Radiator with copper water piping a no-no for live room?

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 5:03 am

I didn't want to post this in the same post as my ceiling question for others doing searches later on. (Please moderate if necessary).

Being in Europe, central heating is water based with radiators. In the rest of the house we had steel neo-classical style radiators put in and there are two left over for the basment. At €500 a throw I am keen to fit them but after searching I found this thread

http://www.recording.org/ftopict-16647-radiator.html

which talks about radiators vibrating and I am worried also about sound being transferred to the rest of the house through the copper pipework (I strictly forbade the plumber to pass piping through this basement room to the rest of the house for this reason. This really pissed him off).

Could somebody clarify the situation please?

Would a split reversible airconditioner be much better? (I was going to fit at least aircooling anyway)

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 6:46 am

We have hot water baseboard heat in both our mastering rooms and have not had any problems with sound transmission. We did have to have a vibration coupler put in to isolate the pump from the tubing but it was a minor expense. The system is quiet and very economical to run.

As to the split AC we had looked at one a couple of years ago for an un-air-conditioned space (our machine room) and the price and the flexibility looked GREAT but we decided against it due to the high cost of installation quoted us by the dealer. We have since switched HVAC dealers and the new dealer seems a bit more reasonable so we may look at going that way again in the near future.

Best of luck! and do shop around as prices can vary.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:01 am

I'm not the expert around here, but I would think putting a mini-split (split reversible airconditioner) in there would work fine.

Just be sure that the unit does bring in fresh air, as the room gives it's best soundproofing performance when it it sealed air-tight with controlled air access.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:14 am

Thomas W. Bethel wrote:

We have hot water baseboard heat in both our mastering rooms and have not had any problems with sound transmission. We did have to have a vibration coupler put in to isolate the pump from the tubing but it was a minor expense. The system is quiet and very economical to run.

As to the split AC we had looked at one a couple of years ago for an un-air-conditioned space (our machine room) and the price and the flexibility looked GREAT but we decided against it due to the high cost of installation quoted us by the dealer. We have since switched HVAC dealers and the new dealer seems a bit more reasonable so we may look at going that way again in the near future.

Best of luck! and do shop around as prices can vary.

Thanks for the info Thomas. If I understand correctly you have underfloor heating with no metal parts actually exposed in the recording room. That must be very nice in winter!

The worry I have is the exposed radiator picking up sound and transferring it to others parts of the building. I just don't know how much of a problem this could be...

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:18 am

MadMax wrote:

I'm not the expert around here, but I would think putting a mini-split (split reversible airconditioner) in there would work fine.

Just be sure that the unit does bring in fresh air, as the room gives it's best soundproofing performance when it it sealed air-tight with controlled air access.

Hi MadMax. I don't think that these units bring in air from the outside. All they do is condition the air on the inside by heat transfer with a refrigerant liquid between inside and out. I'm certain I'm going to have to fit a ventilation unit in addition to heating/cooling. There a few MDF baffle designs around but that is a different topic.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 10:32 am

Driller wrote:

Thomas W. Bethel wrote:

We have hot water baseboard heat in both our mastering rooms and have not had any problems with sound transmission. We did have to have a vibration coupler put in to isolate the pump from the tubing but it was a minor expense. The system is quiet and very economical to run.

As to the split AC we had looked at one a couple of years ago for an un-air-conditioned space (our machine room) and the price and the flexibility looked GREAT but we decided against it due to the high cost of installation quoted us by the dealer. We have since switched HVAC dealers and the new dealer seems a bit more reasonable so we may look at going that way again in the near future.

Best of luck! and do shop around as prices can vary.

Thanks for the info Thomas. If I understand correctly you have underfloor heating with no metal parts actually exposed in the recording room. That must be very nice in winter!

The worry I have is the exposed radiator picking up sound and transferring it to others parts of the building. I just don't know how much of a problem this could be...

It is not underfloor though I wish it was but it is just above the baseboard moulding so it is exposed. It is a copper pipe with heat radiating fins enclosed in the sheet metal enclosure.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 11:16 am

Thomas W. Bethel wrote:

Driller wrote:

Thomas W. Bethel wrote:

We have hot water baseboard heat in both our mastering rooms and have not had any problems with sound transmission. We did have to have a vibration coupler put in to isolate the pump from the tubing but it was a minor expense. The system is quiet and very economical to run.

As to the split AC we had looked at one a couple of years ago for an un-air-conditioned space (our machine room) and the price and the flexibility looked GREAT but we decided against it due to the high cost of installation quoted us by the dealer. We have since switched HVAC dealers and the new dealer seems a bit more reasonable so we may look at going that way again in the near future.

Best of luck! and do shop around as prices can vary.

Thanks for the info Thomas. If I understand correctly you have underfloor heating with no metal parts actually exposed in the recording room. That must be very nice in winter!

The worry I have is the exposed radiator picking up sound and transferring it to others parts of the building. I just don't know how much of a problem this could be...

It is not underfloor though I wish it was but it is just above the baseboard moulding so it is exposed. It is a copper pipe with heat radiating fins enclosed in the sheet metal enclosure.

Ah sorry Thomas I see what you mean now. Well if you don't have any sound transmission problems that bodes well for me. One question though: bearing in mind these are your mastering rooms, I imagine that you're dealing with rather more comfortable SPL's than say a hard rock band inc. drums?

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 1:33 pm

About 85 dBSPL is about as loud as I get except for some transients. Yes you are correct.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 4:34 pm

Thomas W. Bethel wrote:

About 85 dBSPL is about as loud as I get except for some transients. Yes you are correct.

Thanks Thomas.

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