Skirting board heating

RRatchet

Hi,

We're totaly renovating an old Aberdeenshire farmhouse and have the same dislike for radiators as a previous poster. The groundfloor boards are rotten (so no dilema about ripping up a perfectly good floor) and have been removed so we're going to install wet underfloor heating downstairs and we're more than likely going to go for skirting board radiators upstairs.

As I understand it having read as much as I can, skirting radiators are about mid way between standard radiators and underfloor heating in terms of both efficeincy and cost.

We are renovating on a tight or should I say non-existant budget and so our first priority is insualtion, insualtion, and yet more insualtion and elimimation!? of drafts (after weather tightness of course). Anyway initially we'll install water pipes to the upstairs rooms but not fit any heat source (or skirting) at all and see how it feels to live in with just the heat rising from downstairs. If it's too cold then we'll go for skirting rads; Wall space is at a premium so we don't want to waste it with a rad. I'll add that we are used to a cold draughty house and don't like warm bedrooms so don't require much heating to make us comfortable: skirting radiators look like being ideal for our situation. Also we're going for solar panels (being installed this week) wood burning stoves/cooker and a large thermal store to connect it all together. This system and these sort of heat sources lend themselves to ufh and skirting radiators as they operate at much lower temperatures than rads. Another factor is that being farmers we work from home and have pre-school kids so a slow response time is not an issue as the heating will always be needed/on.

Still installing anthing is still a long way off so still time to change our minds; will keep an eye on this thread to see what develops.

Yours

R

gezr

Hi,

I have had this system installed in my front room now for 18 months and will be ripping out as soon as I can.

Primarily it just doesn't do the job. On cold nights we have to have the fire on the heat the room adequately. The problem in my mind is you just get no convection behind as you do with a radiator.

More worrying is the leaks. 1st leak was possibly my fault as the connector was slightly skewed but this ruined my carpet.

Second leak was from the TRVs which happened just after the first leak. Once informed Thermaskirt told me that these were original valves that had been replaced as they tend to fail. Still they failed to tell their customers so my carpet got wet again.

Third time has just happened in a corner join. The joint is in a perfect position and installed correctly but has just failed so my carpet is soaked again.

I have had enough of this system and will rip it out in the summer to replace with a nice trusty radiator. The thing to remember is a radiator has two joins easily accessed and repairable if necessary. The system in my front room has 40 joins of unproven technology!

Never mind the cost of this system, which is significantly more than a radiator, it is the trouble and hassle I have had to deal with e.g. having no heating because their TRVs do not shut off properly, replacing carpets (luckily my insurance company paid up) and the time spent repairing it etc.

Finally I believe their customer service is very poor. Originally they took months to send me the bespoke corner covers. I had to constantly contact them to get them done and each time it was as if I was starting the process again and they had never heard of me. To top it off they didn't fit properly when they finally arrived. By that time I had had enough so made do. They did help with the first two leaks but this only consisted of sending me spares. No compensation or persons coming to check the system.

I would avoid at all costs.

Gerard

thills

Thanks gezr, it was on my consideration list but my plumber thought I would be mad with all those joints and the expansion of the aluminium, interesting to see if others have had the same problems.

mwadsworth

Hi Gerard,
This is Martin Wadsworth, MD of DiscreteHeat here.
I was sorry to read your posting, but if you have had the troubles you described, have we been told about it?
As for special covers, I can agree that 18 months ago we were a very different company and internal systems could let specials fall into a limbo - we'ver sorted that pretty much now I am pleased to report.
As for your comments about 'leaks' I cant agree. We have over 6,500 systems sucessfully installed now, and I can only suggest your installation was not carried out correctly. We have nearly 500 installations overseas including Ireland, France, Italy, Cyprus, Holland, USA & Turkey and non report any significant problems.

If Gerard is your real name ( I have checked our Database for 'Gerards' with systems from 24 ~ 12 months ago, and non show up) please call me to discuss your issues. If you have bought through a 3rd party or installer, who was that?
My mobile number is
07974 766113 and you can call me any reasonable time, including weekends.
Once again, I cannot agree with your impression of the product, and some prestigous housebuilders including McCarthy & Stone, TMF and Springoak have been using ThermaSkirt for more than 2 years without issue.
We have done accelerated life tests that show at least 30 years life, and the materials we use are of a better spec and quality than the push fit connectors you see installed everywhere - imagine how many of those joints there are in your average house.

We offer a 10 year warranty on the connectors and fittings as a result. This is often 5x what you get on a standard plumbing or heating component, including radiators.

I would hate to think you were the same competitor who claimed on the another website that he was in the middle of 'sueing us' but never responded to my offer of contacting us direct. Of course it turned out to be a hoax and we believe it was a rather crude attempt to rubbish our product.
So if your problems are genuine, we want to hear about them and if we can help we will.
If any bloggers needed to speak to other customers, of which there are 000's who havent had any issues, they can contact our Customer Support team.

We bend over backwards for customers, and have even put installations right that other people put in wrong, to preserve the deserved good name we have built up.


Feel free to email at (martin atsign discreteheat . co .uk ) on our website or use the mobile number provided earlier.We do want you to be fully satisfied with ThermaSkirt.

Yours sincerely

Martin Wadsworth
Managing Direcor

discreteheat.co.uk

gezr

No I am definitely not a competitor and making wild accusations such as this just seems churlish. I have talked to you on the phone Martin before and live in Aberdeenshire. I am surprised you did not identify me by my name as I have a whole catalogue of email correspondence etc. and I also dealt with you directly when I purchased the system.

gezr

I might also add that the end joint on one half of the installation also failed in April. Yes once again carpet soaked.

grahamio

Hi all.ive recently fitted Bestboard and saving 43%.Water content has halved from 40lt to 20lt.Delta T from flow and return has gone from 12c with rads to 5c with Bestboard.So its a no brainer where the savings have come from.My old Rads took 3 hours to heat the house @19kwh per hour,3x 19kwh just to get comfortable,1 hour 10 mins depending on outside temp for the Bestboard @10.2kwh per hour.Its a very different heat aswell,not dry or uncomfortable,just a natural enviroment.

theexten

Bexm wrote: »

Hello!

I have recently been to a show and seen this seemingly marvellous idea called thermaskirt, which is your heating in your skirting board.

My new house has no heating what so ever and I'm wondering if anyone has tried this therma skirt stuff and could tell me whether its expensive to run or has any other reviews.
Our new house is a small, 2 up 2 down, with a small conservatory.

Thank you in advance

Bex

Hi Bex,
I began fitting heated skirting boards in 2009. If you have a small home they can heat efficiently and for a much lower cost than standard heating. The initial outlay is your only real expense but that’s paid for by the lower energy costs.
If you run heated skirting with a heat pump (an air heat pump, which sucks heat from the air outside to power your system, even when the air temp is below freezing) you can save even more money on the overall energy costs in your home. Be aware thought that you need a reasonably sized outside space for an air heat pump to make sense.
For more information: efficient-heating-solutions.co.uk
Because skirting board heating delivers the precise amount of heat you need for each room (your installer should do a detailed calculation based on the area of the room, the number of external walls and windows), you never waste energy, you only use what you need.
Hope this helps

Cardew

theexten wrote: »

Hi Bex,
I began fitting heated skirting boards in 2009. If you have a small home they can heat efficiently and for a much lower cost than standard heating. The initial outlay is your only real expense but that’s paid for by the lower energy costs.
If you run heated skirting with a heat pump (an air heat pump, which sucks heat from the air outside to power your system, even when the air temp is below freezing) you can save even more money on the overall energy costs in your home. Be aware thought that you need a reasonably sized outside space for an air heat pump to make sense.
For more information:deleted!
Because skirting board heating delivers the precise amount of heat you need for each room (your installer should do a detailed calculation based on the area of the room, the number of external walls and windows), you never waste energy, you only use what you need.
Hope this helps

I don't know why you have resurrected a two year old thread.

Perhaps you can explain your statement that these provide 'lower energy costs'.

If a room needs a certain amount of heat to maintain a set temperature - let us say xxxBTU - how do you believe skirting board heaters deliver that heat cheaper?

The amount of heat required will depend on the losses and the thermostat will control the output from the heaters to maintain the required temperature.

That is exactly what would happen with standard radiators.

So neither system will 'waste energy' as you put it. If the normal radiators have a greater output of heat - then the thermostat switches them off earlier when the desired temperature is reached.

With either system you must cater for the room to be kept at xxC when it is yyC outside temperature and that means both systems must be capable of delivering the same heat(BTU)

If you maintain skirting board heaters have any advantages in running costs, then get the Energy Saving Trust or WHICH to endorse them.

theexten

Cardew wrote: »

I don't know why you have resurrected a two year old thread.

Perhaps you can explain your statement that these provide 'lower energy costs'.

If a room needs a certain amount of heat to maintain a set temperature - let us say xxxBTU - how do you believe skirting board heaters deliver that heat cheaper?

The amount of heat required will depend on the losses and the thermostat will control the output from the heaters to maintain the required temperature.

That is exactly what would happen with standard radiators.

So neither system will 'waste energy' as you put it. If the normal radiators have a greater output of heat - then the thermostat switches them off earlier when the desired temperature is reached.

With either system you must cater for the room to be kept at xxC when it is yyC outside temperature and that means both systems must be capable of delivering the same heat(BTU)

If you maintain skirting board heaters have any advantages in running costs, then get the Energy Saving Trust or WHICH to endorse them.

The energy saving made by heated skirting board comes from the difference in the amount of water used. Skirting board heating uses little water. It also runs at a lower temperature. So there’s less energy required from the boiler while the system is active.

Heated skirting board also delivers a more even heat than radiators, so the temperature of the room fluctuates less. And because the heat is delivered from a wider starting point, you don’t need an initially large burst of energy from the boiler to push heat out into the room from a single source.