Heatkeeper Radiator Panels

Fat_Cat

Afternoon all,

Does anyone know if radiator panels such as these http://www.guardianoffers.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/GuardianOffers/_8187 work at all?

thanks,

mute_posting

They may help but I would imagine you could achive almost as much benefit by using strong tin foil which probably costs MUCH less.

MP

Cardew

Lots of posts on this in the Utilities section.

Absolutely no evidence they save anything and Energy Saving Trust does not mention them as a saving device.

One of those ideas that seems like it should work - but doesn't.

Even if you prevent heat getting directly into the outside wall behind a radiator(and that itself is debateable) the heat will 'soak' back into that part of wall from the rest of the wall.

e.g immerse half a brick in hot water and no matter what you do, the whole brick will eventually reach the same temperature.

geordie_joe

£39.50 for a roll of tin foil and some double sided tape!!!

Who wrote the easy to follow instructions, J.K. Rowling!!!!!!

I've got a better way of saving money, don't buy that crap! You'll save yourself £39.50.

geordie_joe

I was going to make a joke post in the energy saving light bulbs thread. The conversation in there has turned to light bulbs helping to heat the room.

I was going to post a joke about putting tin foil on the ceiling to reflect the heat back down.

Then I had two serious thoughts. What if you "wall papered" the entire ceiling with tin foil, would it keep much heat in?

And my second thought was, when I roast a joint of meat in the oven and seal it in tin foil it still cooks, so clearly the tin foil hasn't stopped the heat at all.

So the question is, how good is tin foil at keeping in/reflecting heat?

mech_2

Foil will only reflect radiated heat. The heat loss through the walls/ceilings of a house is by conduction through the building materials, and the warmth is carried there by convection of the air inside the house. Radiation doesn't really figure much. Radiators are convectors, strictly speaking. I wouldn't bother with foil behind radiators, it will do very little indeed on its own.

Better to use an insulative material such as 8mm thick sheets of expanded polystyrene (I did this. A mirror came packaged in the stuff, so I recycled it as insulation). Most of these 'foil' radiator panels contain insulation as well as the foil and I expect this does more of the work. Ofgem's figures are something like a £14 saving per year per panel. Make of that what you will.