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A comment on Embezzle a bit more of your building’s heat. Parent comment

Re:Embezzle a bit more of your building’s heat by mmt on Sunday December 06, 2009 @01:17AM (#979254)
I would have to disagree. It certainly limits effectiveness without the fan, but I expect the fan to more than counteract that.
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Re:Embezzle a bit more of your building’s heat by lutorm on Sunday December 06, 2009 @09:05AM (#979530)
That's what I was going to say: Maybe he wouldn't need the fan if he removed the shelf.
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Re:Embezzle a bit more of your building’s heat by seabee on Sunday December 06, 2009 @09:23AM (#979547)
Forced airflow is several times more effective than relying on convection. Remember that hot air rises, so if the room was narrow, removing the shelf would indeed be sufficient. However, if the end of the room is quite far, it will take a quite a little while for heat to circulate.

The fan speeds up the process by sucking a lot more cold air in through the radiator, forcing it against the warm metal and blowing it out into the room. (Think why the heatsinks in your computer have fans.)

The shelf may act as a way of ensuring air blows through the entire depth of the radiator, but I doubt it has any significant effect either way.

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