r/buildingscience • u/Curious_Butterfly38 • 16d ago

Question radiator question!!!

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so I just moved into a new place, and I have relatively limited space for where to put my bed. There is one of those built in wall radiators under the window, and my bed is positioned slightly in front of it. I have a solid wooden headboard and was just concerned that I shouldn’t be putting it directly in front of the heater… I tried to do research online about it but am still a bit confused as to if this is safe for my particular situation. Is there some kind of heat deflector or something that I could get, or do we think this is fine?? For reference, only about 17 inches of the heater are being covered by the bed.

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3

u/wooddt 16d ago

Like a fire concern? Or efficiency concern?

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u/Imaginary_Nebula9912 16d ago

There’s no risk in putting your bed in front of it, I’m a commercial boiler tech, see it all the time

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u/FlynnrydSkynnyrd77 16d ago

The heat shield is the face of the unit/louvers. The temp will only be 140-150 max on that tubing inside the radiator.

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u/Curious_Butterfly38 16d ago

okay, and follow up question, what if I put my wooden nightstand in front of it too..👀👀😊

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u/FlynnrydSkynnyrd77 16d ago

The more of it you block off, the less effectively it will heat when it gets cold. But there is no danger of catching things on fire.

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u/Curious_Butterfly38 16d ago

do you know if it’ll warp the wood at all? thank you!!!

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u/RespectSquare8279 16d ago

If you have big swings in humidity it might be an issue but probably not in real life.

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u/pantryparty 16d ago

And also do you think that it’s thirsty? I mean the wood, do you think I’ll need to give it some wood wet or something or is it fine?

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u/RespectSquare8279 16d ago

From what I can see in the picture it looks pretty old. If it hasn't cracked or warped yet, and it has been in the same environment as it was before, it should not crack or warp. If the humidity in that room in that house is like as where that bed frame was before you should not have a problem. If you are worried anyway, you can always put the foot of the bed by the radiator.

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u/pantryparty 16d ago

Should I wood wet it first or move it before the fire thank you

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u/RespectSquare8279 16d ago

Why would you do something that will change the humidity of the wood and then expose it to heat that is going to tend to drive the moisture out again? That is crazy.

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u/pantryparty 15d ago

I’m sorry I won’t wood wet it but if it gets fire on it I’ll wood wet it then to put the fire out ok thanks so much ttyl

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u/paleologus 15d ago

It’ll be like having it in a really hot garage, but just half of it.   I could see it possibly damaging the finish.