The old gravity furnaces on the other hand, I don't hate (except fo the asbestos tape around the duct work and it's not usually a problem if you leave it alone)-- They are very inefficient (60%) but there is nothing at all to break, they work even in a power outage, and they put out serious heat.

Now I knew that historical district could be a thorn in your side, but I had no idea the extent to which I had underestimated the gravity of the situation I was about to get myself into.

Chris,I am guessing by "Old Style Radiators" you mean the upright, silver cast iron steam or gravity hot water ones.You can box the old style radiators to update the look.

That we should be working much harder to pick ourselves out of the gravity well and find another home elsewhere because this one's not in good shape and getting worse.THAT'S WHAT THE SCIENCE SUPPORTS.

As it was explained to me, the system depends on gravity and if the rise to the shower is not sufficient, gravity does not have enough runway to get the job done.   

The strangest story is that 4 days after closing on one of the homes the neighbors told me that a 14 year old boy had stabbed his grandma to death and stuffed her into a gravity fed furnace in the home, he was later killed by another family memberWell, when the new tenant moved in she had been there a week and I was chattting with her about how every thing was going, and she said "Well great but the house is haunted".

Either will spray water inside shower wall were gravity will then rTake it wherever is lower.

Andrew,A 100 year old house has likely settled unevenly as gravity takes over. 

The earth moves around the sun to counterbalance the sun's gravity pulling the earth into it.

I also have to replace the existing gravity furnace and have the ductwork removed so that I can have space to finish off the basement.