Surely the heat is still being transmitted into the room – it’s not just disappearing somewhere?
In: Other
radiators dont actually radiate heat they work through convection, transferring heat to the air. They rely on air flow so clothes or any other obstruction will stop the air circulating.
Heat is transferred to the air surrounding the radiator, not “into the room”, put a towel on the radiator and it’s getting harder for this hot air to move into the rest of the room and make it warmer.
Radiators are made of metal and are good conductors of heat. Pick up your clothing and towels. Are they hot? If so, they absorbed a lot of energy, which would have otherwise heated the air surrounding the radiator.
Are the clothes/towels soaked in water? That would make a huge difference.
Radiators work because the hot water pumped through them loses heat to the air around them.
When you cover them in clothing, think of it as putting a blanket on them, your keeping that heat in the radiator as it’s not being lost into the room.
And if your clothes and towels are wet then the heat energy is used to evaporate the water in the fabric.
Latest Answers