New Radiator for Mud Room

mgambuzza

I am thinking of having a radiator added to our mudroom(1 pipe steam). It is about 6'x5' with 8' ceiling. This room goes directly into my kitchen, and adding would help with keeping that room warmer, and coats, boots, etc in the mudroom much warmer in the wintertime. From experience here, what size radiator would be most adequate for this size room?

EBEBRATT-Ed

Without knowing the construction materials in the mud room or even the size I can't even guess. You should do a heat loss of the room,

As far a a steam radiator for this room it may or may not be possible. Steam lines need to have pitch to work properly.

Can you post pictures and/or a sketch?

Daveinscranton

This is not terribly scientific.  It does work.  

You can put a 500 watt cheap electric heater in the mud room.  As an experiment.  Even better if it is 500/1000/1500 watts.  Get a feel for mud room temp vs outside temp.

You can convert watts to btu’s etc.   It is not a perfect way to sort out heat loss.  But it is not bad and it will get you into the ballpark.

All of the portable electric heater warnings apply (even for a brief experiment).

dabrakeman

You can also start with something like this to get an idea.
https://omnicalculator.com/construction/heat-loss


Don't know your room or use details of course but can't imagine you needing more than 16 or 17 sqft worst case (maybe like an old 38" two tube 4 section radiator). Can depend on how much extra heat you may or may not want in the kitchen or how much you may want to overheat the mudroom to limit drafts when the exterior door is opened. You can vent it slower if bit too big.

mgambuzza

dabrakeman said:

You can also start with something like this to get an idea. https://omnicalculator.com/construction/heat-loss Don't know your room or use details of course but can't imagine you needing more than 16 or 17 sqft worst case (maybe like an old 38" two tube 4 section radiator). Can depend on how much extra heat you may or may not want in the kitchen or how much you may want to overheat the mudroom to limit drafts when the exterior door is opened. You can vent it slower if bit too big.

I’ve included a picture of the room below. Tonight I placed a small space heater and set it at 1000 W. It was able to heat up the room and maintain a 68° temperature. Yes, I would agree a radiator the size that was mentioned Should be adequate. Now off to find the right heating contractor or boiler pro for the installation. 

dabrakeman

Where are you located?