I am building a corner built-in unit in the shape of an L. At the end of one of the legs of the L there is a old-fashioned steam radiator over which the cabinet will go. Has anyone ever built over one of these things, and if so, what are the special considerations?
I remember seeing an article about it one time, but I can’t remember where I saw it.
Thanks,
– Brian
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Replies
We built two radiator enclosures in my parents' house. We used normal cabinet construction, left about 2" clear on all sides for airflow, and used expanded metal screening for the front. They've been in place for over 10 years, and there hasn't been a problem yet.
Bob
Thanks for the feedback.
Did you use any type of reflective metal sheeting behind the radiator in order to project the heat forward?
Reggio Registers makes beautiful cast iron (and brass, and also aluminum) victorian registers. I saw them used in a FHB kitchen issue several years ago and made a radiator box for my house.
Hints:
you want to have as much open airflow space as you can get (for max heat output), and since it will be inside of a box you'll get less radiant and rely more on convection heat, which means you want max airflow.
cut the bottom edge up 2" to create a "cabinet standing on legs" effect to allow air in from the floor. Then install the largest size registers all around the sides (Reggio makes big ones, but they cost more, so I used lots of smaller ones to create a nice pattern).
Put more registers on the top surface, this will be your main "outlet" for warmed air. You can make cushions to set here in the summer, or whatever, if you like so long as its removable for heating season.
Notice that all the heat will be going up, so the sides (and especially the bottom) of the box will tend to stay room temp (as the cooler air is entering there) and the top will get quite warm. You want to allow room for parts to expand on the top so you don't get splits. Don't make my mistake and size the cutouts to perfectly fit around the cast registers because the wood and they will grow differently and split the wood.
The max temp. in the box will be ~212F, so the wood will tend to dry out. I think that it would help the wood to seal all surfaces, but did not do that to mine and might when I re-make it.
Hope this helps, I'll go look for a photo...
Norm
No- didn't use anything, though it probably wouldn't hurt to do so.