Making a screen for the battery. Types and features of protective screens for batteries. Device and fastening

Cast iron radiators are quite difficult to fit into the interior. Modern batteries (made of bimetal or aluminum) look more neat, but do not fit the classic design of an apartment. To ensure that the radiator design fits into any interior, a box is provided. It can be purchased at construction or plumbing stores. But in order not to have to resort to unnecessary costs, it is better to make a screen for the battery yourself.

The battery box can be purchased at any hardware store, but you can also do it yourself

A protective or decorative screen for a radiator reduces its heat transfer. It is impossible to say unequivocally that the screen affects the speed of convection. There are convectors that run on electricity. Their heating element is located inside the housing. Two holes are located at the top and bottom. Thanks to this, manufacturers have achieved an increase in convection. IN in this case the holes act as air ducts, increasing the speed of air passage.

A protective screen can reduce heat transfer into the room

But this technology is not suitable for radiators, because they heat the surrounding air simultaneously in two ways: convection and infrared radiation. The box absorbs and reflects part of the red spectrum. The absorbed energy creates conditions for reheating, and the reflected energy begins to heat the walls. But this heat can also heat the room if you install a reflector behind the radiator. Infrared radiation is reflected from its surface and returns to the apartment. This material is made from foil foam. It should also be used in the absence of a decorative box.

Types of structures

The main component of the decorative screen is the flat facade. Holes are made in it to ensure good air circulation. Panels are rarely attached to the top and sides. It all depends on where the radiator is installed. If the battery is located under a narrow window sill, then you can use a top panel to completely hide the radiator.

There are several types of installation:

The frame for the box can be made of wood or aluminum. The decisive factor is the material from which the decorative panels are made. The material for the panels is quite varied: slats made of wood, plywood, metal, glass, fibreboard, chipboard, etc.

Glass decorative screens can be classified as separate species. Because this is the only type for which no holes are provided during installation. A single sheet of glass is used. To ensure good air circulation, the side and top panels are not installed. The sheet is mounted on special fastenings. They provide the correct gap between the radiator and the glass.

Look interesting video How to make a beautiful radiator grill with your own hands:

DIY decorative screen for a heating radiator easiest to make from narrow wooden boards. They are mounted on a frame made of slats. You can choose any position of the boards.

You can make a lattice of cells. In this case, you need to position the slats relative to each other at an angle of 45 or 90 degrees. If you need a flat grille, you will have to cut grooves at the joints. Then all elements will be in the same plane. This is a rather difficult process, so the slats can simply be intertwined (if their thickness is no more than 5 mm).

The protective box can be made from narrow slats

Another option could be wooden blinds. They resemble old classic window shutters. You need to make grooves at equal distances on the frame. This will ensure that each slatted angle is the same. It is best to saw through them with a thin hacksaw and remove the excess with a chisel.

The materials from which the box is made must be dry

All materials must be dry. Wood moisture content cannot exceed 12%, since the screen is in close proximity to the battery. If the wood is wet, the heat can warp it. The easiest way to check is to try to tie a thin shaving into a knot. She must break.

In both cases, the slats must be well sanded before installation to the frame. After fixing it in the right place, you need to carefully apply several layers of primer to the screen. Then varnish or paint.

You can decorate the box with MDF trim around the entire perimeter. It can be processed in the same way as the rest of the structure. For the finishing coat, it is better to choose a different color or shade.

You can also make a battery box from plywood with your own hands. This is a fairly common type of material for making screens. In this case, you need to choose first class plywood. Using an electric jigsaw, you can cut any pattern on the outer surface. It is better to transfer it through a stencil. The processing of such a panel is standard.

You can make a screen for a radiator with your own hands from a metal base. The main material is perforated sheet or mesh. There are ready-made meshes on sale that are treated with a special anti-corrosion agent and coated with enamel. It can be attached to wooden structure, serving as a frame.

Metal has a huge advantage over wood. It has high thermal conductivity. Thanks to this, you can install screens directly on batteries. Heat transfer increases due to increased surface area.

A metal box is much more efficient than a wooden one, its heat transfer is higher

It is better to choose an aluminum profile or corner as a frame. For the panel - sheet or mesh. Such materials are better than ordinary steel because their thermal conductivity is 4-5 times higher.

Assembling the battery screen is quite simple:

You need to take two corners (preferably aluminum).
Make 2 cuts along the edge line to meet at an angle of 45°.
Using the finished cuts, bend the corners at an angle of 90 degrees.
Prepare a perforated sheet or mesh.
The screen sheet or mesh is folded and attached to the corners.
Make 3 corners with a length equal to the width of the box - additional stiffening ribs are made from them.

You need to attach two hooks to the wall with dowels. Make holes in the corners and hang them on hooks. This will ensure a stable position of the entire structure.

Glass products

Glass screens fit perfectly into modern interiors : pop art, minimalism, etc. It all depends on how the glass is processed.

There is an option to order self-adhesive film with any pattern for the glass screen. You can also apply a design using a sandblaster or paste designed for etching glass. A matte or transparent surface is suitable for these purposes.

If you don’t want to spend effort on processing or don’t have the materials and tools, you can order ready-made frosted glass of the desired size and color. It is better to do the edge processing yourself. The main thing is that the glass is tempered.

A glass radiator box can decorate the interior

The simplest option installation - point-fix the screen to the wall in several places. Special fittings are sold that allow you to mount the glass remotely.

The main disadvantage of such a screen is that for installation in the glass it is necessary to drill holes for fasteners. Therefore, a cold-rolled pipe with thin walls is used for the frame. It is sold in furniture stores. Usually the pipe is chrome plated. In some stores you can order painting. The racks need to be secured to the floor.

For additional stability of the glass screen, you can attach two more stationary fasteners to the wall. The glass must be secured between them with clamps.

It is quite understandable that many homeowners want to improve or hide the utility lines that run through all the rooms of our homes. This is especially true for the heating system; its heating devices are located in all rooms. It’s good if the heaters are of a new type and have a more or less decent appearance, but when there are old cast iron “accordions” or steel plate monsters, then there is no question of any aesthetics. Therefore, in this material we will consider the question of how to make and install a screen on a battery with your own hands in order to successfully veneer it and at the same time add a little zest to the interior of the room.

A little about the heat transfer of radiators

There are often cases when new aluminum or bimetallic radiators are knocked out of the interior, disrupting its harmony. The issue of finishing is quite relevant and requires special approach, since by installing a decorative casing on the heating radiator, its pleasant appearance, but the process of heat transfer from the device to the room is disrupted. Let’s try to figure out why this happens and whether it can be avoided before we start making the screen.

The thermal energy released into the room by a heating radiator has 2 components: radiant and convective. The first is characterized by direct infrared radiation entering the room from the hot surfaces of the battery. At low coolant temperatures (up to 50 ºС), the share of radiant energy is small, but at 60 ºС and above it increases significantly. When a decorative box for a battery is installed, the path to the flow of this radiation is inevitably blocked, which means that part of the thermal energy does not enter the house.

The exception is convector-type water heaters; their front surfaces are not hot and there is practically no radiant component. But such heaters are rare.

The convective component is the transfer of thermal energy to the air environment. Battery panels also have an impact on it, as they create an obstacle to the air passing through the fins and other elements of the heating device. And in the case when the design of the screen is unsuccessful, part of the hot air simply accumulates inside the box, unable to escape outside.

The short conclusion is this: by installing decorative screens for radiators, we disrupt the heat exchange process and part of the energy is returned to the heating network through the return pipeline. This is not so scary in a private house, where the system is located throughout the house and this heat will not leave it anywhere, but will simply be transferred to another room. But in the case of an apartment, we simply give away the heat we paid for to our neighbors on the riser, this must be understood.

Depending on how the batteries are decorated, losses range from 3 to 7%. They cannot be completely avoided, but they can be reduced with the help of a successful screen design.

Choosing material

First you need to choose the right material from which the screen for the radiator will be made. heating. The options are as follows:

plastic;
metal;
tree;
MDF panels;
drywall.

Plastic is of little use for our purpose. Not only does it conduct heat poorly, but over time it warps under its influence. In addition, the cost of plastic panels is quite high. The only advantage - ease of processing - is completely negated by significant disadvantages.

From the point of view of heat transfer, metal screens on radiators - best option, by installing such a casing, you can easily keep within 3% of losses, which is almost imperceptible. To do this, you can purchase thin sheet metal with a polymer coating of the desired color and fix it, for example, on profiles for plasterboard systems. However, metal processing is not an easy task and at home, and even without the skills, it is unlikely that you will be able to assemble a decent product.

A good option is battery screens made of wood. Even though wood does not conduct heat well and requires maintenance, there is still room for imagination and the opportunity to create a simple and successful design. It is quite possible to assemble it yourself, and it will serve for a long time.

The same should be said about such material as laminated MDF panels. They are easy to process, strong and durable, and the external pattern can be successfully matched to the interior of the room. Another advantage is that MDF screens do not require maintenance like wooden ones. The cost of the material is quite affordable, so wood and MDF products are the most common options for upgrading heating devices.

A little about plasterboard sheets as one of the most popular finishing materials. It is also quite suitable for our purpose, but making a homemade screen from plasterboard is more difficult, it requires initial skills in working with this material, and the cost will be more expensive.

First of all, it is recommended to stick a special reflective screen made of foil on the inner surface of the wall located behind the battery; these are available for sale at any building materials store and are inexpensive. This will increase our radiant component, which under standard conditions is spent on heating outer wall. Next, we’ll look at making a do-it-yourself box from MDF panels on a wooden frame.

Scheme of laying a reflective foil screen behind the radiator

First, you need to clearly measure the area to be covered and the depth of the radiator protrusion. Then, using these dimensions, we make a simple wooden frame and carefully process it, as shown in the figure.

The next stage is the most labor-intensive. We need a front grille for the MDF radiator with many air holes. The more there are, the better; it’s up to you to give the cutouts a beautiful shape. Here you will have to work hard with an electric jigsaw and other tools to cut out the pattern. Its design and location depend only on your imagination and willingness to spend your time. One recommendation: Do not make the top part of the front panel blank so that the heated air does not stand under the box cover.

Wooden grill for battery

Next, we cut the side panels to size (they can be made blank, just cut openings for the pipes) and the top part, in which it is also very desirable to make shaped holes for air to escape out. After which the decorative battery box can be assembled and installed in place. For a better understanding of the process, here is an assembly drawing as an example:

Conclusion

If you do not have enough time, then it is easier to purchase a ready-made kit for finishing various heating elements and quickly assemble and install it. But a person with hands and a good imagination will make his own exclusive decorative screen, which cannot be found on sale. The main difficulty is processing the front panel; everything else is done quite simply.

Heating radiators play an important role in the apartment. It depends on them how comfortable it will be indoors in cold weather. But there is one problem - sometimes they look so unsightly that they spoil general view rooms. Special devices – screens – will help solve this problem. You can buy them in a store or make them yourself. How to make a battery screen with your own hands? Are there any features or nuances to this process?

What is the screen for?

Why install a radiator screen? There are three reasons:

They perform a decorative function. An unsightly place in the room can be instantly transformed thanks to an original designed screen.
Protect from contact with hot metal. This is especially true for families with small children.
Makes it easier to maintain the radiator itself.

Types of devices

All existing screens are divided into several types. The design of the product and the material used for its manufacture serve as the basis for separation.

Based on the type of design, screens are divided into 3 types:

Lattices. Used to cover the radiator in a niche.
Mounted. May be with or without a lid.
Attached. Can be installed on the floor, while covering the entire radiator.

Based on the materials used, screens are also divided into several types:

Plastic. They cost less than others. They are practical. A significant drawback is the release of harmful substances upon strong heating.
Made from MDF or fiberboard. These materials are the easiest to process. Allows you to make a protective grill quickly and easily.
Metal. Can be solid steel or forged.
Wooden. It is advisable that high-quality wood be used. Cheap material will spoil quickly.
Glass. This material allows you to make original and unusual screens.

Of all the listed types, the most popular are wooden, metal and decorative screens in the form of a box.

Hardware

In most cases they are made of thin steel. Painted using a special powder. They have the most simple design and low price. Stainless steel products are a little more expensive. Thanks to perforation, they can become a real interior decoration.

Advantages of metal screens:

They do not need to be painted or repaired.
Excellent heat transfer.
Absolutely safe for others.
Installation is simple.
Do not change shape when heated strongly.
To clean, just rinse under running water.

Wooden models

They are considered the most attractive and environmentally friendly. Most often made to order. Such structures cost much more than metal ones. The price depends on the model and type of wood.

You should not save on products of this type. Cheap wood and poor manufacturing technology significantly reduce its service life.

Wooden screens will look harmonious in a room in a country or classic style. They can be carved or have a wicker lattice.

Box

Usually installed on the floor. They have a more complex design. They completely hide the radiator, allowing you to give an attractive look to a niche or space under the window. Such products can be decorated with decorative elements, for example, legs, baseboards or figurines.

A few rules

Before you make a screen for a heating battery with your own hands, you need to get acquainted with some nuances:

A protective grille or panel will reduce the heat output level of the heating device. The minimum will be 5%. The fewer holes there are in the product, the greater this indicator.
The screen should not obstruct air movement.
Foil material placed behind the radiator will help increase heat transfer. Another option is to paint the inside of the screen with black paint.
The product must be easily dismantled and taken apart.

Manufacturing example

How to make a decorative grille for a radiator yourself can be seen using the example of a product made from fiberboard.

First you need to prepare tools and materials:

Fiberboard sheet. It is important that the color matches the rest of the interior details perfectly.
Lattice or mesh for making side panels or front parts.
A foil or metal sheet that will serve as a reflector.
Screws and staples.
Wood glue.
Nails.

The whole process consists of 3 main stages:

markings;
manufacturing of parts;
installation

Marking

This stage involves taking basic measurements and marking the fiberboard sheet:

First of all, the two sides of the radiator are measured. Add 10 cm to the width and 5 cm to the height. These dimensions will be needed to make the front part of the screen.
Now you need to measure the depth. Add 2.5 cm to the result obtained. This results in the width of the side slats.
All that remains is to measure the cover. It is important that it is 1.2-1.5 cm larger than the side bars.

Trimming

Now you need to do all the listed details. To make the front profile, you need to cut out several blanks 11 cm wide. In the places where they will be attached to each other, use a hacksaw to make an angle of 45°.

Assembly

So, all the parts are assembled. You can begin the assembly and installation process:

First, the front window is designed. It will require a mesh. You can cut it with a hacksaw.
A fiberboard profile is used to finish each edge. It should be placed around the entire perimeter on the inside of each front corner. The side strips are designed in a similar way.
Making the frame is one of the main stages of the work. It must be strong and stable. You need to cut holes on the sides for the pipes.
It is recommended to install a metal or foil sheet on the back wall. It will reflect heat.
There are several ways to secure the screen. One of them is the frame mentioned above. The second way to secure the structure is with anchor collets. It involves purchasing expensive additional elements. And finally, the third method is legs. They can be regular or adjustable. The legs are attached to the bottom of the screen.

The screen for a heating radiator performs several functions at once. One of them (probably the most important) is protection against contact with hot metal. In addition, this element can be an interior decoration. It can be purchased in specialized stores, or you can make it yourself.

Do you have unattractive heating systems installed in your home that, by their appearance, bring disharmony to the overall interior? This is not yet a reason to despair at the prospect of forever looking at unsightly radiators in front of you. And even more so, this is not a reason to spend money on new devices. The problem can be solved much easier and cheaper by masking the batteries with decorative grilles. You don’t have to buy them in a store or order them individually from a craftsman, because it’s quite possible to make screens of the required sizes with your own hands - then we’ll tell you how to realize such an idea using various materials: PVC, plasterboard and wood.

The benefits of decorative grilles

Before we begin to consider the features of making screens for batteries, we will outline the advantages of these decorative elements in order to understand what their benefits are. So, radiator grilles make it possible to:

Effectively hide batteries. Do you want to transform your home and realize that the existing radiators, although quite neat, will not fit into the new environment? Or are the heating appliances already so old that their mere appearance spoils the interior? In both cases, decorative screens will come in handy - they will not only disguise the radiators, but will also act as a full-fledged decoration of the room.
Protect radiators from dirt and dust, thereby facilitating their maintenance.
Ensure uniform distribution of warm air masses throughout the room.
Protect household members, in particular small children, from burns and bruises from contact with heating appliances.

Decorative screens will hide unsightly radiators

An undoubted advantage of decorative screens is that their appearance can be completely different. Color scheme, texture, shape, material, dimensions - everything here depends only on your wishes. But note that there is also a standard line of screen sizes:

60 x 30 cm;
60 x 60 cm;
60 x 90 cm;
60 x 120 cm;
60 x 150 cm;
60 x 180 cm.

Now let's directly look at how to make decorative grilles from PVC, plasterboard and wood.

PVC screens

PVC is a heat-resistant and durable material, characterized by a low price and a wide range of colors. Almost the only drawback of plastic is its low resistance to mechanical shock. The screen can be made entirely of PVC or with wooden or metal supports to increase the overall strength of the structure.

The first stage of manufacturing a PVC grating is creating a drawing. Measure the height, depth and width of the radiator. Add 4 cm to the width on each side to ensure free air circulation, and 3-5 cm to the depth. Using the data obtained, draw a diagram of the future screen.

The second stage is the construction of the box. Using a hacksaw or jigsaw, cut out the side, front and top parts of the screen from PVC. Drill shaped air holes in the top and front sections. Connect the elements of the box together with nails and metal corners.

Important! The fewer holes in the screen, the worse the heated air spreads around the perimeter of the room, which can lead to a low level of heating in the room.

The third stage is installing the screen: place the box against the battery and use self-tapping screws to secure it either to the wall or to special wall mounts.

Plasterboard gratings

Drywall is another affordable, heat-resistant and easy-to-work material that is great for grating.

Drywall

Screen manufacturing sequence:

Perform the markings: at the top, bottom and on both sides of the battery, draw vertical and horizontal lines, respectively, with an indentation of 5-7 cm - the profile frame will be attached along them.
From a metal profile 6 cm wide, cut strips for the frame: side, bottom and top, as well as two protruding ones - to ensure the depth of the screen. The latter should be the longest, since they will need to be bent in two places.
Use screws to secure the top, bottom and side guides of the profile to the wall. Bend the long strips for the protruding part of the box at right angles in the right places so that you get oblong U-shaped elements, and then use screws to connect their edges to the side guides on the wall.
Cut plasterboard elements for lining the box. Make air holes in the top and front panels. Then secure all panels to the frame with screws. The finished box can be painted, wallpapered, painted, etc.

Wooden screens

Wooden screens are a classic decor that will fit perfectly into literally any interior. Despite the fact that this option cannot be called the cheapest, wooden grilles are one of the most popular in their category. The reasons for the demand for wood screens are naturalness, elegant appearance and, of course, ease of construction:

Wooden screen

Take measurements for the future box. Measure the width, height and depth of the battery and add 8-10 cm to each indicator.
Build a screen frame from thin bars. First, cut out the top and two side strips and connect them together with metal corners. Then hang the resulting product on the radiator and fix it with self-tapping screws either directly on the wall or on pre-installed canopies.
Cut out the front panel of the screen from an MDF sheet, make the necessary holes in it and secure it to the frame with self-tapping screws.

Advice. Be sure to varnish the surface of the finished screen to protect the wood from temperature changes.

Now you know the benefits of decorative screens and how you can make them yourself using available means. All that's left is to stock up necessary materials and you can start working - following simple instructions and if you use your imagination, you can get grilles no worse than store-bought ones, but much cheaper.

Do-it-yourself wooden screen for a battery: video

Screen for radiator: photo

The desire to cover the heating radiator with something is quite natural: even modern aluminum radiators do not please the eye with their monotony. Exclusive products, made to order to suit the design of the room... I see, I see, I don’t have to continue. It’s easier to make a battery screen with your own hands, especially since this work is not expensive or difficult.

However, the purpose of a heating battery is to warm the room. It is intuitively clear that the battery behind the screen or in the box will heat worse, and you need to pay for heat as before if there is no heat meter. That is why many people who wish do not upgrade their batteries, putting up with sometimes ugly pieces of hardware in plain sight.

Intuition often fails. It is quite possible to make a screen for a radiator that not only does not worsen heating, but also improves it. You just need to know how a heating radiator works, and also some thermophysics.

How does it heat?

Heat is transferred from the battery to the room due to the flow of heated air - convection - and by emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared (IR) range. The ratio of radiation and convection varies with temperature hot water in the system, external conditions and radiator design.

"Harmonic"

An old “cast iron” heats in autumn or mild winter mainly due to convection. With intense heating (radiator temperature +50 degrees or more), a significant portion of the heat flow into the room comes from IR radiation. Nowadays in some regions this situation seems abstract and fantastic, but people of the older and middle generations remember how in the harsh winter it was impossible to touch the batteries with your hand.

Profiled aluminum

Modern radiators generally operate in the same way, but to some extent they can adapt to external conditions. If the air circulation in the channels is obstructed by something (for example, a curtain), the heat flow in the metal mass is redistributed towards the front flat panels, and the radiator switches to heat radiation mode. This is achieved by accurate numerical simulation of the radiator on powerful computers.

This makes it clear: the radiator screen must ensure not only air circulation, but also the transmission of infrared radiation to the outside. This is achieved in two ways, see the next section.

Regarding convection, the conclusion is simple: the front panel of the correct screen should not be blank or with sparse small holes. A good screen is a battery grille, quite sparse and with a fairly large space above the radiator (see picture on the right). But to ensure heat exchange that is not inferior to the standard one in free space, this is not enough.

Design and Physics

Let's remember from school: a completely black body emits and absorbs radiation best. The external shield should absorb the IR from the battery and then radiate it into the room. To do this, firstly, it must have good thermal conductivity so that the absorbed IR does not return back. Secondly, the darker it is, the better. How to decorate the outside of a battery is primarily a matter of taste; but the back of the screen should be painted black in any case.

Let's explain with an example: Let's say the screen is black; IR absorption coefficient k = 0.8. It absorbs radiation on one side and emits on both sides. The thermal conductivity of the screen material is also not infinite. The reverse radiation will additionally heat up the battery and it will begin to emit stronger radiation. The exact calculation is quite complex, requiring knowledge of advanced mathematics, but the end result is simple: 1 divided by the square root of 2, multiplied by the square of k. That is, 0.707x0.64 = 0.453 of the standard IR flow will go into the room.

This is already less than what an aluminum radiator with profiled channels will “pull” with deteriorated convection. With a bright screen, heat transfer into the room will worsen. Where does unused heat go? It goes into the return pipe, and you still pay for it. Is it possible to improve the matter? Yes, you can. First of all, additional thermal shielding from the wall.

Heat shield reflector

From what is described above, it is clear that a heat-reflecting screen should be placed on the wall behind the battery, but not black, but shiny. It will reflect IR back from the back surface of the radiator, it will still heat up, the total IR flux to the external decorative screen will increase, and, with a light external surface of the decorative screen, more than 0.5 of the standard IR flux will enter the room. This is already enough for a good profiled aluminum radiator to work more or less normally by convection, with some minor additions, see below.

But a sheet of metal will not be enough. Even polished aluminum will weaken the IR flow onto the wall by 5-6 times, no more. It is necessary to lay a heat-insulating mat made of synthetic padding polyester or any other fibrous polymer, coated on both sides with aluminum. It will weaken the IR flow onto the wall by at least 40 times. Sintepon has the advantage that even with a thickness of 5 mm it practically does not conduct heat and reflects IR well.

Mats made from other materials will have to be at least 3 cm thick, and mineral wool cannot be used open in residential premises at all: it is harmful to health. Aluminized foam plastic is no worse than padding polyester, but it does not bend and it is difficult to put it behind the battery without removing it.

What not to do and how to do it

Based on the above, we will first analyze the characteristic errors in the manufacture of heating radiator screens. The picture on the left shows a very poor design.

Firstly, the tiny ventilation holes practically eliminate normal convection. Secondly, a cushion of heated air forms in the “sinus” above them, further preventing normal convection heat transfer. Such a radiator actually works only due to radiation. The casing, apparently, is metal, but even if it is blackened from the inside in a special way, we can safely say that the owners waste at least 25% of their heating costs down the drain. Knowing the tariffs, you can estimate the money yourself.

In addition, the additional functionality of such a screen is zero: the box sticks out of the wall, and that’s it. And the design efforts are completely negated by the ugly pipe in plain sight: an attempt to cover the battery only emphasizes its ugliness.

In the picture on the right, the design is acceptable, but still imperfect. In terms of design and functionality, everything is in order: the wood looks good, and the result is a rather elegant shelf, decorated, I must say, tastefully.

But the sheathing is too frequent: the width of its strips is greater than the spaces between them. With any additional measures to improve heat transfer to the return, at least 5-7% of heat costs are also spent, which in monetary terms will amount to a lot over the winter.

Video: Beautiful but ineffective screen

Optimal DIY screen

Material

Before we get down to business, let's think carefully: how to close the battery? Both the speed and ease of operation, as well as the thermal efficiency of the radiator in the screen, depend on this.

Plastic is definitely not suitable. It is expensive, does not conduct heat well, and, oddly enough at first glance, it is more difficult to give it an aesthetic appearance at home than metal. And most importantly, due to uneven heating, the plastic will warp over time, or even become stained.
Metal is inexpensive and an excellent heat conductor. But to make a beautiful metal product at home, you need solid working skills and a fairly extensive set of tools.
Wood is aesthetically pleasing, environmentally friendly, and easy to work with. But it conducts heat poorly, and its thermal conductivity cannot be significantly improved. However, a properly made (see below) wooden radiator screen is quite effective.
Drywall - at first glance, is not suitable, and not so much in terms of thermal conductivity. Due to uneven heating, drywall dries out and begins to peel, dust, and crack. But with a little work, drywall can be improved in all respects and made into an excellent screen.

Preparing drywall

To cover the battery with plasterboard, it should be prepared. First of all, use a special needle roller for drywall (see figure) to roll the underside of the cut-out blanks. You don’t have to buy a roller; you can rent it. The deposit is small, the tool rarely breaks down, wears out little, so the rent is low, and the work lasts for half an hour or an hour. Then we impregnate the blanks twice on each side with PVA water emulsion. It is inexpensive and will require 2-3 liters.

The meaning of the procedure:

Impregnation with a polymer emulsion improves thermal conductivity.
The piercing holes create thermal bridges from the inside out.
Drywall impregnated with polymer emulsion does not dry out.
Paint adheres well to impregnated drywall, giving an even layer.
Cutting drywall treated in this way with an electric or manual jigsaw turns out clean; After additional processing with sandpaper and painting, the product that comes out of skillful hands looks no worse than a plastic factory one.

Now you can start making the screen.

Video: working with drywall

Design

A cross-section of a screen with a heating radiator, which provides heat transfer equal to the original one, is shown in the figure. In addition to what was described above, the design has two highlights: an aerodynamic visor and a warm air injector. They are made of tin, galvanized, or even cardboard. In the latter case, the inside of the visor must be covered with aluminum foil (a baking sleeve will do).

A visor is necessary not only for old cast iron stoves. For aluminum radiators it is even more necessary. Without it, in the corner under the window sill, or the top shelf of the screen-box, the warm air cushion described above is formed, which can completely block convection. The aluminized surface of the visor facing the radiator reflects a certain amount of IR outward. In terms of money, the bill comes down to pennies, but during the heating season these pennies add up a lot.

The injector sucks in warm air from the front side of the radiator. Please note that its exit is made with some narrowing. At low throttle, the injector practically does not work, but with increased heating, the thrust increases and the warm air from above “comes in clouds”. Literally, if you test it with smoke.