Radiator Covers - in progress

[mrFinpgh]

Thanks for more feedback, and it's good to see how other people have designed their covers.

One thing that I haven't finished yet is the lid - waiting on my precisiondogs parallel guides before I start to rip some narrower strips for those. The lid is going to have a lot of ventilation in it, which is why I kept the front closed.  The research I found suggested that the most efficient designs will allow the heat to travel vertically, and the radiating out horizontally is of secondary importance.  We'll see how it goes!    I'd like to see the white speaker fabric, xxjinkyxx.  I'm thinking black fabric behind the metal grill might keep things from falling through into the cover.

The clip idea is a good one- Probably too late for the first iteration, though.  The front is pretty well faceframed into the surrounding bookcases, which are in turn screwed to the side panel and the wall.  So if the valve leaks, then it will be a bit of an operation to remove the whole section.  Hopefully it won't leak!

In terms of access to bleed it, the lid will be removable and there is nearly a foot of space on the bleeder side of the radiator. 

The other ones won't be integral to anything else.  I'll probably keep them in place using a ledger or something along those lines.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[xxjinkyxx]

View attachment 1that's them finished the material is on a thin wooden frame and just friction fitted in case i need to change but looks good and hides the rad only made two front room and hall the other rads in the house will take to much room with covers but they already have sides and grill at the top.
my covers are just free standing just move them away for access

 

[Brice Burrell]

...One thing that I haven't finished yet is the lid - waiting on my precisiondogs parallel guides before I start to rip some narrower strips for those. The lid is going to have a lot of ventilation in it, which is why I kept the front closed.  The research I found suggested that the most efficient designs will allow the heat to travel vertically, and the radiating out horizontally is of secondary importance.  We'll see how it goes!    I'd like to see the white speaker fabric, xxjinkyxx.  I'm thinking black fabric behind the metal grill might keep things from falling through into the cover.....

I don't have much of an understanding of thermal dynamics, but it would seem to make sense to me you have to have nearly the same amount of intake as output.  It your case it won't matter how big the top opening is since you will likely be limited by the value of air drawn in from the small lower opening in the bottom of the cover.     

 

[jt073]

View attachment 1that's them finished the material is on a thin wooden frame and just friction fitted in case i need to change but looks good and hides the rad only made two front room and hall the other rads in the house will take to much room with covers but they already have sides and grill at the top.
my covers are just free standing just move them away for access

The first Google hit on radiator convection vs radiation is herehttp://www.bestheating.com/info/blog/how-does-a-radiator-heat-the-room/

It suggests that radiation is about 20% of the radiator output, the rest being convection.  Pretty mush as I thought (in fact the industry now calls them emitters not radiators as they mostly don't radiate heat).

If that is right your set up will reduce the output by up to 20% and mine somewhat less with the partially open front.

I have very high ceilings and the radiator, sorry emitter, is in front of a window; consequently, I think that having a solid top directs the convection current forwards rather than straight up in front of the window.  On that basis, I would wonder whether you need an open top as proposed or whether you would be better to have the top solid.  Just a thought.

Cheers

 

[mrFinpgh]

http://inspectapedia.com/heat/Radiator_Covers.php  This link suggests that no matter how open the front face of the cover, blocking the top can reduce the heat output by up to 30%.  It seems to me like this is a fundamental error in most cover designs - they trap heat in the top.  So it seems like maximizing upward/outward flow is key.  I think the first illustration shows using a curved reflector to channel the heat outwards, which makes sense to me as well. 

I think Brice's point is the one that concerns me a bit.  I might consult with one of my engineer friends to see what he thinks.

If it turns out the single low opening is a point where the efficiency gets lost, then I'll probably evaluate whether it's enough to modify the existing cover - either with a fan or more invasive procedures.

I'm wondering how it would look to have some slots routed in the baseboard to increase the potential airflow.  I tried mocking up a couple designs where the grill was on the bottom, with the panel on the top.  They all tended to look like brutalist architecture.  Maybe long horizontal slots would maintain the general aesthetic while providing for more air.

-Adam

 

[jt073]

Yes, it did occur to me after I posted that your solid top rails will hold the heat in so you probably do need the open top.

You could add some cutouts in the top edge of the top rails that would help (as per jinky's design), but that would not help your nice design.

Ultimately, I guess whether the heat output restriction matters will depend on how the output is sized in the first place (and on the control setup).

Cheers

 

[RJNeal]

So yesterday I made back to a job I did in San Francisco. Here are three covers I made.[attachimg=1] a pair of these, three sides, slides under the window sill and attaches to the wall with sliding on four dominos
[attachimg=2]this one sets inside of a bathroom wall
[attachimg=3]this one is by the front door, the trim/ screen is screwed on for service
Rick

 

[Holmz]

I do not mind the look of a radiator, and a hearth over it would make a nice place to put things.

That looks good.

I am assuming that the heat gets into the room rather than going out the wall, so it should work.

 

[DB10]

Hi Rick, I like the attention to detail you have put in there, looks very fitting.

 

[RJNeal]

Thank you DB10, the slip ons were fun with the base to line up.
Rick

 

[mrFinpgh]

Updating, as I heard back from my engineer friend:

"It should slow convection down, but given enough time your room will reach a decent equilibrium.  It might just take a little longer due to the smaller intake.  Ideally, you don't have it shrunk down like that, but it's not the end of the world."

So there we go -- the small aperture may slightly reduce the speed of bringing the room up to temperature, but probably not as dramatically as I was imagining. 

I think the remaining covers, I will add about another 1/2" (20-25%) more height to the bottom opening. 

-Adam

 

[Holmz]

Correct, so if you want to decrease the time use a fan initially.

 

[Grasshopper]

This looks awesome.  I may model my air return vent after your design.

Where did you find the grate/grille portion that you used as inserts for the vent?

Just a quick update.

The initial inspiration for the radiator covers was to continue the built-ins I'm making for my guest bedroom.  It's a pretty small room (10x11) with no storage, and I recently changed jobs where I work from home most days.  So having some storage and an office space seemed like the right thing to do.  Once I got started with designing the cover, I realized that I should probably come up with a consistent design for the other ones in my house.

I had asked about crown choices earlier, but I realized the ceiling has a good 5/8ths drop over 8 feet.  I'm going to probably put a piece of trim up around the beadboard, but leave the rest unadorned. 

Supposedly, this design is actually somewhat efficient, because the heat comes out the top.  I base that on some research I did on the internet, not any background in physics 

I'm always surprised how long these things take me. I think that partially, it's because I can only work on it during the weekend.  Partially because I tend to start late.  Partially because I'm still pretty green to this kind of stuff and probably take a lot longer to make decisions about how to do everything.

Anyways, here's how things are coming along after this weekend.  Remarkable what some caulk will do before paint.  I need to put down some quarter round still, but things are moving along.  Incidentally, I noticed that there's a section of plaster where the top coat seems to be delaminating from the base coat, which is directly on the brick - right in the corner where I had to scribe the beadboard to the wavy walls. I think the paint may be what's holding it up.  [eek]  Anyone know whether that can be reinforced without cutting out the plaster and patching? 

View attachment 2

View attachment 3

I put a photo of what the room looked like before we put down the cork floors - that's some fine vintage linoleum.  I think the new look is an improvement.

View attachment 1

-Adam

 

[mrFinpgh]

Thanks, Grasshopper.

The grate is just from the home depot.  I looked at some other choices, but this one actually met my needs nicely.

Best,
Adam