Radiators under windows

ic

What are peoples feelings on this?

At present in my living room I've a six foot double radiator located under the large front window. However my sofa backs on to this, so I have to leave a gap - meaning the sofa is actually about six inches from the wall either side of the radiator. I'm thinking about installing two smaller radiators instead - a 2 foot radiator below the smaller side window to the right of the sofa, and then a 4 foot radiator on an inside wall on the other side of the room.

Will I feel colder? I always shut the curtains to keep the heat in.

macman

Rads used to be installed under or near windows, because that's where the greatest heat loss was. With double glazing and improved insulation it's not so critical now.

savemoney

We have a long double rad under bay window around 7 foot long by about 16" height. We have a medium to large living room with a large bay window double glazed. It kicks out a lot of heat so much so, I have to have door open otherwise I fall asleep on sofa and I only have heating set to around 20-21c

My old house had rad on wall at back of sofa didnt get any problems with leather sofa I tried to keep it around 6" off the rad though

Rikki

Another reason radiators were situated under windows was to leave the other walls free for furniture. People didn't put furniture in front of windows.

At the moment you are heating the back of the sofa so moving the radiator is going to let the heat out into the room more. Does the sofa have to go in front of the window?

ic

Oh yes, its a corner sofa that is square-on to the wall mounted TV opposite. The wall to the right has the fireplace, and then the opposite (which is where I'm going to put the larger radiator) is a walkway between the front door/porch to the dining room at the back - so there is no furniture on this wall.

maninthestreet

Rikki wrote: »

Another reason radiators were situated under windows was to leave the other walls free for furniture. People didn't put furniture in front of windows.

At the moment you are heating the back of the sofa so moving the radiator is going to let the heat out into the room more. Does the sofa have to go in front of the window?

But cold draughts will be drawn across the room from the window.

ormus

theres no easy answer to the problem of siting radiators in the lounge.
most houses have modest size rooms. esp modern ones.
even if you put the rad on the chimney facing wall, chances are that a sofa will be there. (as in our house).

with DG and the trend for 3+2 sofas, its a bit of a problem.

savemoney

We do in both houses we have, we put a chair from a 3 piece suit. Others houses I seen similar to our old house (2 bedroom terraced) also had this, I thought its the norm

Rikki wrote: »

Another reason radiators were situated under windows was to leave the other walls free for furniture. People didn't put furniture in front of windows.

At the moment you are heating the back of the sofa so moving the radiator is going to let the heat out into the room more. Does the sofa have to go in front of the window?

dander

I'd also be worried that if your sofa is in front of the window and you take the radiator away you'll realy feel the cold coming in form the window on the back of your neck.