Moved radiator

steamychick

I have read that radiators were installed by fireplace chimneys as well as by windows and doors. So, it got me to thinking, why don't I have a rad near my fireplace? Found out that there used to be one there, but it was moved to a small add-on laundry/mud room, which I determined through measuring the moved rad and then measuring the space where it used to be and where the old piping lined up. The parlor, where the rad used to be, has another rad by the front door. Would it be better to put the rad back where it was originally and heat the small addition another way? It seems to stay colder in the addition than the rest of the house. If I should put it back, how do you think I should heat the small addition to work the best in co-operation with the steam heat?

Forgot to mention, the main stairway is right there where the old rad used to be. I'm betting that the rad that was removed used to heat the stairway and open 2nd floor hallway with the rising heat as well, as there is no rad in the 2nd floor hallway. The hallway seems to stay warm o.k. right now.

Jamie Hall

I'd only move the radiator back

if I needed the heat where it was -- which it doesn't sound as though you do.  The real question is, of course, is the heat comfortable as it is?



You mention that the addition seems colder -- is this undesirable?  If it is, you might consider scrounging around for a bigger radiator in there, and move this one back.  But I might point out, without quoting numbers, that radiators aren't cheap... and perhaps one can live with the mud room a bit cooler?

vaporvac

Hot water Loop

Steamychick, I had a similar situation with a radiator being removed from my hallway. Who knows why people did these things? In my case, they also removed the French doors between the two rooms flanking the hall so it was more "open plan". What this did was funnel all the heat up the staircase which then heated the third floor. You can feel the breeze. I thought maybe they removed it since all the heat ascended anyway.



You could fairly easily add a hot water loop to heat the addition. This uses the extra built-in capacity of the boiler from the pick-up factor. There are many posts on the subject outlining how to go about it. I might check the piping to ensure the old line wasn't mangled in some way first. You could size a new or old radiator to the room size and there you go. I think that the radiator that was moved to the addition wasn't big enough.. You'll have to figure out you edr 1st to see howw your boiler is sized in comparison. It's probably too large (which is OK for the loop), but there have been some recent posts about boiler that are too small.