I'm planning to get a new central heating system.

I propose to get a proper measurement of my rooms and check the build
of the walls to determine exactly what size radiators are required for
each room.

My other thought is to where I will position the radiators.

So I have a question, and I am guessing there are pros and cons with
both, but I would like to get a general consensus.

Is it better to position radiators on the exterior wall or an interior
wall. And if interior, should it be the wall facing opposite to the
exterior wall?

I'm thinking an interior wall will not lose heat as much as if it was
placed on an exterior wall, but would it be best to heat the exterior
wall?

Which method is most likely going to keep the rooms warmer?
Which method is most likely going to cost more money to run?

My rooms each have an exterior wall 3m in length with 3m Double Glazed
windows.
The walls are concrete sheets with cladding on the exterior.
The rooms are (approx):
6m2
10m2
12m2

Your thoughts are welcome and appreciated!

Ricky

Anybody?

wrote in message
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Anybody?


I'm far from an expert but I put all mine on internal walls.
They sort of warm the 'core' of the house.

I imagine that putting them on outside walls then covering them with
curtains is a waste of time.

Plus who wants to warm next door?

R D S wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Anybody?


I'm far from an expert but I put all mine on internal walls.
They sort of warm the 'core' of the house.

I imagine that putting them on outside walls then covering them with
curtains is a waste of time.

Plus who wants to warm next door?

I've always placed them on the exterior walls, under the windows.

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:05:42 -0700, rentaturkishvilla wrote:

Is it better to position radiators on the exterior wall or an interior
wall. And if interior, should it be the wall facing opposite to the
exterior wall?

I'm thinking an interior wall will not lose heat as much as if it was
placed on an exterior wall, but would it be best to heat the exterior
wall?

Which method is most likely going to keep the rooms warmer?

what do you mean by warmer - warm near the rad or warm everywhere in the
room?

rads on external walls will minimise the temperature gradient across
the room so it'll be more comfortable

Which method is most likely going to cost more money to run?

the cheapest to run is no central heating :-)

next cheapest is rads on internal walls and huddle round them when it's
cold

rads on ext walls will cost more to run but is the only way to heat the
_whole_ room comfortably. If you've got high heat losses causing high
running expenses then the way to reduce that is to improve
draughtproofing and insulation.

(Underfloor heating also costs less to run for a given comfort level, but
is usually more expensive and disruptive to fit to an existing house.)

wrote:
Anybody?

The reason they are usually under the windows is because the single
glazing had a very high U-value (5.6 W/m^2 K) and would generate a cold
convection draught flowing downwards in front of the glass. If you put
rads on the internal opposite wall, you'd generate a warm upwards
draught there. You'd then get a cold down draught off the glass,
flowing across the floor (people are most sensitive to cold draughts
around their ankles), flowing upwards past the rad, across the ceiling,
and down past the glass again.

You can generate a very strong draught like this. Commercial
buildings usually have convectors under the glass to counteract the
glazing heat losses.

There will be lower heat losses if you put the rads on the internal
walls, no local heating of the external wall.

I know people who've fitted them on internal walls (double glazing)
and they report no ill effects, but I'm not sure whether they'd admit
it. I've also seen people in a '70s building (with curtain glazing &
defective heating) studying the bottom of the windows to find the gap
where the cold draught was blowing in. There wasn't a gap, it was just
convection..

On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:36:42 +0100, "R D S" wrote:

|
wrote in message
oups.com...
| Anybody?
|
|
|I'm far from an expert but I put all mine on internal walls.
|They sort of warm the 'core' of the house.
|
|I imagine that putting them on outside walls then covering them with
|curtains is a waste of time.

Mine are conventionally on outside walls under windows, but with Aluminium
paint on the back, to reduce radiation from radiator to wall.

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