Radiator covers . Need help !

Steamedhead

I will be building about 20 radiator covers this summer and have read somewhere to enclose the back so the outside wall will not absorb much heat , any truth to this ?  Also any suggestions on designe would be very helpfull . Screen the front , vent the top ?  ect .  Thank You  ...... 

Steamhead

The usual cover

cuts the radiator's output by 33%. Can you afford to pay the increased fuel bills? 

Steamedhead

covers

I am the engineer of a building that was built in 1929 and has 57 apartments . The 20 covers are for 4 apts. that don't have them .  Now i am thinking here about your 33% . If i remove the hundreds of covers from the 53 apts. the heat savings will be 33% ?  There is no way to vent covers anywhere to make them more efficient ?

Rod

Radiator Covers

Hi- The following might be of help to you.

- Rod

nicholas bonham-carter

radiator covers=energy hogs??

why not post some pictures of the radiators and their covers so we can see what their effect would be.

as an engineer, you must know that "....energy can neither be created nor destroyed"; however it can certainly be slowed down. it is that slowing down which is the enemy here.--nbc

Brad White

What Rod posted

are terrific. Within this, I would suggest a short bit of investigation to determine if the radiators are not already over-sized to compensate for their intended installation within covers. (As the smaller document, Radiation Enclosures.pdf shows, you could add up to 30% to a radiator enclosed with a front-face-only cover or deduct 5% to 10% for those enclosed with open tops and low inlets.)



My note of caution here is that by removing the covers you may wind up in an over-heating situation and trigger other corrective measures.

wwboater

try metal

Try metal radiator covers.  Metal is a conductor, wood is an insulator.

Check out smkenterprises.org

Steamhead

All the ones on their site

are the type that cuts the rads' output by 33%.



They even insulate the top, so no heat can get out at that point!



Fuel suppliers must love those things................

Chris M_2

Radiator Covers

I think a good question to ask is, "Why do you want to cover the radiator(s)?"   I'm thinking of ways to cover mine, and I tend to try to build myself what I'd otherwise pay someone else to buy or build for me.  That said... If the cover is for aesthetic purposes only (not to have decorative items sitting on top of it, as some people I know do), then think in terms of materials other than a rigid wood or metal enclosure.  What about a shelf, with most of it's surface area being an open vent, mounted above the radiator?  That satisfies the top portion.  For the sides and front, I'm thinking about a thin fabric, maybe a sheer, semi transparent fabric, like window curtains, with weights sewn into the bottom to keep it from swaying into the room as the heat passes through it.  Then, fasten to the wall some of that heat reflective material you can pick up at any Home Depot. An alternative to a fabric could possibly be something similar to those 70's era doorway curtain thingies... you know, the ones made up of a series of strings mounted from the top of the doorway, with beads of different colors?   I know I'm gonna catch flack for this post.  BRING IT ON!  Hahaha (I refuse to use LOL). 

Charlie from wmass

Use justed used lol.

What do people have against the look of a radiator? I never understood why people think they are ugly. Paint them new colors or patterns it will look better than Love Shack beads.

nicholas bonham-carter

"swimming with your raincoat on"

since your system already has to overcome the insulating effects of radiator enclosures, it would be doubly important to make sure the system is in very good operating condition. this would include lots of good mainline venting, and low steam pressure for a quick response to a call for heat.--nbc

Steamedhead

I'm back

I do thank all of you for the help but let me try and make this more clear . I simply asked for the most efficient design because i need to make a few . Some have said to get rid of them which is impossible , there are over 3 hundred . As i have said in a prior post in this thread my building is over 80 years old , with that age brought every radiator cover you can imagine  ( and probably some you have not ) . I have steel , wood , plywood , open tops , closed tops , bookshelves , closed fronts / open fronts , you name it it's there . I did read to completely enclose it , cut 3 inches from the bottom / front , cut an opening in the top which will create a chimney effect . The back is inclosed for the outside wall not to absorb heat . Thoughts ?  A picture would be great .

  Thank you

Steamhead

Try reading these articles

since you're the engineer, you can use this info to lower the building's fuel consumption. These are under "Radiators" in the Library, which you can access by clicking Resources above.



http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/158/Radiators/1537/Radiator-Enclosures



http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/158/Radiators/1563/Radiaor-Enclosures-additional-info-by-Frank-Steamhead-Wilsey



There's a lot more on this site than The Wall.

Unknown

BINGO!

block the back of the radiator to minimize the delta T heatloss+ paint the exposed area of the rad black to maximize radiant + paint the top of the rad silver/white to minimize radiant to ceiling?

Mark N

Simple Experiment

When I first came across this info about rad covers what I did was real simple. i timed how long it took to satisfy the tstat with rad covers closed. It averaged about 35 minutes. I then propped open the lids on the covers. With the lids propped open the boiler ran an average of about 22 minutes to satisfy the tstat. With the lids open and not blocking the convection the tstat was satisfied quicker and the house was just as comfortable. The first winter I left the covers propped open. The next I just removed them all together. Over the last 3 years I've no doubt saved quite a bit of fuel and the house is just as comfortable.