Radiator panels really do seem to work

SuzieSue

http://www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/Radiator_Panels.html


I've just installed these and they seem to make are real difference to the amount of heat radiating into the room.

I was sceptical when I bought them but thought I'd give them a try because of the good reviews.

They are quite expensive on this site so it might be possible to get them cheaper else where.

ormus

silver foil works the same way.
try the pound shop.

nottseagull

SuzieSue

It isn't spam (I am genuinely surprised by the difference they have made) but by replying to my post, you are pushing it up to the top again, so if it was spam, that isn't very sensible.

ameliamug

do you know if they would work with storage heaters?

SuzieSue

I doubt it as I think storage heaters don't really let out much heat from the back of them so, there wouldn't be much heat (if any) for the radiator panels to re-radiate into the room.

themacster

Aluminium foil, on corrugated cardboard backing, will do just as good a job for minimal cost. Storage heaters give the majority of their heat by convection but will still benefit from foil behind as some heat is radiated. Radiators, despite their name, also give off most of their heat via convection (unless you paint them matt black!).

Norman_Castle

silver foil works the same way.
try the pound shop.

Or 45p from tesco. I stuck mine to corrugated card using wallpaper paste.

Norman_Castle

Found this here, http://www.mytechguide.com/16/gettin...rom-radiators/

Reflective foil behind radiators
Some of the heat from a radiator will heat up the wall on which it is mounted. If that wall is an outside wall, a lot of this heat will be conducted to the outside of the building and lost. Luckily, it is very cheap and simple to prevent this from happening, by placing reflective foil on the wall behind the radiator. Research in the UK has shown that almost any kind of reflective foil (even ordinary aluminium kitchen foil) can reduce this heat loss by 5%. Properly designed reflective panels, which combine reflective foil with a thin layer of insulation, can reduce the heat lost through walls by up to 18%.

Test was done in a house in North-east England using a thermal camera. There is a radiator mounted on the wall below the window. Without any reflecting layer behind the radiator, heat loss is significant. With a reflective (and insulating) panel fitted heat loss is lower. In this particular example, the panel used was a ‘Reflecta’ panel, manufactured by Pan Manufacturing Ltd., and costing approximately £6 per radiator. However, if custom-made panels are not available, it is possible to achieve significant energy savings by using ordinary household materials such as kitchen foil glued to a sheet of corrugated cardboard.

victor2

I used some left over underlay I had for laminate flooring. It's effectively foil on top of about 5mm of insulation/padding material. Makes it easy to cut and drop behind radiators with just a bit of adhesive to stick it to the wall. Can't say that it has made a big difference though.

andy12345

Thanks to Norman, for some detailed information.

I have long wondered about the foil on wall idea, but I thought "well, if foil is a metal and it still gets hot through absorbing radiation, then it is perhaps not truly efficient as a heat reflector and is perhaps unefficacious mythology" As most people are aware, all metals that we're aware of, are good conductors of heat and hence not such great reflectors.

The quoted 5% reduction figure answers my thoughts. I wondered if insulation would be better than foil, as insulation is a well known method of slowing down heat transfer and it seems that the insulation panel with foil is a better, but more expensive option. I'll have to do some calculations, as a 5% reduction of heating costs (external walls of course) would be about £50 a year for me.
I wonder if there is some benefit to heating a wall with a little bit of the room heat?

Just now, I thought "If the whole external wall was foiled, what reduction of heat loss would be achieved?"

I wonder if there is some benefit to heating a wall with a little bit of the room heat, perhaps to reduce any damp potential developing?

Questions, questions lol.