Misleading uSwitch email – Reflective Radiator panels

Cardew

There have been several threads on MSE on the effectiveness(or lack of effectiveness) of reflective radiator panels. Dealers have come on MSE making outrageous claims of savings for their panels.

Late last year there was some correspondence with the Energy Saving Trust and this post sums up the situation.

Right, let us try and put this saga to bed once and for all!

There has been correspondence with the Energy Saving Trust(EST) in this thread about potential savings with these panels. Read it here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...1#post38979710

The EST came up initially with a figure of £6 a year saving for a typical 3 bed semi using professionally installed panels and £3.50 a year for DIY. That is on the whole house.

They quoted a very detailed CERT report which had calculated the savings. However on reading the report it transpired EST had missed that those meagre savings only applied if the panels were used on the outside walls of houses with solid walls or walls without cavity insulation.

The CERT report was quite clear that savings were minimal(could not be measured) on houses with cavity insulated walls and so the panels should only be used on houses with solid walls; and EST have agreed with this view. EST had used the solid wall savings to reach the £6 or £3.50 savings.

So there you have it! Savings on solid walled houses £3.50 to £6 a year. With insulated cavity walled houses they save nothing!

They are a waste of money for most of us.

I recently got the uSwitch email detailing all their ‘great offers’. This one caught my eye!

Reduce wasted heat from radiators

Heating your home accounts for a massive 42% of your energy bill which costs up to £508 a year. [7] However lots of heat from radiators is lost when absorbed into walls. Using Radflek Radiator Reflectors can help spread the warmth in all directions – saving you 114kWh per radiator or £23 a year. [8]

Note: 114kWh per radiator or £23 a year. Size and siting of that radiator are apparently unimportant!;)

However it does give a footnote[8] which states:

[8]The Building Research Establishment (BRE) has shown that one sheet of Radflek Radiator Reflector will save up to 114 kWh every year. Using British Gas 2nd tier rates – this saves 3.416p/kWh per radiator. Assuming a house has up to 6 radiators the saving would equal up to £23.34 a year.

Now we have savings qualified by the dreaded ‘up to’ but it appears the savings are not per radiator., but with 6 radiators the savings are ‘up to’ £23.34

Now if we look at the advert liked through uSwitch http://nigelsecostore.com//acatalog/uswitch_radiator_panel_offer.html

It would appear that a sheet of Radflex Radiator Reflector is sufficient for 2 radiators and apparently size of radiator is unimportant . Now each sheet will save ‘up to’ 114kWh!

3 Sheets - offer £12.23 (6 radiators)
•The Building Research Establishment (BRE) has shown that one sheet of Radflek Radiator Reflector will save up to 114 kWh every year.

How many people will look past the initial uSwitch claim that the panels will save £23 per radiator.

Additionally how many will realise that if you have cavity wall insulation the saving is neglgible according to the EST. Even with solid wall the savings are £3.50 to £6