a Denikin spy. Having found out that he has nothing to do with the white Podgorodnikov, he was simply taken out onto the road and released.
After that, getting to life with danger to Europe, Podgorodnikov changed his mind. Not believing his release, he went to the Crimea, where he subsequently married and got a job as a technician at a paper mill.
Even during his wanderings in the central and southern part of Russia, with the aim of emigrating, Podgorodnikov drew attention to some imperfection of Russian stoves that were popular with peasants at that time. As a person prone to analysis, he began to ponder how to eliminate the shortcomings of such equipment.
Subsequently, Podgorodnikov shared his best practices on this issue with Grum-Grzhimailo, an outstanding metallurgical engineer. Soon after, he received an invitation to enter the service of one of the Moscow design institutes. Subsequently, the main professional activity of Podgorodnikov was the design of metal furnaces. However, in his free time, he still continued to practice brickwork. The result of his efforts ultimately became a convenient and economical heating furnace. Subsequently, it was this essentially artisanal model that won the great sympathy of the common people.