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Before world war 2, gravity hot air systems were very popular in the US. Needed HUGE pipes, furnace looked like an octopus and took up half the basement. Hot water was also popular but cost more, so was used mostly in bigger houses. In the 1800s steam heat was also used a lot. When i was a little kid we lived in a 1920 house with gravity hot air, and huge asbestos insulated round ducts all over the basement that my dad was always hitting his head on. My house now was built in the 30s, with hot water radiators that are recessed into the walls. Originally a coal fired boiler, long since replaced by a gas boiler and a pump. Originally the water flow was by gravity. Theres still a coal fired water heater and tank sitting in the basement, that was used for domestic hot water in the summer when they didnt want to run the main boiler, which would have had a water heating coil in the firebox.
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