Foil panels behind radiators to stop heat loss

Meadows

I have http://www.radflek.com/ but can't say I notice they make any difference. I do find a radiator shelf where radiators are under windows helps to reflect the heat away from the window (foil lined on the underneath) and good thick curtains drawn when it turns cold.

[Deleted User]

when I shut the curtains at night I make sure they are folded onto the windowsill.My radiator runs under the sill and I also moved my fold down dinning table to somewhere else in the sitting room as I was just heating the table up and not the room.I do feel the cold dreadfully at times as especially in the evenings when I am in my armchair so I have a thick blamket over my feet ,plus of I'm that chilly I will put a hot water bottle on the floor that my feet can rest on.I have circulatory problems, and seem to feel the heat going from my feet upwards in the evening.Lots of layers help,and if all else fails I just toddle off to bed and my duvet with a couple of throws on top.:):) I hate the wintertime its so miserable when you can't get warm

camNolliesMUMMY

To say I get this cold so easily and I'm 27 worries me how I'm going to be getting older.

Our radiator we had moved as our front room is long its on the back wall no longer underneath the window. We have thick curtains up at the very wide window.

God I can't wait to move to the Cosy little house we've bought, ATM we are insulating the floors and relaying the concrete in the kitchen because the old man who lived there just lived with problems like twisted floor joists.
Hopefully will be done by the end of jan.

Badrick

The foil behind radiators is more about energy saving, rather than making the room warmer.
The idea of foil is to help stop the colder external walls behind the radiators absorbing heat and passing it to outside, you may feel no improvement in warming the room, but turning up the thermostat should hurt slightly less with foil fitted.

UserX

Badrick wrote: »

The foil behind radiators is more about energy saving, rather than making the room warmer.
The idea of foil is to help stop the colder external walls behind the radiators absorbing heat and passing it to outside, you may feel no improvement in warming the room, but turning up the thermostat should hurt slightly less with foil fitted.

Eh?

So if the foil stops heat passing to the outside walls, by definition the heat stays in the room, no? I haven't turned up my thermostat since putting foil up, and the rooms feel warmer - because I'm not losing heat through the outside walls.

bossymoo

mardatha wrote: »

I did it yesterday and we can't notice a difference yet - but the temp dropped sharply here and its snowing hard, so maybe that's making it feel colder.

I'm not sure you should feel a difference. In that, your thermostat is set to whatever temperature, and this being a form of insulation, reducing the heat escaping through walls - so the effect is on your boiler, working less to keep the same temperature, rather than having an increased temperature. If that makes sense.

As with all insulation, it keeps heat in therefore less fuel needed to maintain temperature.

So you should see it in your consumption! (All other things being equal. Which this week it is not!!!)

Of course this all depends which room you are sat in and where your thermostat is / whether or not you have TRVs.

rosiepup2000

I bought one of the Radflek kits on Amazon last year and did all my radiators. I did notice a difference in the warmth upstairs, although I also got extra loft insulation fitted so it was probably a combination of the two. My gas usage went down month on month over the winter (except for March, which was REALLY cold!). What I liked was that they are very easy to install. I'd say it's worth the price of a couple of rolls of kitchen foil to have a go at making them.