On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 17:53:41 +0000 (UTC), "Martin"
wrote:

I have been looking into radiator covers/boxes lately; mainly so I don't
have to decorate behind the ***kin things.
From what I can see the design is pretty simple, a wooden frame with some
form of perforated material to let the air flow. So why the **** do they
cost so much? (up to £250) I'm sure I could make something as good (if not
better) for about £10 - £20 plus a few hours with a router. Am I missing
something here? Has anyone else made their own?


I'm planning to make some at the moment, and you are right, it is a
few hours work. I'll give you a few comments from research I've
done.

- Bear in mind that encasing a radiator, even if you have a fairly
open grille front, will reduce the heat output by 20-30%. So before
you start, if you feel that the heating in a given room is anywhere
close to marginal, you may need to fit a higher output radiator. If
a radiator is single panel it can be replaced with a double panel or a
model with fins. However, check that the pipework is adequately
sized to cope with a radiator upgrade if it's needed. You need to
look into all of this before you start because even if a radiator of
same height and width can be found, it will probably be deeper, and
having made a cabinet, it would spoil your day to discover that there
is a shortfall in the heating.

- Thermostatic radiator valves need to be positioned outside the
cabinet, or the artificially high temperature inside the cabinet will
result in the valve tending to close with the room temperature lower
than you want. You can increase the TRV setting, but even then if the
valve head is inside the cabinet the effect will be that it won't
respond as effectively to room temperature change. An alternative
solution is that some valve manufacturers do make versions with a
remote sensor and a small capillary. You position the sensor outside
the box and the valve inside in the usual place.

- Solid wood is not that good a choice for construction because of the
ranges of temperature. Unless you are very accomplished with how to
manage movement in wood, it will tend to shrink, expand and warp. You
might be able to get away with solid wood trim pieces.
A pragmatic solution is to use some form of MDF. This does not have
to be plain, primed and then painted if you don't like that.
Veneered MDF is available, although you probably wouldn't reach a
£10-20 price target.

- Front grilles can be obtained from a variety of sources, although I
suppose you could do the fretwork and cut your own.
Most of the online cabinet suppliers like Jali will sell you the
grille only, and places like B&Q have a selection of MDF and metal
types. It's worth taking some time searching, as there are
reasonable grilles and there is some rubbish.




..andy

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