What should I do about my radiators?

sjwomersley

Hello!

The radiators in my house are quite old and only single panel & single fin types. I'm planning on upgrading my radiators and central heating pipework to make the system more efficient and less leak-prone but I have a couple of issues I was hoping someone on here could help out with:

1) Some of my radiators are located under the windows and they are about 1.8m long x 0.5m high. My window frames are low down as it's an old house and the bottom of the curtains is slightly lower down still, so they always block a portion of the radiators and consequently direct the heat towards the window. Shorter curtains aren't an option, so should I consider moving the radiator to somewhere else in the room or would replacing it with a similar size double panel & double fin type be a noticeable improvement?

2) We are getting a new kitchen at some point and the radiator in there takes up too much space. We don't have anywhere else to put a normal radiator but we could probably get one of those tall and narrow ones to fit on an external wall next to the back door. Are these types of radiator any good? Do we even need a radiator in the kitchen or would an electric plinth heater be enough by itself?

Talldave

For (2) you could also consider a plinth "radiator" that's on the central heating system; they have a fan that kicks in when flow is detected.

Gerry1

There's a very easy way to see whether you need a radiator in the kitchen - turn it off and see what it's like when the weather is really cold !

Why would you want to switch to an electric heater costing perhaps 12 - 16p/kWh when gas is less than 2.5p/kWh? :huh:

MWT

Gerry1 wrote: »

There's a very easy way to see whether you need a radiator in the kitchen - turn it off and see what it's like when the weather is really cold !

Agreed, turned ours off 10 years ago and never needed it since...

FreeBear

Talldave wrote: »

For (2) you could also consider a plinth "radiator" that's on the central heating system; they have a fan that kicks in when flow is detected.

Got one in my kitchen - Way better than a radiator. Not cheap though, and it does require an isolator switch above the worktop. I built a box out of 25mm Celotex sheet to make sure all the heat comes out of the grill rather than heating dead space under the units.

Also moving radiators away from external walls & windows as I renovate each room. Modern houses with decent double glazing shouldn't need radiators under windows. As I am quite comfortable with doing the plumbing myself, the cost is minimal. Paying a plumber to do one rad at a time could get expensive.