Wooden radiator covers - how much heat loss?

[Celeriacacaca]

I'm decorating our hall and would love to put a wooden radiator cover in but am concerned it may really stop the radiator from working effectively. We face south so the front part of the hallway, where the radiator is, does get quite chilly at times. Any advice please?

[wowfudge]

I'llbe watching this thread OP as we're buying a house where every radiator has a cover. They must affect how much heat is thrown out, but by how much I don't know.

[GoofyIsACow]

I would like to know this too actually, our hall is small so the space on top of the cover would make a good shite dumping space for things

[Annarose2014]

I'm curious too. A radiator cover would look verr verr naice in our hall. But it's baltic in there as it is!

[Dinosaursdontgrowontrees]

We have them, they came with our house, they are so pretty. They don't seem to make any difference to the function of the rads.. Still toasty warm in here!

[Celeriacacaca]

bump

[jevoudrais]

I really notice heat not circulating as well in the conservatory so have taken that off, but in our hall and porch it still stays nice and toasty.

[Celeriacacaca]

Anyone else with experience of using these please?

[TeaPleaseBob]

We have one in child's bedroom and don't notice it altering heat (it's a warm bedroom anyway due to water tank in airing cupboard so radiator always on very low). Looks nicer and keeps little hands away from the radiator.

[wowfudge]

I don't think they do look nicer - they make radiators more prominent and take up more space.

[namechangedtoday15]

I think they have an affect on heat. How can they not? It's a piece of wood / mdf or whatever that absorbs some of heat that would otherwise be circulating in the room.

So we have one in the hall because otherwise the awful radiator would be the first thing you see when you came into the house, so the pay off of losing a little bit of heat is worth it.

I wouldn't have them in "living" rooms unless you're prepared to have the heating on for longer / higher to compensate for the reduction in heat.

[Quoteunquote]

Just out of interest where do you think the missing heat goes?

sorry, air flow think about it, as long as there is air flow the heat does what it always does, and would do anyhow, if it didn't it would be just like a heat sink and release slowly.

There is no heat loss, why did you think there was?

[wowfudge]

Radiator covers must make the radiators less effective because they block the airflow and there is less convection in a room.

[Quoteunquote]

Not if they are designed properly.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

There was one in our living room when we bought the house, we got rid of it as it was hideous, there might not be much overall difference but you can feel the hest radiating out from it much more when you sit next to it.

[kath34]

We have 2 but the radiators arnt on that much to notice the difference, we just use as a resting place for pictures really, there is a company which makes magnetic covers for them not sure what they are like for heat

[wonkylegs]

We had them in our house when we moved in. They looked very nice but we have large rooms with high ceilings so every little thing counts. We have got rid of them and replaced with a shelf and brackets only and boy you notice the difference.
I suspect you would notice less in a modern or a small terrace house but in our big victorian semi it has made a difference as you really need good airflow to heat the whole room.

[origamiwarrior]

We have one, and noticed a definite difference when we got our decorator to carve out two long thin vents in the shelf on top of it, so I think they must reduce heat to a room. So that is something you could consider doing (the vents aren't noticeable once we have our photos and trinkets on there).

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

We have them at work. They totally block the heat. You can feel heat if your hand is about three inches away from the cover but any further than that and there's nothing.

[shovetheholly]

Why not just buy a really nice radiator instead? You can get some decent ones that aren't £££.

[kath34]

origamiwarrior so you carved vents in a shelf or your radiator cover, i might take ours off and replace with a shelf

[origamiwarrior]

Yes, carved vents in the shelf part of our radiator cover

See photo (viewed from above)

[Liara]

I've had them and they were actually better because I put reflective foil on the wall behind them - which meant that all the heat was coming into the room instead of into the wall.

I guess I could have put the foil in without the radiator covers, but that would have looked hideous.

[pepperjack]

Massive heat loss imo
Getting rid of all of mine,

[LondonMischief]

The only way for heat to be lost if the heat goes through the wall on out of the room into the outdoors. And radiator covers certainly don’t do that.
Radiators heat the room by covection currents and if the top of the radiator is covered, it will take longer for the whole room to heat up. However the total heat in the room will still be the same if there wasn’t a cover ( just that it will be concentrated within the cover). Once the room as reached the required temperature, there will be no differance if the cover is on or off.
If your radiator is on an external wall, putting some reflective material behind it will help losses through the wall.