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Aluminum radiators

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Dismantalus
Dismantalus Member Posts: 1
in Radiant Heating
Has anybody had any experience with Hudson Reed aluminum flat panel radiators, or anyone else's for that matter?

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  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,853
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    No personal experience, but....

    You should be made aware that aluminum does have a fairly narrow requirement as it pertains to system fluid pH, and if not properly maintained, aluminum will lose parent material.



    Water quality control is unheard of in most residential situations...



    ME
    It's not so much a case of "You got what you paid for", as it is a matter of "You DIDN'T get what you DIDN'T pay for, and you're NOT going to get what you thought you were in the way of comfort". Borrowed from Heatboy.
  • Gordan
    Gordan Member Posts: 891
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    How much...

    How much of an issue would you expect this to be in a closed system? Just like iron doesn't like an endless supply of oxygen, but it's ok to deploy it in a closed system because eventually all free oxygen will become bound, it would seem that anything that would corrode aluminum would only corrode a small portion of it before it's all bound, too.
  • Jean-David Beyer
    Jean-David Beyer Member Posts: 2,666
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    Try this experiment. Better yet, do not try it.

    If you put some mercury on aluminum,  wherever the mercury contacts will be oxidized. Aluminum forms a protective coating on its surface by combining with oxygen. But mercury amalgamates with that coating and this allows the aluminum to oxidize. But the mercury then ...  rinse and repeat.



    The reason aluminum seems resistant to oxidation is because metallic mercury is not common in the environment. I doubt much mercury will be found in heating systems.



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Ilxsu-JlY
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    edited March 2012
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    Aluminum, and PH

    If PH is not monitored like Mark said It will attack the aluminum until PH is in check. Unlike oxygen in the system that soon is depleted.



    Ph does not equalize over a period of time with out interaction.



    Think of it as having non barrier tubing with ferrous components. The tubing keeps replenishing the water with O2. So the ferrous components never get a break from the action.



    Ask the aluminum HX boiler manufactures Like Buderus,Slant Fin, and WM What they think about ph running wild in the system.



    Gordy
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