Curtains. Curtains should be long enough to cover your window, but not long enough that they hang over your radiators. While it's very unlikely that a curtain will catch alight from being heated up to a high temperature, do you really want to take the risk.
The main mistake that people make is to fit heavy floor-length curtains over both the window and the radiator below. This traps the heat in the window space and does not let it into the room. Correctly fitted curtains should not cover the top of the radiator, but should stop just below the window ledge.
Curtains can catch fire from electric radiators if the radiator is close to a curtain made of flammable material. Water radiators usually don't get hot enough to cause curtains to catch fire, but the radiator could still burn any fragile materials nearby.
Although they may not seem extremely hot to the touch at the time, your radiators can become very warm and any of these items can catch fire in a matter of minutes. Please DO NOT use your radiators as tables.
Curtains and any other flammable items should be a minimum of 12 inches away from your baseboard heaters to prevent a fire and to allow for proper airflow that's necessary for the unit to operate.
Putting furniture against a running electric or steam radiator can create a significant fire hazard and is not recommended. Upholstery is often treated with chemicals that can easily ignite when combined with extreme heat, and some radiators can become hot enough to scorch wood, fabric and other furniture materials.
Can curtains catch fire? Definitely yes! Especially if they are placed near the fire, and the length of the curtain is long enough to be heated. Placing them near a fire source increases the risk of the curtain catching fire.
You can construct your own radiator covers and accent them with inexpensive aluminum sheeting to allow the warm air out. Easy to cut with tin snips, and available in a variety of designs, you can paint sheet metal to match the cabinet or leave raw for a style surprise.
Covering your radiator is completely safe. "Radiators only get as hot as about 215 degrees," Holohan says, "which isn't nearly hot enough to start a fire." However, be careful not to use certain synthetic fabrics (like fleece or polyester), which might melt. I'd recommend sticking with cotton or wool.
Yes. The good news is that well-designed radiator covers leave plenty of space for the warm air to travel through. A radiator cover could actually even improve your heat efficiency if the cover includes a reflective foil backing, which we mentioned earlier.
In the past, radiators have often been located under the window in a room because this is the coldest area in the room. Historically, older windows would be single glazed, and this type of window used to let a lot of cold air into the room.
The ability of curtains and drapes to reduce heat gain depends on the fabric type (closed or open weave) and color. Studies have found that medium-colored draperies with white plastic backings can reduce heat gain by 33 percent, the DOE says. Hang the curtains as close to windows as possible.
For many, opting for a set of thermal curtains can help you keep out the cold and heat—all without adding more money to your electric bill.
Homes with central heating or air conditioning benefit from energy-efficient thermal curtain panels, as thermal curtains prevent air from entering or leaving the room. In the winter, these curtains keep heat inside and reduce the amount of heat needed to warm the home, which saves money on utility bills.
These lightweight beauties could be considered the perfect window covering for many reasons. Not only do they offer daytime privacy, diffuse bright light and offer a degree of insulation against heat and cold, but they do it all at the same time as softening rooms with their floaty, textural appearance.
Whereas black surfaces absorb heat energy and light, white surfaces reflect them in contrast. Therefore, to project as much heat as possible out of radiators, moving the heat effectively from the inside to the outside, you would opt to paint them white.
Silver foil placed down the back of a radiator will reflect heat back into a room rather than letting it uselessly escape through the walls of a house. Do-it-yourself buffs suggest wrapping the foil round pieces of cardboard which have been cut to the right size to make it easier to fit.
Generally, it's not advisable to mount a TV directly above the radiator. The heat from the radiator might be too much for the TV damaging it in the process. Apart from that, the high temperatures might cause electric faults that can cause a fire. Therefore, mounting a TV above the radiator should be your last option.
Bathroom radiator covers
Radiator covers designed for bathroom radiators are often designed to provide some extra shelf space in, what can be, quite a small room of the house.
If designed well with plenty of space for the warm air to travel through, a radiator cover shouldn't reduce the efficiency of a radiator and could even improve it if the cover has a reflective backing. However, a poorly designed radiator cover will trap heat and increase your energy bills.
The warmer your radiator or heat source is, the further away the convection current will carry the heat. So on that score at least, you would have to say that a radiator cover is going to have a negative effect on the temperature of a room.
It's not a good idea to place a sofa, or any other large furniture, in front of a radiator. A sofa would block heat from travelling freely around the room, and could suffer potential long-term damage from a close level of heat exposure.
Turn off your heating. You can't bleed a radiator when the heating is on, as it may be too hot to touch. You could also get hot water spraying out of the radiator. Use your radiator key to turn the valve at the top of the radiator.
Put a shelf above the radiator
Fitting a shelf above your radiators not only looks nice but also helps to direct heat from the radiator into the room. This technique is particularly useful if you have any radiators that are positioned directly below a window.
Any type of Radiator Cover your choose needs to cover the heater and pipes and valves, therefore we recommend to measure take measurements of your Radiator and add a minimum of 5 centimetres either side (10cm in total) to ensure good fit.