Trench heaters

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ramBoM

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Hi All.
I am about ti install trench heaters in my living room. If it's ok I will have it on the whole ground floor. I have some make in mind but my question is - Is it possible to install them upstairs? I have seen them just downstairs, mainly in comercial buildings like conference rooms, lobbies... Are they water or electric systems?
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Dana

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They're typically installed in front of big glass doors or large windows that go down to the floor where conventional convectors would be too obstructive.

The convection performance in the middle of a room is pretty low due to the inherent geometry issues, and in low temp hydronic (hot water) systems it's downright abyssmal, making the use of powered blower versions essential. If placed right at the threshold of a glass door or floor-to-ceiling window the performance improves somewhat with falling outdoor temps due to the cascade of cold air coming down the glass improving the convection. Placed against an insulated wall that effect is much diminished.

woodengrillefinish.jpg


There are definitely more efficient and more comfortable heat emitters, to be sure. While you can put them just about anywhere you like, it's not clear what the attraction is (?).

Installing a section of radiant floor in front of any floor-to-ceiling glass to upgrade the average radiation temperature from that direction in combination with panel radiators or convectors elsewhere in the room would be a more comfortable and lower maintenance way to heat a room, without the expense of an all-radiant solution.
 

Dana

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Being a grille in the floor, they collect dust and dirt. The more dust collects on the convector fins, the less air flows, and the less heat gets transferred.

If you're the type that just LOVES to pull up grilles and vacuum once a month or so the heat transfer performance won't degrade over time, but if you're more of a once per decade or "never in my lifetime" person for that type of chore they'll get pretty grungy and require higher water temperatures to deliver the same amount of heat.

Through the 1990s brother had a section of trench heater in front of oversized glass sliders in an early 1960s home in suburban NY. By the time he moved out they were full of candy wrappers, Popsicle sticks, LEGO pieces and other detritis glued together with an unidentified matrix of sticky stuff & cobwebs. You can guess what THEIR cleaning schedule was like! :)

I wasn't impressed with the heating performance or comfort even before they became cruddy. The 24-30" tall finned cabinet convectors in the bedrooms, kitchen & dining areas were far more effective, but still not as comfortable as low temp panel radiators (or cast-iron baseboard), and light-years away from radiant floors, for the "comfort at any cost" crowd. (In my own home the room with the highest window/floor ratio is it's own radiant floor zone.)
 

BadgerBoilerMN

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I think Dana said no.

These are another crutch used by designers to overcome poor radiant design or ridiculous loads imposed by bad architecture.

Like toe kick space heaters, they should only be used when you can't stand the cold any longer and can't afford to do it right.

If you have animals in the house, I give them a year, cleaned regularly or not.
 

Dana

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That pretty much says it.

I don't understand the attraction, and would personally use almost any alternative before resorting to trench heaters. YMMV.

Using them "...on the whole ground floor..." or "upstairs" seems even less appropriate than in front of a wall of glass, which is the only place that it makes any sense at all in my mind. That is especially true if it's a retrofit. If you can't stand the look of cheap baseboard, there are more attractive & effective low-rise wall convectors/radiators that don't have anything like the cleaning & maintenance issues of trench heaters, and won't require cutting into a finished floor or wall.

18_Runtal-panel-radiator.fxd_.jpg
 

ramBoM

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Hm ok... I guess you could be right but will see what we decide... But lately I have found something like this:
But this will suit rather commercial purposes... Maybe they have something that you showed above. If not I may stick to my previous thoughts as I really like the idea of trench heaters. But thank you for all advice. I greately appreciate it.
 

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Dana

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Low rise convectors like that are certainly more effective than trench heaters. The amount of heat it actually needs to emit makes a difference on how visually & physically obtrusive it is. Most of Europe seems happy with thinner profile steel panel-radiator type convectors rather than large fin-tube convectors:

pr1-0032-1_1.jpg

^^^^this....

and not this:

index.php
 
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