Peter P. wrote:

> Dr Skip <drskip <at> gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> I think this is being over-thunked! If not by the window, say on the
>> other side, you'd have a room that was 50 degrees on one side by the
>> window (even more leakage in the old days), and 80 degrees + (F) on the
>> other! Grandma certainly would not have put up with that! She'd tell
>> you you'd catch a cold right in the living room... ;)
> 
> And yet ... that's exactly the way things work if all you have is a
> fireplace or a simple electric radiator to heat the room with ... 

Re fireplace: A fireplace is a completely different type of heat source. It
is usually more a (high temperature) radiation source than a (low
temperature) convection source. That's why, traditionally, the coal and
wood stoves were (and are) not placed on the outside walls, differently
from the low temperature heat elements wrongly called "radiators". (A
better name would be "convectors" :)

(BTW, the open fireplaces that seem to be common in the USA are horribly
inefficient for heating. Of course... that's not their purpose, I presume.
But nevertheless, the principle applies to them just as to much more
efficient wood stoves.)

Re electric "radiator": If this is the type of "radiator" that looks like
the common "radiators" mounted under the windows and that typically is also
a low temperature heater, that is then the place where it should go, too,
for the arguments already presented here.

Gerhard

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist