[Closed] Aluminium house radiators are they worth it?

They look cool, that would swing it for me.

I've never thought "OMG my steel radiators are responding slowly".

It depends. I like the zing they have when heating and cooling and they have a great feel.

Hmmm two extra good qualities, no negative but still not 100% sure they're worth the extra wonga on what is a tight budget.

undecided 😕

Hmm, I've often found that steel is a terrible conductor of heat and often stays cold on one side when the other is in contact with hot water; so I'd say go for it.

I installed ally one sin the barn.
Mainly because they were the cheapest way of getting ones that didnt look like they came from screwfix.

I got these
http://www.theradiatorcompany.co.uk/product_details/?catid=Mix

They work well, quickly, low volume, and convect well.
dont really have many pics of them
[img] [/img]
but we have 3 of them fitted with towel rails, esp the 1.8m tall one in the bathroom. Works as a radiator and a towel rail - which radiators and towel rails cant manage on their own!

Might take some pics some time.

p.s. diamond is the best heat conductor, so you'd be better off with diamond radiators really.

Now that's sounds more convincing cheers

I did sized up everything we needed last night and did a price comparison last night between steel and ally

result was £1035 for steel and £1350 for ally

steel ones seem way way cheaper than ally for the conventional shape ones (Long and low) but a bit more expensive for upright ones.

We decided to go for about 50/50 between uprights and more conventional shaped ones so the price difference isn't as big. If you went for all conventional shaped ones throughout the price difference would be much much bigger

The final decision was ally! 8) This has been approved by Mrs 29er 😆

lighter weight

How does this matter?

Are you planning on carrying it around the house with you to heat whichever room you're in at the time?

it'll be a hell of a lot easier for me to fit them on my own

Yeah but the fatigue resistance is lower so remember to check for cracks. And although ali is stiffer, the extra give of steel makes for a more lively supple ride. Steel is real!

glenh - Member

p.s. diamond is the best heat conductor, so you'd be better off with diamond radiators really.

So carbon wins yet again 😀

Keith, 'ere you go. A pic of the tall one with towel holders on.

[img] [/img]

p.s. diamond is the best heat conductor

I did not know this. Is it really true?

Im assuming it isnt true of carbon as man from Shimano says here:

As for material, a carbon frame isn’t going to dissipate heat from the caliper any.

They work well, quickly, low volume, and convect well.

Isn't it where they're positioned that gets the convection current going? E.g. under a window works better than on an internal wall.

Im assuming it isnt true of carbon

Carbon fibres != diamond

doh, you know what I mean smartarse 😉

cheers for all of the helpful answers

😆 and 🙄 at the rest

the chilling of air at a window causes it to fall (convect downwards) whcih then creates a moving pool of colder air at low level. If you put the radiator on the opposing wall, it's rising convection will pull the colder air along the floor as a chilling draught. A radiator under the window is intended to counteract that falling cool air flow.

Air flow and heat transfer through the radiator is a function of it's design, fins and vents etc.

Old steel single panel rads are not very good. Modern double rads with fins in the centre convect well. Ive found my aluminium ones do too and I wouldnt be surprised if the funny design to the top of them is to help move the convecting warm air up and out into the room.

Stoner yeah we'll be ordering 4 very similar to those

I think I'll put the order in tomorrow from these guys
http://www.traderadiators.com/

yeah there are loads of funky shaped ally ones which look very much like that's what they're trying to achieve e.g.
[img] [/img]

Surely a radiator's ability to heat is defined purely by its BTU - an alu rad may be lighter, smaller etc, but what is the performance advantage?

Having said that I do like your stoner, but I couldn't see one like that on your website - do you have a link?

they didnt do a tall one in the Mix range so I had to get the Oscar
http://www.theradiatorcompany.co.uk/product_details/?catid=Oscar

IIRC aluminium radiators have a higher btu/Wattage /size than steel ones. You also dont get rust issues with Al. You need a different kind of inhibitor though.

Ah...so you can't mix and match?

dont see why not. you might just need to make a cocktail of fernox products 🙂 Fernox and the radiator companies would be the guys to ask.

Any issues with having alu and steel on the same circuit?
Do you need different corrosion inhibitor for alu rads?

I'll ask my services manager when he returns from the pastry van.

Edit - beaten to it!

Hmmm...

Where did you get the towel-rail-y things?

Sentinel X100 suitable for all metals.

http://www.theradiatorcompany.co.uk/searchForRadiators.tpl.php?catid=Aluminium_Accessories&page=1&iProdName=&iMaterial=&iBtu=&iFinish=&iHeight=&iWidth=&iDepth=&iHeightMin=&iWidthMin=&iDepthMin=&iPriceRange=&iStyle=Array&lan=&fromProdFinder=1&&iSubmit=1#wishlist

"Hanging Pegs & Bars for Vip/Mix/Vox"

Surely a radiator's ability to heat is defined purely by its BTU - an alu rad may be lighter, smaller etc, but what is the performance advantage?

I'd guess that alu should be more responsive. heat up a room quicker, conversely it probably cools down quicker too after the boiler is off.

useful to know bear.

BTW, what do you do with large thermal store systems where you might have over a 1000 litres. It cant be cost effective to use inhibitor at the recommended concentration?

At the moment I have no inhibitor in my system because it would cost so much and I know I really ought to add some sometime.

OK my services manager says its OK to mix and match steel & alu, just get the right inhibitor.

There's a bay window in one of our rooms with a fairly low window sill, we can get a 5000BTU ally rad that fits perfectly but could only get 3200BTU from a double steel jobbie so would have needed an extra rad in the room else where or an expensive custom bay one

oh good point though I did have a small steel towel rad for the downstairs toilet, I'd best change that for an ally one too so we're 100% ally then

ahh cool cheers Al' looks might I might be ok with the little towel one that the Mrs wanted