Living room radiator

duncan32

Hello,

Ok, this is the question, and I imagine a lot of people have a similar thing in their living room? The radiator (traditional size, along the wall under the window) has a big leather sofa directly in front of it. So, I am thinking that his blocks off most of the heat and wastes a lot of if, with it drifting up to the window.....

I am looking at getting a more modern style of radiator, the sort that can be put vertically in the corner, perhaps, so it is not blocked off by either of the leather sofas that we have in the living room.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing, please?

Thanks in advance,

Duncan

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Make sure you calculate the right BTU rating for your room & buy the right BTU radiator..

Google "BTU calculator"....

gasmanmartin

In my experience these radiators are really for appearance mostly - their heat output is not very good - regardless of what the manufacturer states.

i'd personally just keep the rad where it is, even thought there is a sofa infront, it will be far better than one up the wall

keystone

As the majority of a radiator's heat output is dissipated via convection rather than radiation there doesn't seem too much point. I agree with gmm - thses things are expensive and cosmetic rather than practical.

Cheers

ixwood

Sounds like a lot of hassle/cost for limited benefit to me. Modern radiators mostly convect heat out of the top.

And being under a window sounds stupid, but apparently it is the best place for them as the heat from radiator meets the cold from the window and then goes out into the room, rather than straight up to the ceiling.

You could put some foil lined cardboard (or buy the equivalent proper product) on the back of the sofa to reflect the heat up the way.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

ixwood wrote: »

Sounds like a lot of hassle/cost for limited benefit to me. Modern radiators mostly convect heat out of the top.

And being under a window sounds stupid, but apparently it is the best place for them as the heat from radiator meets the cold from the window and then goes out into the room, rather than straight up to the ceiling.

You could put some foil lined cardboard (or buy the equivalent proper product) on the back of the sofa to reflect the heat up the way.

Not true.....

ixwood

I did say apparently, meaning I think i'd read that somewhere.

I just googled it and the most common view seemed to be that under windows was the best place:-

http://energysavingnow.com/comfort/

[FONT=verdana,arial]"A person will feel radiation from and to surfaces and it will contribute to his perception of temperature and feeling of comfort. It is easy to identify radiation from warm surfaces, but radiation to cold surfaces is often wrongly identified as air movement (draft). If it is both a warm and a cold surface radiating in the same direction the person will feel the sum of them and they compensate each other. This is the reason for always place radiators on outside walls and under windows in the rooms. Placing radiators on partition walls and especially opposite outside walls, is a design error. "[/FONT]

keystone

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Not true.....

Used to be.

Old habits die hard.

Cheers

1984ReturnsForReal_2

keystone wrote: »

Used to be.

Old habits die hard.

Cheers

Yep...

Its a shame all those commenting on forums are not aware that every modern day plumbing & heating engineer is taught this is precisely where you never place them...


Anyways the answer why you dont place them by a window in modern houses is because is creates a small area of thermal convection & a lot of the energy is lost through the window & outside wall...

But its more to do with the lack of thermal convection due to a cold air supply being situated so close to the heat source...

DVardysShadow

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Yep...

Its a shame all those commenting on forums are not aware that every modern day plumbing & heating engineer is taught this is precisely where you never place them...


Anyways the answer why you dont place them by a window in modern houses is because is creates a small area of thermal convection & a lot of the energy is lost through the window & outside wall...

But its more to do with the lack of thermal convection due to a cold air supply being situated so close to the heat source...

Well of course the energy is lost through the window. That is what happens when you have a warm room regardless of where the radiator is. And the fact that it causes a small convection zone is exactly what you want. If you have the radiator away from the window, you get a large convection zone which pushes hot air past your head and cold air past your feet.

It strikes me that what you are telling us here is exactly right as to the physics and being interpreted completely wrongly as to where to put radiators. I can believe that the physics is being taught as you describe on modern heating and plumbing courses, but if anyone is teaching that the rads should go away from the window based on the physics, then they have got hold of completely the wrong end of the stick.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Well of course the energy is lost through the window. That is what happens when you have a warm room regardless of where the radiator is. And the fact that it causes a small convection zone is exactly what you want. If you have the radiator away from the window, you get a large convection zone which pushes hot air past your head and cold air past your feet.

It strikes me that what you are telling us here is exactly right as to the physics and being interpreted completely wrongly as to where to put radiators. I can believe that the physics is being taught as you describe on modern heating and plumbing courses, but if anyone is teaching that the rads should go away from the window based on the physics, then they have got hold of completely the wrong end of the stick.

Good. You agree rads should not be placed by windows.

And the right end of the stick is??