Mondo Knows Facts

Panel radiators heat mostly by convection, not glow

Most of the output comes from air rising over the finned back plate A modern panel radiator has a flat front and a corrugated convector fin welded behind, which creates many narrow channels. Warm air rises through those channels and pulls cooler air in at the floor, so roughly three quarters of the heat arrives by convection and the rest by radiation. That is why radiators work best with clear space beneath them. It sits in Mondo's everyday life collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: heating, radiators, homes

Panel radiators heat mostly by convection, not glow: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Most of the output comes from air rising over the finned back plate. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a everyday life fact?
Yes. It sits on the Everyday Life shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.