radiator sizing

Doglover88

theres only one rad in my downstairs, which is open plan lounge/diner/kitchen and no real areas that i could add another anyway, as its just been plastered. Could i just replace my old rad with a larger one with higher BTU? Been looking at the slimline models and wondered if its a straight swap or there anything i should take into account?
Many thanks in advance
Glen

Ted_Hutchinson

www.radcalcs.com will give you an idea of the size of radiator the room needs.
Whether it pumps out enough heat depends on the size of your boiler but there is probably enough flexibility in the system for it to cope with a modest increase.
It is almost inevitable that a different radiator will have it's inlet/outlet pipes in a different position so you may end up having to modify the pipework at one or both ends. I've found plastic pipe and fittings a boon in this situation.
You could use the above link to work out the total btu output of all your existing radiators and then see if that is within the capacity of your existing boiler.

Doglover88

Thanks Ted, just had a new W Bosch condensing combi fitted and worked out i need approx 6000 BTU for the room so wil lcheck tonight
Thanks again

robowen

You might want to convert that to watts...a lot of suppliers ask me for watts instead of BTU's.

6000/3.4 = 1764watts