rads under windows, yay or nah????

mukki

well if your building a house where will you be putting them?

where do you have them in your current house?


all i can think off

against
loss of heat
loss of heat

for
gives you more walls to put stuff up against
heat loss is much less with modern windows

mjffey

If possible rads should always be put under windows. I never understood why here in ireland they put rads on the walls instead of under windows. Not very logical.

tapest

mjffey wrote:

If possible rads should always be put under windows. I never understood why here in ireland they put rads on the walls instead of under windows. Not very logical.

Because it's easier / handyer...short pipe runs etc
t

JamesM

mjffey wrote:

If possible rads should always be put under windows. I never understood why here in ireland they put rads on the walls instead of under windows. Not very logical.

The thinking always was to put the rads under the windows to catch the cold air coming in and heat it.
You often see all the rads along the centre walls in a house to cut down on the run of pipes etc. When a builder is building 100 houses you can save a lot of piping.
I have seen a system with the boiler in the kitchen, and the rads in all the rooms on the nearest wall to it. It can be economical, because there is less water to heat than if the pipes run around the room to the window.
Jim.

mjffey

Gosh, I always thought that you would place the rads there where they are most effective. I didn't know that it's more a money thing. So that's why you see windows being blocked by funiture because the walls are for the radiators.

The Hill Billy

Positioning of rads under windows improves the movement of warm air throughout the room.

See here for a more detailed explanation.

mukki

thanks for the replys

i was a bit supprised, i was sure everyone would be against putting them under the windows

fred funk }{

Under the windows is the best place for them, as others said it warms the cool air coming into the building.

JamesM

Hill Billy wrote:

Positioning of rads under windows improves the movement of warm air throughout the room.

See here for a more detailed explanation.

That's a good site - lots of information and answers to problems.
Jim.

netwhizkid

Absolutly Not, It is the biggest waste to see radiators put under the windows of any house. I would never do it, Okay it may heat it but get this, think long cold evenings and your pull the curtains where does the heat go? Straight up behind the Curtains and dissipates through the roof.

I tested this in my own room, and with the Curtains drawn and the Rads on full it was ok not too hot or to cold but the rads were roasting Oil Range roaring full belt and a savage fire down in the sitting room heating the open fire I mean it was roasting with loads of coal and turf pumping out Co2 I could imagine Dubya smiling. :eek:

Anyway I came along and neatly folded the Curtain onto the Window sill so the heat could flow out and it increased the heat in the room by roughly 20%. The room was so warm that the requirement for all the energy for heating would be less. I also add that these were not drop to the floor curtains but to the window sill and with a Pull Down Roller blind inside it and Double Glazing PVC windows also. It causes one of the greatest heat wastage's in my home and millions of others. When I build my ideal home I will stipulate that all Radiators are kept as far from the windows as possible.

Radiators under Windows = Needless Cost and pollution, do the planet a favour and keep the two far apart.

RoundyMooney

Totally untrue. :rolleyes:

A number of people here who actually do know better have stipulated concisely why a radiator sited under a window is inherently more efficient, and your retort is that tucking a curtain behind a rad increases heat by 20%?

I am intrigued as to how you arrived at that figure, perhaps you have a perpetual motion device under your bed too?

The Hill Billy

netwhizkid wrote:

Straight up behind the Curtains and dissipates through the roof.

What RoundyMooney said.

And...

Have you thought about putting more insulation in your roof?

elqu

Well I just bought a house and 3 of the rads are on the walls rather than under the windows and those rooms are definitely colder than the ones which have rads in the normal under windows position. Windows are old and the air coming in from them frigid. Am planning to move them all...

air

I think the best option is to have the rads under the windows and use a window treatment (blind/curtain or whatever) that fits into the window opening, thus hopefully creating a pocket of air between the window treatment and the pane that should improve the overall insulation factor.

delly

Just a quick tip regarding rads on your outside walls. I bought a roll of that polystyrene backed foil that you put behind rads for a tenner in B&Q, and along with a tube of glue for a fiver I put it on the back of 4 of my rads. Don't really know the level of heat it stops going into the wall, but for €15 you can't go wrong.

mjffey

delly wrote:

Just a quick tip regarding rads on your outside walls. I bought a roll of that polystyrene backed foil that you put behind rads for a tenner in B&Q, and along with a tube of glue for a fiver I put it on the back of 4 of my rads. Don't really know the level of heat it stops going into the wall, but for €15 you can't go wrong.

You can put something like that also behind the rads under your window.

delly

mjffey wrote:

You can put something like that also behind the rads under your window.

Indeed, a couple of mine are under windows.

djmc

i brought a roll of foil covered bubble wrap in woodies for about 30 euro which did all 6 rads under windows in my house stuck on with back to back tape its suppose to stop heat escaping through outer wall and reflected it back into room

Reyman

I agree with Netwhizkid. Never put radiators under the windows and behind the curtains.

I moved all my radiators to internal walls because of the 'curtain effect' and I'm much happier with the heat in the rooms.

I presume there's a fuel saving also because you're not radiating heat straight out through the outside wall.

mukki

dont think that foil works because last time i looked radiators don't actually radiate heat

they would have to be glowing red to do that

instead they are just convectors, they heat the air around them and it rises causing a circulation

RoundyMooney

Aye.

The joys of junior cert physics, conduction, convection radiation..

Borzoi

mukki wrote:

instead they are just convectors, they heat the air around them and it rises causing a circulation

As mukki says...

If the rads, are on the wall opposite the window, what happens is a much larger convection current starts, with the cold air form the window travelling across the room at low level, and the warm air from the rad, travelling towards the window at high level. SO you get draughts

If the Rad is under the window, there is a much smaller convection current through the room, so no draughts.

The best curtains, are heavy, and just long enough to tuck between the rads and the wall to help stop heat going out the window