Moving a radiator

In one of the rooms in my house, there is a radiator next to the door not as I would prefer under the window. I want to move it when we decorate the room, but my wife thinks that it would be better left where it is so we can put a table under the window (actually it has a computer on it and the blinds are drawn as soon as the sun comes out).

Can anyone suggest any reasons one way or another so I can make my arguments or take the less work option?

thanks

dan

Reply to
Dan Smithers
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If the spaghetti behind your computer is anything like mine, maybe not a good place for a rad.

Reply to
stuart noble

Dan I'm sure this has been discussed many times on this newsgroup if you want to search Google groups.

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what I can remember the old way was to put the rad under the window because windows weren't completely airtight so any draft coming in would help spread the warm air from the radiator out into the room.

Now that double glazing has come about virtually no drafts come from the window so there is no advantage putting it under one. I'm not sure if putting the rad at the door has the same effect with draughts coming through the doorway. I would guess they are just put there as it is much easier when installing.

We have just had our central heating replaced and the installers put all but one at the doors. When they first suggested putting them there I wasn't that enthusiastic but in hindsight it frees up the window wall. Its not as if furniture would be placed next to the door where a radiator is anyway?

Steven.

Reply to
Steven Campbell

Steven Campbell wrote in

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From what I can remember the old way was to put the rad under the

Is there an outside wall / internal wall issue? I was always given to understand (and treat that with the circumspection that it deserves) that radiators were best placed on internal walls.

Reply to
PeterMcC

Curtains.

Long ones cover up a radiator - so you are forced to choose between shorter ones (or none, blinds, etc.) or longer ones and inhibiting heat output from the radiator. (You might actually find the heat comes out of the radiator but largely heats the window.)

Reply to
Rod

Does your wife fancy the table for another object?

Why do you want the rad under the window?

Reply to
mogga

I've just done a reccy - and only 4 of my 11 radiators are under windows. Another is on an outside wall which doesn't have a window, but the majority (6) are on inside walls.

I think the best solution is to decide the most convenient location with regard to furniture and pipework - and not worry to much about windows. It could be argued that if you heat up an outside wall by putting a radiator next to it, you'll actually *increase* the overall heat loss, and thus increase your fuel bill.

Reply to
Roger Mills

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From what I can remember the old way was to put the rad under the window

We don't have double glazing - but that's another issue, mainly revolving around the fact that we don't like the look of any but the most expensive ones, and also like the faceted appearance of the separate panes in the leaded glass. Secondary glazing possibly.

We do have cavity wall insulation.

My understanding is that if the rad is next to a window, then the convection currents provide a warm air curtain by the window, and get deflected mostly back into the room. When put opposite the window (as it is) the currents actually tend to take the heat out.

We would have sill length curtains which ever we do and as to furniture, we have a bookcase that would do just fine where the radiator is currently, and would move the desk with the computer if the radiator went under the window.

Reply to
Dan Smithers

The matter is discussed in the wiki on CH design.

Reply to
Ed Sirett

The theory is, that a radiator under the window counteracts the cold drafts that would otherwise occur in a room. Basically, a window (especially non DG) is the cold spot in a room; the radiator the hot spot. Place them together and you eliminate those cold drafts around the feet that would otherwise occur - the cold air from the window would sink to the floor, chilling feet. The hot air from a radiator somewhere else in the room would just rise to the ceiling, and not really effect that cold air near the floor.

Reply to
Mikeyboy

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Yes.

In our house there's furniture under windows. I wouldn't want a radiator behind the furniture. The only place where there's a radiator under a windo is in this room, where my desk is in front ot the window and the radiator (very occasionally) keeps my legs and feet warm. that's the exception which proves our rule.

But why didn't you do the ch yourself???

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Far too complicated for me Mary. Plus any job I do takes weeks (if I can get away with it) and I doubt my wife would put up with that mess for that length of time ;o)

Steven.

Reply to
Steven Campbell

Made me think that. I have 8 rads, none under windows, all on inside walls.

Makes sense. Internal walls are a heat store.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

The message from "The Medway Handyman" contains these words:

Doesn't really.

If you want an acceptable room temperature close to the window then you have to heat the far side of the room higher than you would if your heat source was between the cold spot and the rest of the room. I don't suppose you can get an absolutely even temperature distribution across the whole room even with underfloor heating but with radiators you get the worst case scenario if you put them on an internal wall and as far away for the window as possible.

For the installer of course putting radiators back to back on the opposite sides of an internal wall rather than round the periphery of a house can make installation much easier.

Reply to
Roger

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