I've been reading lots of posts about drape length and making sure your drapes are long enough. But what do you do when you have an electric baseboard heater right under your window. I have just put up drapes in my bedroom and had to put the rod a little higher so that the drapes weren't too close to the heater. I would have liked to have them longer but worry about fire, etc.
When they are open, it's not a problem - any suggestions????
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because we had a guy come to evaluate the state of our house from an "eco" standpoint. (Provincial Hydro Program) He commented on the drapes that were hanging over our baseboard heater and said that basically they were costing us a fortune!!! Although they have never felt like a "fire-risk" they have been probably costing us a lot of money in wasted heating bills so they have been removed. We installed roman blinds instead.
I have seen guards made out of plastic coated wire. I think they hook on somehow to the heater and they stick out so your curtains billow out over the guard and are never too close to the heater. I tried to do a google search but couldn't find what I have seen before but I did find this link instead
[url]http://patents1.ic.gc.ca/details?patent_number=2124017[/url] and it seems this guard does the same thing. I don't think it would be the end of the world to have the curtains a few inches above the baseboard heater IMO.
Hi,
2 years later....lol
but anyhoos, in some part of Canada the bottom of the curtain must be 1 foot above the electric baseboard heater. That is standard for apartment living.
just thot I'd add my 2 cents worth. :) Twitter
oh yes this has been my 11 year old dilemma.....i have phoned around to all the heating places in our area and none sell what use to be out, which was a saftey guard that someone on here told me about.....so im not sure if they are still making them. As for the covers you need to make sure they work as a guard and not just for decorative purposes, if you plan to hang your curtains in front of the heater. Jon Eakes had done a piece on curtains in front of baseboard heaters and felt it was better to have the curtains come to the floor, however every other site i have researched and everyone i have called has advised me against this.........there is different types of baseboard heaters, they say the electric baseboard heated is the one you need to be the most concerned about and that is the kind we have. Now DBD did post a curtain rod, it is a double rod that comes out further, but i have not tried this because i just spent 80 dollars on this rod not too long ago, so dh would hang me out to dry. So, for now my curtains will hang as they always have for the past 11 years, im not willing to risk burning our home down for the sake of beautiful decor. :D i spoke with a friend who had her in front of the baseboard heater, she didnt close them and when she took them down she noticed that the bottoms were scorched and after the summer we had to move ours up a couple inches because they were slightly in front of the heater and man they were hot..........so please be careful and perhaps call some of the heating places in your area...........or you and i can just start a new trend. :laugh: Hope this helps! as you can see i still havent found a safe miracle cure.........just figured its something i will continue to live with.
smiles
janetc
thanks for the websites - actually the covers are really nice. A good way to cover up ugly baseboard heaters. I will definitely look into that idea and see what we can come up with.
Okay, I found a couple of sites for "radiator covers". I realize that baseboard heaters are WAY smaller. But they mentioned a couple of things if you have a hubby that is pretty good at DIY...
One company makes the covers, but I think they are strictly for decoration, and make no difference in the way the heat is...you could contact them to see though.
The other site is making furniture out of a radiator cover. They mentioned that they use reflective insulation. So I think you could make something out of wood and maybe purchase the reflective insulation so that the wood wouldn't burn... Not sure.
Anyway, something to look into! I hope you can get into the sites...
[url]http://www.radiantwraps.com/[/url]
[url]http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/10418.shtml[/url]
I was watching Design Inc. last night and they had a radiator cover made. Not sure if you could do something similar... I believe they made it out of wood with a nice designed piece for the front, that way the warm air can still get out, but it won't hurt your curtains... They can just hang down in front of it.
Not sure if this would work or not, but it might be worth looking into...
I don't know if that show will re-run again today.
shhhhhh!...janet may be reading....... :D Janet stay away from your drapes.................................................................... :D ....................
OMG you have the same the drape and heater problem that Janet has. We have been trying for 2 years to solve that one.It is a real issue and we have not come up with a good solution.
Oh Born2shop, you have asked the question with no clear answer that we can find. Poor Janet has been trying to solve this forever. I know she will have some advice for you tomorrow when she logs back on.