Air is a poor conductor of heat, only the first layer of air touching the radiator fins has a cooling effect, the surrounding air doesn't get much tansfered to it. Convection by continuously replacing the contacting layer with fresh air increases the heat transfer to the bulk of the air in the vicinity of the radiator by conduction. Slowing down the air flow through the radiator quickly saturates the contacting layer of air to no effect on the surrounding layer, which is why no one recommends it.
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Originally Posted by scottj
Yet no one ever recommends slowing down airflow through the radiator to give the air more time to absorb the heat... hmmm, strange.
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