How to control radiator heat direction

P

pnagle

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Hello, I have a rad situated behind a leather sofa. I have moved the sofa as far away as possible (>1.5feet) but it still gets warm from the rad. Is there any smart way to force the heat of the rad up over the sofa (without sticking tin foil all over the sofa!!)? I believe I'm loosing a significant amount of heat in the room because of the sofa.
 
pnagle,

Radiators work by conventing heat (hot air rises) and relatively little heat is radiated. So having the radiator directly behind your couch, although not ideal, should not adversely affect the heat from the rad.
 
You could put one of those radiator cabinets over the rad, though I personally hate the things. That should limit the radiant heat from heating the sofa. I've read that these cabinets cause a 10% drop in efficiency though, but then again, heating the back of a sofa isn't the best use of energy.
Leo
 
Yes, but the air doesn't go straight up from the rads. It convects out and up. It's is the hot air going out and hitting my sofa that's the problem. The ideal solution would be just to move the sofa far enough away but to do that would mean that the sofa is virtually in the middle of my room!
 
My understanding of rad covers is that the force the heat forwards more which should worsen the situation.
 
Not if you have a solid piece of wood in the front of the radiator cover with the top section having holes. This should ensure that the heat mostly goes up rather than forwards.
 
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