Adding an electric element to radiator

elastic

Hi folks! does anyone know of an electric element that can be added to a central heating radiator to provide supplementary heating when our multifuel fed boiler isn't lit? I have a large room so I need something quite powerful, but I do have two rads.
thanks

malc_b

You can get electric elements for towel radiators but I assume this rad isn't, or is it? Towel rads have vertical tubes so will take a vertical rod of an electric element. If you go for PTC elements those can go horizontally so they might fit in an older panel radiator. New panel rads then to have the water inlet offset.

elastic

Thanks malc_b. it is not a towel rail. Its a fairly modern rad with flat grill top, about 5' x 15". I will look at PTC

southcoastrgi

unless you have a really old single rad you won't get the element in the rad, plus it won't work they aren't powerful enough to heat a rad to the temp you want or need

elastic

That was what I was concerned about (both your points!). I am fed up with being cold in the mornings and don't really want to light the fire when we are then out all day. I just want to keep the chill off the room. I am thinking the best option is plug in oil-free radiators, but have nowhere to hide them away when not in use. I would be grateful of any other suggestions!

bryanb

The quickest instant heat is usually a fan heater.

elastic

I do use fan heaters elsewhere, but the living room gets really dusty from the fire and I don't really want to blow it around (I hate dusting at the best of times!). I have read all the posts about 1KW costs the same whatever appliance ou use, but which is the most efficient type of heater to heat a large lounge without blowing? I was thinking of a 1.5KW electric (oil filled or oil free) plug in rad at each end

nickcc

We have three towel rails with electric heaters, one is also heated by the central heating but the other two are just electric. We have just turned the one on its side with the heating element mounted horizontally and it works OK. As long as the element is mounted at the bottom of the rad/towel rail you shouldn't have a problem.

southcoastrgi

nickcc wrote: »

We have three towel rails with electric heaters, one is also heated by the central heating but the other two are just electric. We have just turned the one on its side with the heating element mounted horizontally and it works OK. As long as the element is mounted at the bottom of the rad/towel rail you shouldn't have a problem.

but there is a vast amount of difference between heating a bathroom which is generally a small room & a lounge which will be much bigger

nickcc

southcoastrgi wrote: »

but there is a vast amount of difference between heating a bathroom which is generally a small room & a lounge which will be much bigger

I was answering post No 2. I wouldn't consider using towel rail electric heaters in CH rads, one reason being that it would take too long to heat up and there would be no way to control the heat like you can with room stats or TRV's.

malc_b

nickcc wrote: »

We have three towel rails with electric heaters, one is also heated by the central heating but the other two are just electric. We have just turned the one on its side with the heating element mounted horizontally and it works OK. As long as the element is mounted at the bottom of the rad/towel rail you shouldn't have a problem.

You can mount PTC elements horizontally but non-ptc should be mounted vertically because the safety cut out is at the tip, that way if the radiator runs dry the tip is exposed first. PTC types have distributed sensing and can be safely run dry.

You can get 500W and I think 750W elements but they won't fit new panel radiators.

All towel rail elements will limit to a set temperature. On ones with an external control you can adjust that but you pay a lot for that feature. So if you could fit elements to these radiators then then would run at max power while on. You have to manually switch then on/off as required or you'd need to wire them into a separate thermostat/controller which would turn them off when the room was warm. If you went for a controller+thermostat then you could also set them just to operate in the mornings.