It's not like I wouldn't have central heat. This winter when Global Warming was falling all over Alabama and we had the coldest winter in many years, that's the sort of time I would use it silly.
TDD
Doug Miller wrote the following:
I was raised in NYC in the 1940s. Steam was the main heating source for many homes and buildings. You haven't been around long enough to contradict me on what I remember.
YOU DAMN KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!!
TDD
"willshak" wrote
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some radiators are very good looking and have rather refined patterns in the casting. Steam and cast iron, IMO, is the best way to heat. Hot water is better for the lower temperature, but steam allows heat to be transported longer distances from the boiler without the use of pumps.
Longevity and durability. Penitentiaries built in the 30s had cast iron radiators. This was before Jimmy Hoffa ever walked the line.
Originally a coal fired plant that was later up dated, but the radiators never changed.
In '92 radiators were still used after 60 years? (service/maintenance).
Al Capone walked the same corridors, before his transfer to Alcatraz.
I didn't say you remembered incorrectly -- I said you have misconceptions about radiators. You do. They don't get any hotter than the water that's circulated through them.
Because at the time they were invented, cast iron was cheap, and there were already foundries in place that new how to make stuff out of it. And properly brewed and cast, they also last close enough to forever, that looking for other materials didn't seem cost effective. If it ain't broke, etc.
When the era of enclosed radiators started, and people wanted smaller radiators that didn't suck up so much wall space, they did bring out copper with fins inside a sheet metal box.
Weight and convenience didn't matter that much, other than to the poor SOB pipe-fitter installing them. Not like most of them ever moved once installed. And cast iron, unlike finned copper, has a lot of mass, and stays warm longer after the steam or water cycles off. That buffers the temp swings in the room, a little. Anybody know what year they started attaching fans to room radiators?
-- aem sends...
Back then, ConEd actually sold piped steam to many of the buildings, so they didn't have to mess with having a boiler. Probably still do in the older parts of town. I'm sure individual stand-alone houses had their own little boilers.
-- aem sends...
Doug Miller wrote the following:
Read this:
Nothing there says that radiators get hotter than what's circulated through them. Do you contend that they can?
Doug Miller wrote: ...
Where on earth did you get such a notion that any other poster had any idea they get hotter than supply?
All he said was that they are hot surfaces and small persons should be kept away -- which is all true (particularly if steam heat as opposed to hot water, the surface temperature may be pretty hot on full flow).
Hot water in a tub isn't any hotter than the water out of the water heater, either, but it can surely scald (particularly young, tender skin).
Typical hot water heat may be in the 180F max range while steam can be around 215F--that's plenty warm enough to say "ouch" even giving a few degrees for radiator surface temperature and distribution drop as opposed to steam outlet temperature .
He said they were extremely hot, or some such -- which is *not* true of most hot-water systems.
Well, that isn't saying they're hotter than the water is it?
And, it then depends on the definition of what one means by "extremely" and I'd give the other guy the benefit of the doubt...all one has to do is have a recollection as a little kid at grandma's house and you'll be convinced for life (and you _can_ amhikt).
--
dpb wrote: ...
...
And, the word was "very" which is even less incriminating of any real problem...
--
Right. Cast iron isn't worth its hype. Copper/aluminum is the way to go for homes (cast iron is more rugged for commercial use).
Nope. I this sense they're both "convectors". A "radiator" (without convection) wouldn't be at all efficient. The source temperature would have to be much too high.
The point is that cast iron radiators are not inherently dangerous, as willshak erroneously stated. It's _steam heat_ that's (potentially) dangerous.
Missing the point, both of you. The "lag factor" isn't an issue when the room stays at a comfortable temperature all the time. It's apparent that you've never lived in a home with a hot-water heating system using cast iron radiators.
That I don't doubt. On second thought, I don't think they would cook you all the way, because then they couldn't torture you anymore.
Wood would really suck.
Jimmie
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.