You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
We have a 3 bed detached house built in the late 40's with a gas boiler and radiators for central heating. The heating works but a couple of the radiators as pretty battered, a couple others seem to only work occasionally, most are old single wall units but a couple are replacement double walled ones. Basically a mish mash in various states of decline which it was declared tonight "All need replacing".
I know we cannot rebuild the house to have modern vented air ducts or authentic Roman vented brick work but are there options beyond just putting new radiators in?
If we do replace the radiators then the new ones will almost certainly be different sizes so look out for the what carpet/ floor covering thread coming soon.
Paint them and say you replaced them.
Only slightly joking. There really should be no need to replace them all.
There are a couple need moving due to changes in the room. The 8 foot single skin one in the main bedroom is pretty must rusted along the whole of the base and weeps slightly from the fixing despite a couple of plumbers best efforts...
...but mainly because the wife has spoken.
We have been talking about a major redecoration across most the house for the last 18 months as it is all looking a bit tired so tis is just one component of the grand scheme.
Anyone seen / tried /experienced Thermaskirt skirting board radiators?
They seem less intrusive and open up some options for room arrangement.
Not used thermaskirt, so can’t comment on them. But I did replace every single radiator in our last house. They were largely single panel of 80’s vintage and had, like yours, started to weep at the couplings and developed rust spots along the bottom edges.
I found almost exact replacements for all of them, either from screwfix, plumbase or eBay. There was enough give in the feed pipes to sort out any variance in overall length or height. If I was doing it again however, I’d be digging under the floor and replacing the feeds, at least for the last 30cm or so with flexible plastic pipe. Our new house is plumbed this way and it means we can whip all the radiators off the walls for painting and cleaning really easily.
Big solid Victorian cast iron lumps. Cheap they are not but effective they are.
I replaced ours a couple of years ago with modern doubles that had connector fins fitted down the middle which basically doubled the outputs, suited my house but may not suit yours. I had two rooms where I didn't want to alter the pipework and used chrome extension pieces from the local "proper" plumbing shop.They come in 10mm increments and fit straight on...only cost a few pounds.
So if the new rad is 60mm smaller you just put a 30mm spacer each side.
Underfloor heating?
As above, you'll likely find like for like replacement sizes pretty easily but if not then buying the new ones slightly smaller and using the spacers will see you right. There is no need to mess with the flooring unless you really want to.
Ours is a poorly insulated 30s or 40s house and having the new radiators definitely cut down on the time between waking up cold and the heating having the place habitable. Well worth the money and radiators are cheaper than I thought they would be. One day I'll insulate the place properly but that's a much bigger job
If we are just putting up replacement radiators then I would rather get ones the size we want rather than the mix we currently have so I will be resizing / re-siting at least 6 of them. The house is floor boards so no great hassle to move the pipes about under the floor. I did this when we first moved in and replaced one large radiator with two small ones when we knocked a wall through to make an entrance into the conservatory.
It is because I am already looking at quite a lot of work that I am considering the other possibilities rather than just the quickest and easiest option. I am pretty much resigned to living here for the foreseeable future so it is a worthwhile investment if it makes my house / life better.
Big Victorian radiators would not exactly be in character for our house.
Underfloor heating is a bit too disruptive / expensive to retrofit to the entire house - partly what I like about Thermaskirt which is sort of under floor heating-Lite
Never heard of Thermaskirt - looks interesting.
If it was me, I'd try to make sure that replacement radiators are sized for heat pumps.
Had a serious look at thermaskirt or an equivalent when renovating our place, but unfortunately the amount of corners we would need in our house made it too pricey for us, despite my desire to rid us of radiators and the way they impede furniture layout.
Cheaper than underfloor which I didn't have the time for installing.
Would it be worth replacing them with big enough radiators to cope with lower temperature water from a heat pump, on the basis that you might at some point need to install one?
If it was me, I’d try to make sure that replacement radiators are sized for heat pumps.
This. Especially if you have a condensing combi boiler at the moment, turn the flow temperature down and make sure they get balanced properly.
I had the whole house done a few years ago, the heating guy claimed they all come from the same manufacturer, Stelrad I think, so worth looking on their website at what's possible. I did Standard radiators (compact?) upstairs and softline deco ones downstairs (basically standard rads with a panal on the front). The deco ones look really nice and I don't think were much more expensive.
If they work why replace? Reduce reuse recycle?
My parents had their house built in 1966. The big living room had the then equivalent of Thermaskirt fitted. It's been excellent to this day and never caused a problem and it's in a notoriously hard water area.
[i]If they work why replace? Reduce reuse recycle?[/i]
Some do work, some don't work and need replacing, some need moving and replacing with different sized ones. The good ones can be re-sold whilst the broken ones are recycled.
Reduce reuse recycle Realistically
You can get underfloor heating for suspended timber floors, I remember seeing it in a brochure when we had our extension done about 7 years ago, it's basically a prefab insulated system that hangs off the joists. Pretty sure it was Thermoboard. More compatible than radiators and less intrusive, plus you get the benefit of an insulated floor.
Just FFS get someone else to fit it, I went through the floor (and insulation) twice when I replaced it. 😉
The 8 foot single skin one in the main bedroom is pretty must rusted along the whole of the base and weeps slightly from the fixing despite a couple of plumbers best efforts…
Exactly the same here. Yesterday I drained down the system (as the rad valves weren't holding) and removed an 8' single from my daughter's room as it was leaking slightly.
Little chance of finding a replacement so I'm having a 1600mm single fitted in its place the will be centred on the window - which the old one wasn't.
The amount of sludge in the old rad was frightening!.
[i]The amount of sludge in the old rad was frightening!.[/i]
When I replaced the single long one under the dining room window with two small ones and a doorway the old radiator seemed to be 50% sludge and 50% water space. I suspect most the others are in the same condition. Another reason to replace rather that repaint and run at < 50% efficiency
The current thinking is to get a price for the living room, dining room and conservatory downstairs plus the master bedroom upstairs as these are the most urgent and will get most benefit. We can then decide on the others when we get around to decorating those rooms.
Again, anyone got any real world experience with these?
If they work why replace? Reduce reuse recycle?
I'm pretty sure great big lumps of metal will be recycled pretty effectively.
Screwfix were doimg free TRV with Kudox rads. A few pounds saved there. T22 double wall double finned is thw way forward.
Bear will know more than me, but there are calcs for btu of rads v btu of boiler, you need more in boiler capacity above 10%iirc
Fittimg smart heatong will also be a selling point and be a nice touch if your out for a day you can fire it up early if its chilly