Radiator vs. Convector — What's the Difference?

Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics.A radiator is always a source of heat to its environment, although this may be for either the purpose of heating this environment, or for cooling the fluid or coolant supplied to it, as for automotive engine cooling and HVAC dry cooling towers.

A partly enclosed, directly heated surface from which warm air circulates by convection.

A heating device consisting of a series of pipes, typically inside an upright metal structure, through which steam or hot water circulates to heat the surrounding space by radiation or convection.

A space heater that transfers heat by convection; a radiator

A similar heating device based on other technology such as the generation of heat through electrical resistance.

A space heater that transfers heat to the surrounding air by convection

A cooling device, as in automotive engines, through which water or other fluids circulate as a coolant.

(Physics) A body that emits radiation.

A transmitting antenna.

Anything which radiates or emits rays.

(automotive) A device that lowers engine coolant temperature by conducting heat to the air, through metal fins.

(of buildings) A finned metal fixture that carries hot water or steam in order to heat a room.

(electronics) A type of antenna.

That which radiates or emits rays, whether of light or heat; especially, that part of a heating apparatus from which the heat is radiated or diffused; as, a steam radiator.

Any of various devices for cooling an internal substance by radiation, as a system of rings on a gun barrel for cooling it, or a nest of tubes with large radiating surface for cooling circulating water, as in an automobile.

An oscillator.

Any object that radiates energy

Heater consisting of a series of pipes for circulating steam or hot water to heat rooms or buildings

A mechanism consisting of a metal honeycomb through which hot fluids circulate; heat is transferred from the fluid through the honeycomb to the airstream that is created either by the motion of the vehicle or by a fan