Radiator Efficiency

M

mandeep1becci

If there is air in my radiator does that affect the cost and efficiency?
 
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Another homework question?

What course are you doing again?

Could you send me an exam paper? Another qualification to my name wouldn't hurt.

James.
 
They will be more efficient if full of water although it depends on how much air you're talking about.
 
Another homework question?

What course are you doing again?

Could you send me an exam paper? Another qualification to my name wouldn't hurt.

James.

I work for The Built Environment Climate Change Innovations project which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund to promote sustainable economic opportunities and growth by working with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop innovative climate change solutions within the built environment. It specifically focuses on products associated with the retrofitting of housing.

Therefore i am trying to gain evidence for radiator efficiency.
 
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Great reply, I wonder if JBPHS will understand.
I fail to under why he even wrote what he did, even if it were a homework question, either answer it (if you can) or don't try & be a smart R's
 
Ahem, let me clear my throat/keyboard ;)

As posted by the OP on 21-July-2014 in a thread named "Radiator Efficiency" (love the originality):

I am a student working on a architecture project and wanted to learn more about energy efficiency. If i changed a single radiator to a double radiator, would it be more efficient and why? Will it make a difference to the water heating up and if a boiler was switched on and off more often will the heat cycle change?

Thank You

:cool: :cool:

James.
 
Ahem, let me clear my throat/keyboard ;)

As posted by the OP on 21-July-2014 in a thread named "Radiator Efficiency" (love the originality):

I am a student working on a architecture project and wanted to learn more about energy efficiency. If i changed a single radiator to a double radiator, would it be more efficient and why? Will it make a difference to the water heating up and if a boiler was switched on and off more often will the heat cycle change?

Thank You

:cool: :cool:

James.
point noted..
 
With radiators it's heat in = heat out :. 100% efficiency.


If the radiator is half full of air then it will be less effective but still 100% efficient, considering the radiator in isolation.
 
I already tried explaining this to him in the other thread. How many times can you ask the same question and in hoe many different ways? :rolleyes:
 
If the radiator contains so much air that it only emits 50% of its usual heat, it will likewise use only 50% of it's usual fuel consumption.

If it has even more air in it so that it only emits 25% of its usual heat, it will likewise use only 25% of it's usual fuel consumption.

In both cases 100% efficient, because energy in = energy out

Simples :D
 
With radiators it's heat in = heat out :. 100% efficiency.


If the radiator is half full of air then it will be less effective but still 100% efficient, considering the radiator in isolation.

I've had this discussion before, it's partly fun but I think you're wrong. If the water leaving the radiator is warmer than the ambient air temperature in the room it has not given up 100% of the heat energy entering it and so is not 100% efficient.

I'm bored.
 
I would say that the as the radiator has given up only half of its heat, the boiler will have to add only half the heat when that 'packet' of water next gets reheated. I would posit that the radiator in isolation is 100% efficient, but that the boiler and pump will use more electricity if the radiator was half full of air, as the system would hve to be active for longer - making the system as a whole less efficient. Also, there is a human factor here, and that is, that if the system was working less effectively (due to the radiators being half full of air) that the householder may be tempted to increase the flow temperature, thus reducing the efficiency of the boiler as less condensation of the flue gas would occur.
 
If the water leaving the radiator is warmer than the ambient air temperature in the room it has not given up 100% of the heat energy entering it and so is not 100% efficient.
If you follow the process through, it really is quite simple.

Hot water leaves the boiler at a set temperature controlled by the boiler thermostat. Say at 65 degrees. It heads for radiator where it looses heat into room from the radiator and connecting pipes.

The water then returns to boiler, cooler by the heat it has lost from said radiator and pipes.

The Boiler then reheats the water back to 65 degrees where it started, by replacing exactly the amount of heat that has been lost during its journey. No more and no less.

The definition of efficiency is "The ratio of the energy developed by a machine, to the energy supplied to it, expressed as a percentage."

In this example, energy in = energy out. Therefore 100% efficient.

If the ambient room temperature is higher, less heat will be emitted to the room, so the water temperature will be higher when it returns to the boiler and will need correspondingly less heat to replace it.

The bottom line is the boiler always replaces exactly the same amount of heat that has been lost, whatever it is connected to. It's only a shame that the boilers themselves can't be as efficient as the heat emitting systems they are connected to :)
 
Told you it was fun :D

You're including system into the equation, the post was about radiator efficiency.

If you look at the radiator as an engine, which is not, it doesn't convert one source of energy into another, you could talk about efficiency one way, if you look at it as an emitter, which it is, efficiency is how much heat is emitted as a proportion of that which went in.

If some of the heat carrying material, water, heat leaves the radiator warmer than the ambient air around the radiator then the radiator cannot be 100% efficient, simple :D :D
 

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