The house I grew up in had an incinerator in the basement, as did many of the houses in my neighborhood. This was in Ohio and most of the houses in my neighborhood were built in the 1920s.
Since then, I’ve never encountered any homes with basement incinerators. I’m not even sure if they are installed in new homes. Does anyone know anything about this? Are they even legal to have and to use?
At the risk of drawing the ire of the short-tempered, I’m going to post what I THINK, rather than a fact I can prove, because what you’re asking is a negative. And, you can’t prove a negative.
So, what I THINK is, the answer is probably not. I don’t imagine most people would want one, and many communities now have “clean air” laws/rules/regulations that prohibit homeowners from burning leaves, let alone anything more substantial. I suspect there are probably fire regulations prohibiting their use in most places, as well.
Incinerators or coal furnaces?
Incinerators.
Ours was about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide. It had a door in the front, about 18 inches square. The burning chamber was maybe 8 cubic feet. I don’t recall whether it was lit by natural gas or just by matches.
I checked the city codes of Lafayette, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Bloomington, and Gary, Indiana. They all prohibit basement incinerators.