Hi;
My wife has asked that I build wood radiator covers to replace the 40 year old metal ones on our hot water baseboards. The baseboards are 3/4 inch copper with 2 inch aluminum fins. The furnace heats water to a maximum of 190 degrees farenheit.
My questions are:
- Are there any code/safety reasons why I can’t use wood instead of metal for the baseboard cover? (I plan to maintain the existing metal backing and integral pipe suppports in the new design.)
- Will there be a problem with repeated shrinkage and expansion of the wood cover over time, and if so, how do I mitigate this.
Thanks in advance for any advice on this topic.
Replies
Several years ago was a well-illustrated FH article on building wooden baseboard radiator enclosure...You may be able to find it in the archives listing.
The wood is beautiful. How did you bend the heating elements?
I bent the section of radiation around a wooden form. The fins keep the copper pipe from kinking, I'm not sure what the limit is but the section in the photo has a 6 ft radius and bent without any problems. Since then I helped a friend bend a 2 ft radius. we soldered a section of capped straight pipe on one end, stood the tube on end and packed it full of sand. Once filled we capped the other end as well and slowly bent the tube around a form. The first one kinked but the second try worked ok.
The problems are at least two.
Heating engineers hate these things because a radiator is designed with specific airflow and radiant qualities. Cover with wood and you lose the majority of the radiant function of a radiator. make the vent slots too few or too small and you eliminate much of the convection properties. complaints of enefficiency follows.
However, since shewhomustbeobeyed has dictated it, you might as well proceed. The wood can handle the heat.
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin,
In theory you point is valid, in reality I, and it's just my opinion, don't think it's all that critical, the water in the fin tube puts out X amount of btu's per foot, the more airflow the faster the heat is released and the sooner the thermostat kicks off. Less airflow just sends more heat to the next radiator or back to the boiler where the pump sends it back for a second pass. Might take longer to heat a room, still produces the same amount heat per dollar of energy used.
Armin, how did you attach the wood to the base units? I have to do one and I was going to use the standoffs for the face, and drill and plug the cap. Sound like a plan?
Qtrmeg,
The drill and plug would work, I have done that and it looks good. On the curved unit I wanted a clean face with no visable fastners. The fin tube sits on custom bent brackets made from 1/8 inch x 1 inch steel, sort of like a big U-bolt. The wood cover has a home brewed clip on the back which snaps over one leg of the U-bolt and holds it in place. Each section has 3 such clips and bolts. It was a great idea at the time only to prove far to labor intensive, next time I'll look for some off the shelf clips that could be adapted instead or re inventing the wheel.