US Standards for Radiators

Gianpiero

Hi everybody,
I'm Gianpiero, an italian student who is trying to get though a work on US market of radiators. What i would like to know is:
1) Which are the standards for the US radiators' market? I mean, i need to know it to compare with european ones;
2) Which is the supply chain? I mean, who sells them in US? where do i find informations about this things?
Thanks in advance,
Gianpiero

Steamhead

You've come to the right place

We love radiators here!

You probably know that in America we still use the English system of measurement rather than the SI (Metric) one. This forms the basis for two commonly used radiator ratings.

The first is Equivalent Direct Radiation (EDR), measured in Square Feet. Originally, radiators took the form of flattened tin boxes, and their capacity was determined by their surface area. With later designs this was harder to measure, so engineers came up with better ways to determine how much heat a radiator would emit.

The second is British Thermal Units (BTU) per hour. For a given radiator this will vary with the temperature of the water or steam inside. One Square Foot EDR will emit 240 BTU per hour with steam at 215 degrees F, and 150 BTU/hour with hot water at an average temperature of 170 degrees F in the radiator.

There are several good computer programs out there which will convert the above units of measurement to Metric ones.

Radiator design has been pretty well standardized since the turn of the 20th century. This means that if you had to use a radiator with, say, 3-column sections that were 26 inches high, you could buy whatever brand of radiator you wanted and it would have the same rating. There were exceptions however- the Princess and Union radiators made by H.B. Smith Co. and the original Corto tubular units made by American Radiator Co. were two that are still very common today.

Radiators are still made today. Most of these are "small-tube" units of standard ratings, but companies like Burnham are marketing column-type units again for restoring old houses. And some companies like Runtal produce modern-looking radiators. Any of these would be available through a heating or plumbing equipment supply house.

Recommended Reading:

"The Lost Art of Steam Heating" and "E.D.R.". Both of these excellent books were written by Dan Holohan, and contain much historical data. You can buy them on the Books and More page of this site.

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