eli5: Why are radiators in houses often situated under a window- surely this is the worst place and the easiest way to lose all the heat?
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Hot air from a radiator doesn’t actually mix that well with the rest of the cooler air in a room.
When I give my kids a bath, I fill the tub with very hot water first (cast iron tub soaks up a lot of the heat, so we have to warm up the tub itself as well as the water). After some point we add cold water.
But adding cold water doesn’t actually make the bath water an even, cooler temp. So I have to stir the water continuously so there are no pockets of hot water.
Same for air. If there is no air movement in a room, the hot side will stay hot and the cold side will stay cold. But cold air forms a draft of cool air current because cold air wants to drop to the floor. (Cold air is denser than warm air). The movement of cold air falling to the ground creates an air current that can stir the room air.
So air moving over the radiator helps to move all of the air around the room, instead of having hot spots and cold spots.
I’ve tested this myself with electric oil radiators that we used to put on the far wall away from the window; and later learned to move it under a window or in front of a cracked interior door.
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