replacing single radiator with a double?

typhoon

am planning to move my baby into her own room, however for some reason the radiator in the room isn't very big and the room is freezing! Was just wondering if anyone could tell me roughly what the cost would be for a double radiator (width 134cm approx) and would it be expensive for a plumber to change over?

D.A.

Just checking that you have tried bleeding the radiator first?

typhoon

yes my husband bled the radiator the other night. It feels warm to the touch but just isn't very good at heating the room! We have a double radiator in the hall and it's great. Shame it's 10cms too short for us to do a straight swap.

Wookey

Try balancing your radiators first, turn them all of at the lockshield side and start with the one nearest the boiler, open it up very slightly and them move onto the next one increasing very slightly the amount that the valve is opened up by, by the time you get to the last radiators they should be fully opened.

SammyLee

Typhoon if you are planning to buy a new radiator I would check that the size is sufficient to heat the room. If you do an online search for radcalcs there's a quick calculator you can use.

typhoon

victor does that include the cost of the double radiator?

bingo_bango

You can get a double radiator - 7325 Btu and 1200mm wide for £80 in B&Q. That includes the fixing brackets. See link here.

As for replacing it. Why not do it yourself? One side of the rad will fit back onto the existing piework. For the other side, just get a flexi hose (about £15 in B&Q) and connect the other side with that. No need to move pipes then! Don't forget to use PTFE tape on any new pipe joints.

seatzie

if you are doing it yourself, be careful, I dropped my wrench when trying to take one off and knocked the valve off, cue mass flood of water and my finger in the hole trying to keep the room from flooding lol

icookalot4u

we had a similar problem with cold rooms and single or small rads. they actually where according to the plumber the right size for the room but definatly the heat wasnt strong enough. changed them to double or a bigger size and hey presto the heating is on half the time!

typhoon

had a plumber out yesterday to give a price, he rang last night to say to replace this radiator with a double, and to add a thermostatic control to this and another radiator would cost £420!!! according to him the cost of radiators have gone through the roof. Rang another plumber who also said that going by his 2008 price list the cost of a radiator this size would be £218!!!

Golden_Anemone

typhoon wrote: »

had a plumber out yesterday to give a price, he rang last night to say to replace this radiator with a double, and to add a thermostatic control to this and another radiator would cost £420!!! according to him the cost of radiators have gone through the roof. Rang another plumber who also said that going by his 2008 price list the cost of a radiator this size would be £218!!!

Buy the radiator yourself from B&Q [or a plumbers merchant which may well be cheaper] - same goes for the TRVs. Then ask the plumber for an hourly rate and see if this quote makes sense.