On Aug 26, 2:25*am, harry wrote:
On Aug 25, 9:55*pm, keith wrote:



On Aug 25, 2:19*pm, Jules Richardson

wrote:
On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:17:16 -0700, keith wrote:
The only types I've seen in the US are either big old cast iron ones in
schools etc., or little baseboard things in homes.

How about the big old cast iron ones in homes?

Never seen them, myself. I'm sure they exist (I'd love to find some of
them, too - had them at the last place I worked for. Terrible to paint,
but they look nice :-)

You'll find them in a lot of older homes, often with steam heat rather
than a hydronic system. *Some have been converted to hydronic,
though. *They're expensive as well as taking a lot of prime floor
space.

The latter don't seem
much good for anything really (and lack bleed screws).

Nope. *They have them. *You just didn't pay close enough attention.

Ours* certainly don't - there's one by my feet right now. Just pipes and
fins beneath a cover (I took the cover off to take a look).

They were installed by a moron, then. *Ours had a bleed valve on each
unit, as part of the automatic bleeder (which never worked).

* we've got a few, but no longer hooked up to anything - I'll get around
to pulling them out one day.

There should be a screw in one end.

If I could find a
good local source of the types of panel radiator typically seen in the
UK I'd likely dump the forced-air / electric baseboard setup that we
currently have in the house.

Baseboard hydronic heat is pretty nice (beats the hell out of forced
cold air, a.k.a. heap pump). *How about radiant floors?

I'm not a fan of forced air systems either - they don't seem particularly
efficient or per-zone controllable, and there's all that bulky duct-work
to mess around with (I can sort of see the attraction if you're living in
an area that also benefits from AC, I suppose)

It's cheap (installation), too. *Baseboard electric is even cheaper.
We use AC more days than heat, so yes, there is an advantage to heat
pumps here. *It's crappy heat, though.

Heard lots of good things about radiant floors, but I don't think I've
ever experienced one in use, so can't comment on how accurate the reports
are.

It's very nice in tiled bathrooms. *;-) *Radiant ceiling heat is
useless, though.

That also accounts for "rewire a plug", I believe. *Harry can tell us
whether the U.K. has/hasn't standardized on a single type of plug.

Yes, at least for domestic AC (there are a few different types designed
for less common voltages and currents, but they're not typically seen
in the home. I was quite amazed when I moved to the US just how
enormous the plugs and cables for 220V AC devices are (particularly as
they still don't have a fuse in the plug).

240V plugs are the same size as 120V; smaller than yours.

I don't recall ever seeing a 240V plug in the US that was the same size
as a 120V one - I'll have to take a better look around! (particularly as
I have a few low-power 240V things to ship over from the UK some day)

240V plugs are very similar to the 120V-20A plug, with the opposite
pin, or both, rotated. Clothes dryers and ranges have larger plugs
(30A or 50A). *The smaller ones are often found on window or through-
the-wall air conditioners. *Places were 120V 15A isn't enough.

15A 120V:http://www.levitonproducts.com/catal...uplex-receptac...

20A 120V plug:http://www.levitonproducts.com/catal...id=ADE2F23EFFB...

20A 120V outlet:http://www.levitonproducts.com/catal...ody-duplex-rec...

15A 240V:http://www.levitonproducts.com/catal...id=ADE2F23EFFB...

20A 240V:http://www.levitonproducts.com/catal...id=ADE2F23EFFB...

What a waste. *We have one plug here does all of this, *cheaper and
safer.

Nonsense.