 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Has anyone used the above stuff to any effect?
Our living room has two radiators however, both have a sofa blocking them. Thinking of putting some foil on the backs of said sofas but can't help thinking it's a silly idea and would not make a blind bit of difference.
By putting rad insulated foil on the wal youre insulating the cold wall from the heat and reflecting the heat back into the room, instead of loosing heat to a cold wall.
Small benefit, but cheap to do.
I've done mine - solid wall Victorian house. Can't say I notice any difference mind....
Snake oil.com
Unless your radiator gives out radiated heat ie is it one of them infrared heaters rather than the convection heat a standard convectir gives out
Youll get small benifits from the insulative effect but its minimal.
Placebo effect at its best
As much use as a space blanket for a hypothermia victim.
I was told the same as 'project' by a heating engineer who's into saving the planet as I live in a detached property and all my rads are on outside walls, but he said not to put it on the wall as it just acts as a heat exchange and that you need to have it just off of the wall.
Cheers all. Will spend the hour allotted for this task practising 'rad' & 'shredding'.
Anecdotally good, depends on your house tho. Read about someone who wondered what was wrong with his house when he had to start putting on the heating. Turns out his neighbour had fitted the foil panels. Old house with crappy thin walls tho.
Unless your radiator gives out radiated heat ie is it one of them infrared heaters rather than the convection heat a standard convectir gives out
Erm, Heat IS infra-red radiation. convection is the process of heated air rising. if you get rid of the air your radiator will still feel hot because of the heat from the water which is RADIATING infra red
The wall behind the radiator does get very warm, so it is obviously being heated by the radiator and conducting heat outside. As to how much the foil reduces this, no idea. I was going to do some tests with an IR thermometer, but never got round to it.
would adding a (curved) shelf above the radiator direct the convected heat 'into' the room
would adding a (curved) shelf above the radiator direct the convected heat 'into' the room
It would still ultimately end up rising to the ceiling and cooling before falling. depends on where the rad is in relation to you I suppose.
depends how you use your heating I guess - if it's no on for extended periods when the radiator cools the wall will still be warm and you get some of the heat back.
I'm not 100% convinced that when they put raditors under windows, (hence often behind curtains) on outside walls they'd really though it through.
it just acts as a heat exchange and that you need to have it just off of the wall.
Thats why the stuff from B&Q (or similar) is polystyrene backed.
It's not an expensive or difficult thing to do (especially if you have radiators that are on plastic pipe and a staple gun. Just try to keep it neat.
It slike a lot of things, done soley on its own the effect is minimal, but combined with other measures like draughproofing then the gains become measureable.
Bit like those marginal gains thingy the road fraternity harp on about
You might get more benefit from making sure there's an air path for the radiator to work in convection, ie, a gap under the sofa to draw air in and clear space above the radiator for the warmed air to rise.
Unless your radiator gives out radiated heat ie is it one of them infrared heaters rather than the convection heat a standard convectir gives out
Radiators radiate 🙂
Radiators give out most of their heat through convection.
Iirc you work in adult care high climber . Stick to it
You're the one who had the physics fail...
Radiators don't actually warm the room by radiation, they warm by convection.
I'm not 100% convinced that when they put raditors under windows, (hence often behind curtains) on outside walls they'd really thought it through.
It's actually the best place as it blends the warming air from the radiator with the cool air over the poor U value window. If you move them away from the window, you get a big temp gradient across the room.
Obviously with newer homes and modern double glazing, everything is better insulated, so the extremes are much less, but in most older homes where they retro-fitted central heating, under the window was the best spot for rads.
Don't pay vast amounts for the foil. You can use kitchen foil or space blanket. But as stated, any effects are minimal.
Re under the window.. depends onthe curtains. I've seen curtains hanging out over radiators so alm the heat goes into the window an d out if it. We have our curtains recessed into the window frame, works well.
Any warm body radiates heat. If the wall behind is getting hot, that'll be through radiation.
silver foil stuck on the back of your sofas is gonna look cool - go for it...
Id put the foil on my head.