Since the beginning of human history, people have found ways to keep themselves warm and safe in cold weather conditions. But, we haven’t always had the convenience of heating systems that run on natural gas, propane, oil, or electricity. Here’s an interesting history of humankind trying to keep warm.

  • 1,900,000 BC: Archaeologists believe that early humans may have started using fire in a controlled fashion around 1.9 million years ago. They created central fires in dwellings with openings in the roof for smoke to escape.
  • 42,000 BC: Neanderthals in present-day Ukraine built hearths with mammoth bones.
  • 7,500 – 5,700 BC: Neolithic settlements in present-day Turkey used open hearths.
  • 3,000 BC: Braziers were used to heat Romanian homes.
  • 2,500 BC: Greeks in ancient Rome developed radiant central heating systems. Some buildings, baths, and upper-class homes had hypocaust furnaces to heat empty spaces under floors, which were connected to pipes in the walls. Similar furnaces were developed in other cultures, including Korean communities and some Muslim communities.
  • 1,000 BC: On Mount Parnassus in ancient Greece, a goat herder found a flame rising from a crack in the earth. It is believed that the flame was actually created from natural gas seeping from the surface that was ignited by lightning. The ancient Greeks built a temple at this site, where the Oracle at Delphi gave out prophecies thought to be guided by this divine flame.
  • AD 400: Methods for home heating systems again became more primitive after the fall of the Roman Empire, mostly consisting of simple fireplaces.
  • AD 800: The first clay stoves were made.
  • 1200: Cistercian monks in Christian Europe revived interest in central home heating systems and used river diversion and wood-burning furnaces. The first chimneys appeared around this time.
  • 1400: The first masonry stoves were built, and by the 1500s, they became common. Chimneys became more refined.
  • 1624: Louis Savot invented the circulating fireplace in France. He created a raised grate for the fireplace that promoted airflow.
  • The 1700s: English buildings started using combustion air from an outside duct. Peter the Great enjoyed the earliest air home heating system with hot water in his Summer Palace in Russia.
  • 1741: Benjamin Franklin invented the more-efficient Franklin Stove.
  • 1785: The British begin to light homes and streetlights with natural gas produced from coal.
  • Late 1700s: James Watt used a central boiler and a system of pipes to develop the first working steam-based heating system for his home in Scotland.
  • 1805: William Strutt from England invented a warm-air furnace that heated air, which was then sent through a series of ducts into the spaces of the building. Around the same time, homes in France started using fire-tube hot air furnaces.
  • 1859: Edmund Drake drilled the first natural gas well near Titusville, Pa.
  • 1883: Thomas Edison invented an electric heater.
  • 1855: Franz San Galli from Russia invented the radiator.
  • 1882: UGI was incorporated as United Gas Improvement Co.
  • 1885: Warren Johnson patented the first thermostat.
  • 1885: The Bunsen burner was invented. This was the first natural gas flame that could be regulated and became the precursor to modern gas home heating systems.
  • 1895: Dave Lennox was the first man to manufacture and sell a steel coal furnace.
  • Early 1900s: Albert Marsh discovered Chromel, an alloy made of one-part Chromium and four parts nickel or iron. Chromel was 300 times stronger than other similar materials of the time. This made it possible to create electrical heating elements. Marsh is widely regarded as the “father of the electrical heating industry.”
  • 1919: Alice Parker patented the first central home heating system, which gave people an easy way to regulate the temperature throughout their building.
  • 1935: Scientists designed forced convection wall heaters using a coal furnace, electric fan, and ductwork throughout a house. By the 1950s, recessed wall heaters became common in many homes and apartments.
  • Late 1940s: Robert C. Webber invented the direct exchange ground-source heat pump.
  • 1990: SolarWall invented solar air heating.
  • The 2000s: “Smart” technologies give homeowners the ability to regulate heat in their homes remotely using electronic devices.