Radiator Booster - any thoughts?

forgotmyname

?

I was in the shed today 11 degrees, I put my coat on and was warm enough planting some seeds in pots.

If your sitting still you will feel the cold more than if you keep active. Problem is i think your gas fire is not
very efficient.
When we have had the heating off over xmas and switch it on when we return it doesnt take long to warm the
house up.
Fairly modern house with everything insulated probably helps.

Poosmate

forgotmyname wrote: »

?

I was in the shed today 11 degrees, I put my coat on and was warm enough planting some seeds in pots.

If your sitting still you will feel the cold more than if you keep active. Problem is i think your gas fire is not
very efficient.
When we have had the heating off over xmas and switch it on when we return it doesnt take long to warm the
house up.
Fairly modern house with everything insulated probably helps.

I don't have cavity wall insulation which is something I'm aming to do this year and I'm pretty sure you're right about my gas fire not being very efficient. I'm afraid to get it looked at in case it's condemned! :eek:

Poo

celerity

Doesn't a product like this SmartRad suggest that the theory of the Radiator Booster (not the foil gizmo, the one with the fan) works? Or, any electric fan heater for that matter?

/\dam

MiserlyMartin

Which Magazine reviewed these in April and they said, "Our test lab found that with the radiator booster fitted, the room heated up more quickly, the thermostat needed to come on less often and energy consumption dropped. On the downside, the fan does make a small noise, and not all of our testers were keen on its appearance. One said: 'It looks cheap, like I’ve left something on the radiator by accident.' If you’re not bothered by its looks, it could be £20 well spent."

I wonder if they could be made DIY with some quiet PC fans and PSU?

Some theory of operation mentioned earlier, yes the radiator becomes more effective therefore the boiler works harder to supply more hot water to the radiator more quickly therefore your energy bill does not go down... I agree, but the thing that I think that saves this product is the theory that the hot air behind the radiator no longer goes out through your outside wall. In this case this product may be worth buying or making your own?

Dave_Fowler

I purchased one of the original versions of the booster a year or more ago. The fan vibrations were so noisy after a few weeks operation that it was very intrusive. Keeping the fan blades clean and the bearings oiled helps a little.

I've made my own version of the booster which uses five 3" computer fans. The fans are mounted in a length of white plastic trunking which is meant for concealing wiring in industrial / school situations. The fans draw air in from one side of the trunking and push it out immediately above on the other side. I run the fans on 3 Volts rather than the design 12 Volts. They run virtually silently.

The object of my unit is to boost the output of a radiator in a room where the relatively small radiator is inadequate for heating to an acceptable temperature. I used the booster throughout last winter and it proved very successful.

Dave F

whasup

The device turns a passive convector radiator into a forced air convector. That will certainly make a room warmer because it will extract more heat from the radiator than would be extracted without it. But that heat will simply be replaced by the boiler, so the idea that the boiler will fire less is nuts. There is some value in being able to move heat around where and when you want it. From that point of view the device could be said to make the system more efficient. But this is very, very marginal and almost certainly not worth the cost. It is also true that the lower the return temperature in the system the more efficiently a condensing boiler will work. So taking heat out of the system does make the boiler more efficient. But that will also only be very marginal and again it's unlikely to cover the cost of the unit. Better option from a cost saving point of view would be to knock your programmer back by 10 minutes morning and night. No cost, no noise and will definitely save you money.

scott.tb25

Morning, I've been looking at the new radiator booster mk3 version and wondered how it was different from the older version? It seems to still have a fan that pushes the hot air up and out into the room. I just wondered if there were any other advantages to the new version over the old one? I bought the previous model last winter and it seemed to really do the trick. Any advice would be appreciated.

pol098

I came across the thread on the Radiator Booster after I thought of using a fan to improve heating and was looking for a source of fans. I was thinking of a small mains-powered fan (like an internal computer case fan, but mains-operated to avoid need for power adaptor) pointing up, at the bottom of a central-heating radiator. Purpose not to save money, but to improve heating by distributing heat away from badly-placed radiator; same principle as using a physically small electric element in a fan-heater to heat a room. Might get a Radiator Booster; expensive for what it is, but ready-made and with thermostat circuitry in place is convenient.

I had also been considering getting a slow-turning ceiling fan (don't have air conditioning) to make very hot days a bit more bearable - they do make a difference, used in hot climates. Then it occurred to me that such a fan, moving the air in a room with a radiator on a cold day, would distribute the heat and effectively warm the room. I am thinking of slow-turning, gently moving the air rather than a perceptible blast of air.

If the Radiator Booster does save money in some way, I'd expect the ceiling fan to have a similar advantage. Should use little power if it uses an efficient speed control.

By the way, regarding power consumption by any type of fan used for distributing heat: it's not exactly wasted, as it is dissipated as heat, which just adds (a tiny bit) of heat.

Does anybody have any comments?

Dave_Fowler

pol098 wrote: »

I came across the thread on the Radiator Booster after I thought of using a fan to improve heating and was looking for a source of fans. I was thinking of a small mains-powered fan (like an internal computer case fan, but mains-operated to avoid need for power adaptor) pointing up, at the bottom of a central-heating radiator. Purpose not to save money, but to improve heating by distributing heat away from badly-placed radiator; same principle as using a physically small electric element in a fan-heater to heat a room. Might get a Radiator Booster; expensive for what it is, but ready-made and with thermostat circuitry in place is convenient.

I had also been considering getting a slow-turning ceiling fan (don't have air conditioning) to make very hot days a bit more bearable - they do make a difference, used in hot climates. Then it occurred to me that such a fan, moving the air in a room with a radiator on a cold day, would distribute the heat and effectively warm the room. I am thinking of slow-turning, gently moving the air rather than a perceptible blast of air.

If the Radiator Booster does save money in some way, I'd expect the ceiling fan to have a similar advantage. Should use little power if it uses an efficient speed control.

By the way, regarding power consumption by any type of fan used for distributing heat: it's not exactly wasted, as it is dissipated as heat, which just adds (a tiny bit) of heat.

Does anybody have any comments?

The use of mains fans does pose the problem of safety. Most fans similar to those in computers do not have insulated terminals and so would cause the problem of having to provide a suitable encolsure at mains voltages. I've used several 12V fans mounted side by side in a plastic channel, but put them on top of the radiator - it does not matter if you push or pull the air through the radiator - and gravity acts as a good way to mount the channel!

Further, using 12V fans and one of the 'adjustable' power supplies (3, 4.5, 6, 9, 12V) you can adjust the speed of the fan to reduce the noise or increase the air flow as required.

Dave F

grahamc2003

whasup wrote: »

The device turns a passive convector radiator into a forced air convector. That will certainly make a room warmer because it will extract more heat from the radiator than would be extracted without it. But that heat will simply be replaced by the boiler, so the idea that the boiler will fire less is nuts. There is some value in being able to move heat around where and when you want it. From that point of view the device could be said to make the system more efficient. But this is very, very marginal and almost certainly not worth the cost. It is also true that the lower the return temperature in the system the more efficiently a condensing boiler will work. So taking heat out of the system does make the boiler more efficient. But that will also only be very marginal and again it's unlikely to cover the cost of the unit. Better option from a cost saving point of view would be to knock your programmer back by 10 minutes morning and night. No cost, no noise and will definitely save you money.

Spot on I'd say. It can't save money in the sense most expect - as others have said, it MAY (then again it may not) save tiny amounts due to boiler efficiency changes - but this is such a tiny effect it would be unmeasurable imv, and well within the range of other factors affecting the efficiency (i.e. within the noise level).

Also, these only have an effect during the time the room warms up. It will cause the room to warm (a tiny bit) quicker (at the cost of more fuel burnt of course - it certainly isn't a 'free' effect) - but once at the target temperature, these will have no effect at all on the heat delivered overall, and will just affect the cycling of the boiler (very slightly).

There will also be another effect which no one's yet mentioned - and that is by cooling (bits of) the radiator surface, the radiant heat given off will be less, and that has to be offset from the extra heat delivered due to the forced convection.

All the effects will be so tiny (especially any money saving, if any) I'd just use them if the warm air from the convection is diverted somewhere better for you (i.e. at you, instead of at the ceiling, where eddy currents usually take convected heat).