Radiator Covers

Kev3b

Hi all. I've really enjoyed reading over this site the past few days. Lots of great info. My main venting issues are completely solved and all my radiators are deadly quiet. I never thought it would go from being so noisy to not making a single noise.



So, now I'm on to balancing the system. All the rads have adjustable vent-rites and for the most part fully heat up at the same time. The radiators in the living room and dining room have covers on them. Two of them are four sided metals with a mesh front and a removable top. The third is a wood enclosure with no back and a mesh front. The rad that has the wooden enclosure is over-sized compared to the rest of the units in the apartment. At one time the current living room was two rooms, where the over-sized rad was the heat source for a small sun room in the front of the house. A previous renovation took down the dividing wall and now it's one big room.



Anyways, I've been reading that not all enclosures are necessarily beneficial and some can actually hinder proper heating. Should I leave the covers on or remove them.



The thermostat is centrally located in the dining room, which does have a cover. But, that radiator is already the smallest, in terms of EDR, in the apartment. I just want to make sure I'm running as efficient as possible before the real cold weather moves in.

Joe V_2

I installed covers

Have not noticed any appreciable losses.  Not saying there aren't any, but I have not noticed.

Joe V_2

I installed covers

Joe V_2

I installed covers

vaporvac

Retrofit Rad Covers

This has been covered recently in the following thread. You'll have to scroll to the end to find the relevant posts. You do lose heat with most designs, especially the ones you mentioned. However, I gained huge comfort from retrofitting mine as I liked not having the exposed radiators in some situations.I can actually sit in some formerly freezing rooms. From worst to best design can increase the heat by 40%. Even with less that's still a lot. Check it out.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/144009/Steamed-up-over-Steam-Boiler-Short-Cycling

gerry gill

here is a link

that will take you to some university of illinois studies that will answer all your radiator questions..radiator covers are the one area you can have your cake and eat it too.



http://www.gwgillplumbingandheating.com/webapp/GetPage?pid=238

Kev3b

Thanks guys

Appreciate the help. Will look into those readings.



I think for now I'm going to see how things go without the covers. My major concern is that the the covered rad in the dining room is making the system cycle longer than it needs to.

Mark N

Rad Covers

My own experience with rad covers was they caused they boiler to run longer to satisfy the tstat. The type I had were the same as in your picture. This is what I did when I was experimenting. First I timed how long the boiler ran with the lids closed. The run times averaged around 30 minutes. Then I timed with the lids propped open. The runs averaged around 20 minutes. That was enough to convince me that the rad covers were making the boiler run longer to satisfy the thermostat. The one thing I didn't time was on average how long the boiler was off between runs. Maybe the boiler would be off longer between runs with the covers because the rads were hotter because the boiler was running 10 minutes longer. Either way 4 years ago the rad covers were put up in the attic. If your looking for you steam system to be as efficient as possible, there is more to it than rad covers.

Kev3b

Thank Mark

Appreciate the input.



I agree there is more to it than just the covers. Everything else is functioning normally, just wasn't sure with the covers would make a big difference or not.

Mark N

Time

Time your run times like I did and see what you come up with.

Joe V_2

I stand corrected

My run time is longer but from a comfort level , The house heats up in 15 minutes from cold and because of local climate, once is enough for a couple hours.