can anyone accurately summise this please?

[MR GUS]

I'd like to get through to some folk, well alot actually in an area that seems to be seriously lacking.
Namely curtains & radiators (a bug bear of mine admittedly)

Are there any gauges / test out there that can suggest what sort of clothing your thickness / type of curtains are like going out in the cold as?

..such as, typical kids cartoon character cotton curtains with a rad below them, akin to going out in the cold wearing thin primark shorts & a £1.99 t-shirt, for example.

Our (as a nation)'s curtains, I'd guess are oh I'm big poor insulators & we're always told "the thicker the better" but I fail to find any kind of test as to what is good & what is truly awful at keeping heat in, in a manner "Joe Av" can understand & not ignore.

Also how effective would a semi stiff "bendy" silver heat reflective material improve your typical rads reflective heat with the curtains slightly bunched at the bottom  sitting atop the bendy reflector, (no gaps) or would say an 8 inch curve over the top fins simply reintroduce that cold spot over the area that is essentially allowing all that heat outside in the first place through poor placement, instead of feeding it back into the room?
& why are curtains not classified as standard in terms of thermal ability & light transmission / leakage  witrh a standard gauge, such as we have for so many other things, eg lumens?

hope you get the gist through the rambly post!

[biff]

hi gus,
      i believe that curtains are of the greatest importance,especially in the depth of winter.i am told that fitting a foil reflective sheet between the wall and the rad throws out 20 percent more heat.
      you can buy curtains with insulating material already fitted but the best move we made was last winter when we sealed off the veranda door with 2L2 and pulled the curtain over it.that made such a difference,mind you the temp outside was 12 below.
                                                biff

[brackwell]

Out of the forms of heat loss - radiation,conduction,convection i would have thought that convection was the culprit in view of air gaps all over the place. Would not have thought the actual material too critical but if you need a test hold it up to the light but if it bugs you that much use a non woven material.

I wonder that your radiator deflector idea is not an available item or perhaps it is. Dont think it it needs to be reflective etc it is just deflecting the convection current coming off your rad.

Biff,
 What is 2L2

[djh]

I wonder that your radiator deflector idea is not an available item or perhaps it is.

Radiator shelves are certainly available and work well.

[skyewright]

Radiator shelves are certainly available and work well.

I used simple ("London" pattern?) shelf brackets and melamine faced chipboard. Works fine here. The cats think they are great.  

Where I wanted to have a relatively wide (e.g. 9"/230mm) shelf but didn't have the depth available for 9" brackets I just used 6" brackets the wrong way around (i.e. short leg on the wall, long leg under the shelf)[1]; given the light loadings the shelf  was likely to see it seemed sufficient support and has worked out that way in practice.


Edit: [1] And used closer spacing / more brackets, just in case, e.g. say 3 "wrong way round" brackets where I'd have used 2 "normal way round" ones.

[petern]

hi
my first post so we will see what reaction
as 'my company' make and install stuff like curtains and blinds i can offer suggestions.
blinds are more efficient to control, heatflow, sunlight glare, solar gain, natural light, privacy, and blackout, can be from DIY or cheap or up to eye watering expensive.
if your partner wants it looking pretty then use dress curtains, fit a blind (probably a rollo blind,) and you don't need the shelf.
and blind fabrics do have openess factors, r values, recycled textiles, oko compliant and all that sort of guff if you want it

[azps]

MR GUS asked: "Are there any gauges / test out there that can suggest what sort of clothing your thickness / type of curtains are like going out in the cold as?"

The short answer is no. The slightly longer answer is that it will all depend on your windows: if you've got draughty single-glazed windows, then a blind with an air-tight magnetic seal, plus heavy floor-to-ceiling thermally-lined curtains will make a huge difference. If you've got Passivhaus triple-glazing, the curtains and blind won't make much difference at all, and might just get in the way of valuable solar gain in winter.

[Katy]

Interestingly, the soft furnishings industry tends to use 'wadding' & thermal linings without any technical spec., probably because the real value lies in how the curtains are used - do they tuck in nicely, is there a gap at the top edge for heat to escape from, when are they closed?, etc. I've found a body-related measurement, called the 'Clo' value, which is used in garment manufacture, but applying this to buildings proves difficult.

Your worries are ones I've had for many years - having established a possible solution last year I had to put the ideas into action, which is why I'm now involved in making thermal roman blinds, with a measured U-Value, albeit not officially verified (yet).