Radiator Covers

I think there is a fundamental difference in the way radiators heat when they are exposed and when they are covered. Exposed radiators at lower temperatures, as in a hot water heating system, heat by radiation. This means that, like a fireplace or like the sun's heat, they heat objects directly and not the air. This has the advantage of not creating cold air pockets or dry air. In my opinion, this is a gentler more even kind of heat. When radiators are blocked from radiating by an enclosure, they heat by convection, which is by heating the air that they come in contact with inside the radiator cover. This is more like the heating provided by heating ducts, or fin-type baseboards and can create cold air pockets, dry air, etc. There is also the possibility with an enclosure that the heat may find itself blocked and get lost into the wall behind the radiator. One way to decrease this would be to place shiny aluminum foil behind the radiator that would then reflect that heat back into the room. However, given a choice (absence of small children, cooler radiators as in a hotwater system as opposed to a steam system where the radiators almost always convect as well as radiate) I would leave them exposed. And hopefully your radiators are ornate and worth being left exposed.

Posted by: Yeshwant at November 30, 2005 11:11 AM