Despite the fact that on sale you can find radiators in a wide assortment, there are craftsmen who make such devices on their own. Radiators from pipes today find their wide application in garages, in summer cottages and in small country houses.
Is it worth it to make a battery yourself
If you work well on the decoration, then a self-made designer device can decorate even a civilized dwelling. But for starters, itβs important to figure out how to weld a tubular battery and whether to do it at all.
True without embellishment
If we consider a modern radiator, then we can note that this is a technically complex device that works on the principle of convection and radiation. Manufacturers in the manufacturing process of such devices take into account several factors, using new technologies, trying to increase the efficiency of the heating system, reduce the temperature and volume of the coolant. The factory device will work much more efficiently than homemade homemade products, and will also surpass it in design and compactness.
Therefore, it is advisable to make a home-made heating radiator if you have inexpensive or free pipes, the appropriate metal cutting tool, a welding machine and the corresponding skills in working with equipment. For cutting you will need an angle grinder.
Specialist advice
If you make even a small mistake, it can lead to emergency situations and leaks. Such a device is not recommended to be installed in an apartment; it is best suited for farm buildings and spacious rooms.
Types of homemade radiators
If you want to make a home-made heating radiator, you must consider that it is better and easier to do this, creating a device from one or more pipes that are connected into a single design. The principle of operation will remain the same as with cast-iron batteries. A coolant will circulate inside, warming the metal, which will give off heat to the air.
Registers can be used in single-tube or two-pipe systems, and their installation can be floor or wall. The simplest solutions of this group are radiators, which today can be found in the bathrooms of old houses. There they functioned as towel warmers.
Before you make a homemade heating radiator, you must understand its varieties. It can be a coil or sectional device. The latter is a construction of pipes of different diameters. Elements of a larger diameter are parallel and have end caps. They are interconnected by tubes with a smaller diameter. The nozzles should preferably be located closer to the edges.
In order to provide structural strength, additional jumpers are used. They help increase heat transfer and increase the heating area. In such a home-made heating radiator, the movement of the coolant begins with a tank located above the others. After the water passes through the pipe and is in the bottom row. It flows along the length and enters the next element.
It is necessary to ensure the strength of the welds, because they will have to undergo a pressure of 13 atmospheres. As for the coil, it has an S-shape and is assembled from elements exposed sequentially. This design is effective, because the entire surface of the pipe will be involved in the heat exchanger. There are no intermediate narrowings in such a radiator, therefore, the hydraulic resistance will be less than in a sectional radiator.
DIY radiator manufacturing
If you want to make a home-made heating radiator from a profile pipe, then you will need skills in working with a welding machine. We will also need a grinder. It is important to determine the size of the heat source. For this, power is calculated. It will depend on the surface area of ββthe device and the thermal conductivity of the steel.
In order to calculate power, use the formula. However, experts advise taking power with a margin. The exact values ββwill not be needed if it is planned to heat a farm building. A cast-iron battery can be taken as the basis here. If the power of one section of such a radiator is 160 W, and the volume is 1, 45 liters, then to replace a standard cast-iron 10-section device, you will need a pipe radiator that will hold 14.5 liters of liquid. For every square meter of the room, 1 kW of power is needed. This value should be increased when calculating the system parameters in houses with poor thermal insulation.
Preparation of materials
Before you make a heating radiator out of a pipe, you should take care of the availability of some materials. To implement the device with the above characteristics you will need:
- water pipe;
- fittings;
- 2 drives;
- threaded connections;
- steel sheet.
The pipe should be made of carbon steel and its length should be about 2 m. The wall thickness is 3.5 mm and the diameter varies from 10 to 12 cm. The steel sheet should have a thickness of 3.5 mm. This material will be needed for end caps. A water pipe should be prepared for the access channels.
The diameter of the drives is 2.5 cm. To increase the stiffness, reinforcement is required. In order to insert the battery into the system, threaded connections are required. It is cheaper to purchase material at the scrap metal collection points, but for permanent housing, the choice should be made in favor of new smooth steel pipes. If you do not want to increase the load on the boiler, increase the volume of coolant and the current heating costs, then you should not take 12-cm pipes for the registers.
Manufacturing technology
If you want to make a home-made heating battery, then a two-meter steel pipe should be cut into three equal parts. In each, two holes for through tubes are made. They should be removed from the ends by 5 cm, located at different ends at an angle of 180 Λ relative to each other.
Next, round blanks for the ends should be cut from steel sheets. The diameter of the covers should be equal to the size of the pipe holes. These elements are welded to the ends. Water pipes are welded to the holes. This will allow you to get a circuit for the movement of water.
In order to make the structure more durable, the pipes should be interconnected by fittings. Larger registers should provide safety jumpers. The distance between the sections should be greater than the size of the main pipe by 0.5 cm.
Choosing a pipe for a heating system
If you are interested in the question of which pipes for heating a house is better to choose, several options should be considered. Metal pipes, for example, have been used before. This decision was uncontested. Such products serve for a long time and flawlessly, but the material undergoes corrosion, rust gradually clogs the duct.
Among the main advantages of such products should be highlighted:
- high strength;
- sufficient thermal conductivity;
- metal stiffness;
- resistance to high temperature;
- simplicity of operation;
- ability to undergo mechanical stress.
But this material has its drawbacks. Firstly, it is heavy. Secondly, it requires a longer installation process. Thirdly, pipes will often have to be painted. You can also consider polypropylene products. This option is affordable, has a smooth-walled inner lumen and low specific gravity. Such pipes can be laid on the wall in a closed system. At a low temperature, the pipes do not undergo deformation and are ready to last up to 20 years.
When choosing pipes for water heating, the disadvantages of polypropylene should be taken into account. It requires a special type of connection, it is difficult to rinse and repair in finished form, and also has low heat resistance. Resistant to high pressure and high temperature pipes made of cross-linked polyethylene. They have high density and durability, low specific gravity and ease of installation. The inner lumen is smooth, which eliminates the deposition of calcium precipitation.
Plastic pipes today are one of the most popular when heating in a private house with their own hands. Such products are easy to install, affordable and combine the advantages of polymers, because they consist of several layers. Inside, smooth plastic, and the pipes themselves are reinforced with metal foil.
Heating system device
In a private house, the heating system can be one- or two-pipe. In the first case, all radiators are connected to one collector. It plays the role of supply and return. As a result, it is possible to obtain a circuit in the form of a closed ring.
When laying heating pipes in a private house, you can mount them in a two-pipe scheme. It provides for the supply of coolant to the radiators in a single pipe. Returns are made differently. More reliable and progressive is the two-pipe system. But there is a misconception that the installation of a single-tube system takes less material. However, such a system is more complex and expensive. This is due to the fact that when laying the heating in a private house with your own hands on a one-pipe system, you create a scheme in which the water from the radiators will cool more than the further it leaves. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the power of heating devices by adding sections. In addition, the distribution manifold must have a larger diameter compared to the two-pipe distribution line.