Radiator Size
I am searching for a heating professional who can come to my house and evaluate the heating system. I was just told by my boiler technician that making changes to the sizes of radiators in my house will directly impact the heat, which sounds logical. From others I have also been told that new radiators…
I am searching for a heating professional who can come to my house and evaluate the heating system. I was just told by my boiler technician that making changes to the sizes of radiators in my house will directly impact the heat, which sounds logical. From others I have also been told that new radiators are more efficient and have greater surface area so they can replace larger old radiators. My oil/steam boiler in my three story brownstone is working fine, but now I have concerns about the radiators. I would appreciate any contacts for heating specialists or advice with regard to radiators. the last thing I want to do is dimish the heat capacity of my house.
ha, bobjohn, the 2nd rule requires an isolated system. A steam radiator standing in a closed room is not isolated. I submit to you that heat within the ineffeceint radiator that doesn’t make it to surface area of the radiator is lost to the returning static atmosphere via the air vent when the boiler cuts out.
Lol!!!
Thanks, bobjohn.
You know, when publishing information that someone may be relying on to a widely-read forum such as this one, I tend to stick to two rules:
1. don’t discuss money/politics/religion
2. stick to what I know and do every day
modsquad – you are contradicting to second rule of thermodynamic. What is more silly – you contradicting with what MP said. And I would believe that second rule of thermodynamic is wrong before I will believe that MP is wrong.
OP, go to heatinghelp.com and print out a radiator sizing chart. The chart has both old and new style radiators. You can figure out radiator size for a room yourself. Go a bit bigger if the room has multiple exterior exposures (side walls, roof, etc.).
But MP’s question is a good one — what are you trying to accomplish? Are some rooms too hot or cold? Or are you just trying to free up wall space with smaller radiators?
modsquad, right (practically) & wrong (pedantically). ALL the heat introduced into the radiator will transfer to the room regardless of material or color or fins, at 100% efficiency.
But a finned radiator, or a less dense (copper) will transfer more heat (not more efficiently but a higher quantity, therefore more effectively) because it should take longer to reach its saturation point (not right term, but the point at which the vent shuts off steam input.)
Conversely, an insulated or air-restricted radiator will transfer less heat (but equally efficiently) because it fills with steam faster as a result of the restriction.
Denton, MP,
The answer that all radiators are 100% efficient is disingenuous. I think OP is actually asking what is a more efficient way to heat his house. In actual fact a copper radiator would be more efficient only because it would require less energy to “overcome” the material that the radiator is made out of. The elimination of radiators all together is the most efficient way to heat a room . Nothing is more impressive than a room full of steam from an open 2″ riser!(does that make it 101% efficient?? 102%) But that is splitting hairs. Are you and MP saying that all the veins and feet on radiators are strictly for looks? Aren’t some radiator designs more efficient than others in heating a room.
ms, heat moves from hot to cold. When the rad temp drops to the room temp, then it has transferred all the heat in it to the room. Therefore it is 100% efficient.
The amount of heat actually transferred is a function of the following:
-the temp of the steam (which is fixed by the boiler)
-the size of the rads.
As MP points out, the size of the rads doesn’t matter in terms of efficiency, since 100% efficiency is realized by all rads. A bigger rad will transfer more heat, but it will take more steam to make up that heat. Hence the need to neither under-size nor over-size the rads.
Solid, I’d agree with part of your 6:05 post. I’d agree with the part about windows and insulation. If better insulating windows and more thermal insulation was added since the original design, you should be able to reduce the size of the rads. Since you have reduced the time it takes from heat to transfer from the inside of your home to the outside. But someone experienced will have to make these calculations.
Modsquad, what do you think happens to that steam after a “finite amount of time”? It only stops being steam because it looses energy to the surrounding air.
The rest of your statement, as I read it, amounts to: a bigger radiator will take in more steam and give off more heat. That’s still the same efficiency, only your spending more on transferring more energy…certainly not “saving money” at all.
Believe me. I’m all over this stuff.
hey bklynsolid, if you found that professional, let me know, we’re need of some advice for our apartment. thanks