To box in radiator pipes or not?

Happyfairy94

Hi,

I am going to be having a new combi boiler and radiators installed (currently have warm air vents)
I live in a bungalow with concrete floors so two of the radiators are going to have pipes dropping down the wall. They are both going to be quite concealed, but I don’t really like the idea of the pipes running above the skirting boards either.

i would like to replace my skirting boards as they’re very old and scruffy anyway, so should i take them off and have the horizontal radiator pipes running behind them? I’ve seen you can add some wood batons to the back of the skirting to create a space for them to sit?

What would you do?

WIAWSNB

Yes, absolutely, if at all possible - hide them. They are uber-ugly.

Which rooms will these be? If, say, bedrooms with a lower btu requirement, then very good chance coiled 10mm - possibly even 8 - pipe will be enough for these rads. Tbh, even for main rooms, 10mm copper pipe will do virtually most rads.

You can either modify the existing skirting, or make up a two-piece type, or buy ready-made channelled skirting for just this job.

Are the walls solid or p'board?

If you post some pics of the existing skirting, and an idea of the rooms and rad sizes, we can probably assist more. Where will the pipes actually enter the room?

silvercar

Would vertical radiators suit your decor and solve the problem?

Ectophile

Personally, I'm not convinced that having a box running down the corner of a room looks any better than a couple of pipes. If I ever have my heating upgraded, I won't bother with boxing in the new pipes.

If you're installing a new system, don't go for microbore pipes, and get the radiators slightly over-sized. Condensing boilers are more efficient running at lower temperatures than the old fashioned ones.So you save money by going a size up on the radiators and turning down the temperature on the boiler. Then if you ever go over to a heat pump, the heating is already designed for the low temperatures they produce.

Albermarle

I am going to be having a new combi boiler and radiators installed (currently have warm air vents)

There has been a lot of interest recently in installing air conditioning, that can also heat the home in the Winter as well through warm air through vents. Interesting that you are going the opposite way ( sort of). How is the warm air currently generated ? ( just out of interest ) .

Happyfairy94

thanks for the replies 😊
the two radiators will be in a living room and dining room/office space. Both rooms are about 4m x 4m.

I am not too bothered about the pipes running down the wall as in one of the rooms it will barely be visible due to where it’s dropping in.

the living room.
I wouldn’t want to box in the vertical drops as that feels like it would draw more attention.

They are running the pipes over the loft joists and then dropping them down quite close to the radiators locations. Neither set of pipes will run further than about 0.5-1m to get to the radiators location.

I did order a sample of the mdf skirting with the pipe rebate space but I felt it was a bit too big and bulky looking. I would prefer to use a simple pine skirting I think.
I did consider using maybe 10-15mm batons behind the skirting and use a multitool or router to maybe create my own rebate in the skirting. I’d like it to be as flush to the wall as is feasibly possible.

I don’t personally like the vertical radiators and I think they would look a bit out of proportion in what is quite a small bungalow.
I am likely going for standard convector radiators but I visually do prefer the column radiators. I’ve read mixed reviews of them though.

Regarding the warm air vents, I had considered that but my main reason for getting rid of it is the boiler and its venting and even the newer set ups take up so much space. It is a really old system from the late 60s and there is also asbestos in certain parts of the system which I’m having removed by a specialist company.
My bungalow stays quite cool during these heatwaves so I’m not so concerned about future air con.

I am hoping the pipes will be roughly where the black lines are and the radiator will sit behind the sofa and in the middle of the window.

FreeBear

I have most of my radiators mounted back to back on internal walls (with decent double glazing, there is no need to put radiators under windows). Having the radiators back to back means just one drop will serve both radiators and just needs a couple of ~20mm diameter holes drilled through the wall. Done under the radiators, you don't even notice them.

In my lounge, the drop is actually chased in to the wall (with 15mm pipes inside 20mm conduit). Hides everything away, but the wall does need plastering afterwards. In the dining room, the drops are 22mm which is too big to go chasing in to the wall, so they will get boxed at some point.

WIAWSNB

10mm copper pipe - comes in coils - should be fine for that, and is much easier to hide.

Mind you, it won't be pretty where it's visible - straight length of 15mm is more acceptable for the drops.

You can combine them, but it's really up to you to decide what's important.

Happyfairy94

that is a really good idea FreeBear, I’ve been able to be strategic about the other radiators but these are more ideal placements for radiators so as not to eat into the wall space too much.
That’s is interesting about the different pipe widths too, lots to think about and ask my plumber about.

Eldi_Dos

@Happyfairy94

Have you thought about plastic trunking fitted over the pipes. If you fit 'lid' of trunking behind pipes then press trunking onto lid it can be quite unobtrusive, especially if you give it a light rub down with sandpaper and paint it the same colour as your walls.

FreeBear

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82104643#Comment_82104643

You can also get 8mm copper (and smaller - Down to 1.6mm off the shelf). But it is generally recommended (by me at least) to go with 15mm drops and 22mm for the main feed/return. If you have particularly large radiators (or lots of them), 28mm may be more appropriate.

Large diameter pipes have lower pumping losses for the same flow rate. This means less noise and reduced wear. Larger pipes also means less disruption should you ever fit a heat pump.

On the subject of radiators - It is well worth doing a heat loss calculation for each room and specifying radiators based on a 50°C or even 40°C flow temperature. With a modern condensing boiler running at a lower flow/return temperature, it will be pushed further in to condensing mode which gives better efficiency. Corrosion within the radiators will be significantly reduced. On top of that, you won't get burnt on a roasting hot radiator.

I run my heating at 40-50°C for much of the year and get around 94% efficiency. At the last service, the engineer made comment about how little sludge had been collected in the mag filter. Fitting 30-50% larger radiators throughout the house has returned real benefits.