Radiator vibration problem

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 4:22 am

I had the bad idea of putting an aluminium radiator in my recording room (hope this is the correct word, is that used for heating rooms).
The problem is that it clearly sounds just by clapping hands, so you could
imagine what it could do with drums... I tried to cover the entire radiator
with foam but it still sounds... Obviously the only way is to stop the
vibrations from its thin flat aluminium parts. Can anyone suggest me a
solution?
Thanks
Frank

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 6:47 am

Wes,

I believe what you are refering to is called "Fin-Tube Radiation"........ it's a copper pipe with aluminum "fins" that heat up the air which passes between them.

There are actually 2 issues with this type of heat in a room........ the 1st one you have already discovered...... the 2nd one is that they tend to make noise from expansion/contraction as they heat up and cool down.

Due to the fat that they only way these work is by air passing between the fins (a solid block of aluminum the same size would not work because it would not have enough surface area for heating purposes) I can not see any way you can "fix" this........ covering this up with foam (or anything else) will stop it from being able to heat -

Think about it this way - these fins vibrate with the sound in the room - to stop them from vibrating - you have to stop air from getting to them - they heat through convection - in order for them to heat the room they have to have free air passage to them..........

It is a catch 22 for you.

(IMHO) You are going to have to find an alternate method of heating the space.

Rod

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 7:14 am

Rod,
Thanks for the response.
I didn't undersand if we are talking about the same thing... What I called "radiator"
is basically a pipe with hot water flowing inside. It has a particular shape
to increase the radiating surface and pass warmth from water to air in the room.
It's a very common method of heating housese here.
About noise in contraction/expansion it usually isn't a problem...
I was thinkink of stopping the fins vibration with a sort of "embracement" with
metal wire or anything similar... I was also thinking about using foam only when
I record and the heating is turned down.
Any other ideas?

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