h a l f b a k e r yExperiencing technical difficulties since 1999
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Once radiators are installed, it's quite difficult to paint or
wallpaper behind them properly without their complete
removal. This usually involves draining each one, and in
some cases refilling the entire system.
Folding Radiator solves this problem, as it can be folded
down away from the
wall, enabling full access to the rear
surface requiring treatment.
Critical to this capability are the two new connectors,
which take the form of watertight ball and socket joints
(made from brass and copper) at the point where the rigid
upright pipes meet the inlet and outlet on the radiator.
A simple attachment secures the radiator to the wall for
normal useage. On being slackened and removed, the
otherwise upright radiator may now be hinged down to a
fully horizontal position, permitting easy access to the wall
behind, with the heat maintained the during the entire
process. Once complete, the radiator is simply pushed
back into position and the attachment re-secured.
[link]
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How about the similar swing away baseboard electric heater
(like a door on a hinge) |
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I suspect that a rotatatable watertight joint will be either
expensive or ineffective. However, a short section of flexible
hose could work. |
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The radiator should fold away concertina-like when it is not required. |
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// either expensive or ineffective // |
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And the joints will only be moved at long intervals. There will be a tendency to sieze, or after being moved the joints will leak. A difficult technical challenge. |
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The fact that the joint will also be subjected to regular heating and cooling won't help. |
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Flexible pipework with a "pigtail" layout would offer a solution - and provide useful additonal freedom of movement - but would be comparatively bulky. |
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A self-sealing quick-disconnect coupler - possibly fabricated in stainless steel - would be effective but costly. As the water flow is low-pressure and relatively slow, it would be important not to introduce any restriction into the pipework, which means that the "open" area of the coupled connection would need to be at least as big as the rest of the system. That would mean a relatively bulky connector body. |
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I find it slightly weird that I still heat my house with hot water being pumped around it through expensive copper pipes which can only be installed by specialists and which are subject to rare but potentially catastrophic leaks. Surely it would now be better to use electric heaters which would heat each room to the temperature required for that room and be easy to install? |
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(+) but in-floor heating is the only way to go. |
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Things have come a long way since 1786, or whenever the
rigid copper-solder system used to circulate hot water
around houses was first implemented. A brief look at the
harsh environment of the automotive engine bay suggests
that water circulating systems that tolerate heating,
cooling, freezing, vibration and little bits of gravel
already exist. Furthermore, they are also coupled through
flexible linkages. A barb, glass fiber reinforced EPDM hose
and a clamp, that's all you need. If you want to go fancy,
use silicone and then you get to choose the color. Folding
the radiator down would be trivial with silicone hoses. |
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Now I'm all wound up by the crappiness of central
heating. |
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//Surely it would now be better to use electric heaters//
The
problem is that you are then adding the inefficiency of
electricity generation, and paying for all the waste heat
that
the power station has to dump. I'm not sure what the
efficiency of oil- or gas-fired central heating is but, given
that
all the fuel is burned and the only loss of energy (to the
outside world) is as heat through a chimney, it must be
quite
high. |
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[EDIT: a quick Google tells me that electricity generation
from fossil fuels is 37-60% efficient, whereas new central
heating boilers have to be at least 92% efficient. It's true
that electric heaters are close to 100% efficiency, and also
that pumps use some energy in a central heating system,
but all that pumping eventually translates into heat
anyway. So, you're using between 1.5 and 2.5 times more
fuel for electric heating.] |
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//I find it slightly weird that I still heat my house with
hot water being pumped around it through expensive
copper pipes which can only be installed by specialists
and which are subject to rare but potentially catastrophic
leaks. Surely it would now be better to use electric
heaters which would heat each room to the temperature
required for that room and be easy to install?// |
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This is why I'm all wound up about it, 0 improvements in
function for decades, it's worse than printers. I'm off to
redesign central heating. Electricity is somewhere in the
2-3 fold more expensive range compared to gas if you're
talking straight resistive heating, but heating only the
room you're in would more than compensate for that.
Sadly it's 2018 and almost every dwelling has now been
remodeled by one reality tv show or another and as such
is now "open concept". This means you only have one
room so you can read while enjoying the sound of the
dishwasher and TV simultaneously. |
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//Folding the radiator down would be trivial with silicone hoses.// Yes of course, and I'm fully aware of flexible gooseneck type connections, but I want my halfbaked copper and brass elbow joints! |
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// water circulating systems that tolerate heating, cooling, freezing, vibration and little bits of gravel already exist. // |
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Unfortunately, domestic plumbers who tolerate heating, cooling, freezing, vibration and little bits of gravel don't. |
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// I'm all wound up by the crappiness of central heating // |
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// you're using between 1.5 and 2.5 times more fuel for electric heating // |
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The answer is to combust the fossil fuel in an engine which drives a heatpump compressor. The engine's cooling system can be used to produce hot water; the heatpump provides space heating. |
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Heatpump energy efficiency for space heating is 2:1 or better, far superior to simple electric heating using resistance (which is, of course, Futile). |
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// you only have one room // |
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<Obligatory Python Quote> |
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"A Room ? You were lucky ! We never had a room ...." |
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// so you can read while enjoying the sound of the dishwasher and TV simultaneously. // |
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Yes, but you can turn the sound on the TV off. It'll only be yet another of those home makeover programmes, after all... |
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If you film your dishwasher or the washing machine, then broadcast this to the TV, you can wash the dishes or your clothes and watch the TV at the same time without being disturbed by one device drowning out the other. |
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// If you film your dishwasher or the washing machine // |
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Well, that's probably much more entertaining than watching yet another of those home makeover programmes, or cookery competitions ... |
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