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What is the specific name of the heater which works with hot water and always attached to the walls?

In my language we call it something which is translated to "central heating" (I could find a lot of pictures on Google when I wrote it), but I don't know - even in my language - what is the name of the device rather than the system. Can I call it simply "heater" or it has a specific name?

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    What @James said, but note that some homes (still?) have oil-filled radiators - individual heaters each powered by electricity, not "centrally" driven by a pump circulating hot water from a gas, oil, or solid fuel boiler. Dec 5, 2016 at 14:02
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    In my language I know that "radiator" is the name for the device oil-filled and it's not attached to the wall. Now I was exposed that the same name for those that are attached to the walls and water-filled. Thank you. Dec 5, 2016 at 14:04
  • Very occasionally and in older books they are also referred to as a heating battery or battery heater because of the stacked arrangement of elements they are made with. - dreamstime.com/… - Here is a picture of a pretty example - goo.gl/images/di9Ixf
    – KalleMP
    Feb 23, 2017 at 7:45
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    As per answers below they are "radiators". You mention "central heating" in your question: this term is used to describe the whole heating system: boiler, radiators and the pipes in between.
    – AndyT
    Apr 11, 2017 at 15:22

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The heater in the pictures is called a radiator in the US and UK. It can be either hot water or steam (I don't believe the oil-filled radiators are very common in the US, but they may be in some areas) and it can also be a device just along the baseboards like the picture below. However, the baseboard heaters aren't what people think of first when they read or hear 'radiator', even though it is the same sort of heating. They will think first of the type of device in the pictures in the question.

If the pipes are installed under the floor or in the walls so that the building is heated instead of the air in the building being heated, it's called "radiant heating".

baseboard heater

Radiator is also a general term for a device that transfers heat between two mediums, for example water and air. The purpose of the transfer can be either for heating, like the radiators in your pictures where the water is heated by a boiler to heat the air around the radiator, or for cooling, like the radiator in a car that transfers heat from the engine to the air forced across the radiator as the car moves by using special fluid flowing through the radiator. We can tell the difference by the context, or by adding an attributive, like "car radiator" or "hot water radiator" or "baseboard radiator".

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Those are known as

radiators

or

hot water radiators

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  • In my language I know that "radiator" is the name for the device oil-filled and it's not attached to the wall. Now I was exposed that the same name for those that are attached to the walls and water-filled. Thank you. Dec 5, 2016 at 14:05
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In Russia we have several English names for this:

  • A heating radiator. Note: There can exist cooling radiators that's why we add the word 'heating'. Still some use the short form "radiator".

  • A heater. If we speak in general.

  • A (hot) water radiator.

  • A cast iron household radiator - Is a term for those old-style radiators that we often see in-door.

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  • In Russian / Ukraine the common name for the Radiator is батарея (Battery)... Dec 5, 2016 at 15:07
  • @Industrious In Russian, yes! But in English we write the name the way I answered! Dec 5, 2016 at 15:09
  • Yes, but people can think that in Russian people speak in English terms. Well, I think that in that case it's not correct but 1^ for that idea is hilarious:) Dec 5, 2016 at 15:13
  • @Industrious If we speak English in Russia we call these 'things' thy way! Those of us who learn English need to know such things. Dec 5, 2016 at 15:15
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    Very occasionally and in older English books they are also referred to as a heating battery - dreamstime.com/…
    – KalleMP
    Feb 23, 2017 at 7:47
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Hydronic wall mounted panel heater.

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    That is pretty specific, but also seems technical. Could you edit your post to explain why this is correct? We ask that answers include explanations and/or usage notes to help users learn the language.
    – Em.
    Jun 25, 2020 at 6:24

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