Chris Harvey, Director of Marketing at Stelrad Radiators, explains the importance of getting the correct radiator heat output.
To be successful as part of a heating system a radiator has to deliver the heat output needed for a particular space – usually a room in a home or a property – and quality radiators from a manufacturer such as Stelrad will confidently state the heat output that any given radiator will provide – in both Watts and Btus.
Sounds simple and to be honest it usually is. A competent heating engineer or installer can size a room and calculate the heat output required to provide adequate comfort heating for that room using one of the freely available heat loss calculators and radiator sizing software packages available – the most commonly used is available free from Stelrad’s websites – head for www.stelradprofessional.com and you have instant access to an accurate and simple to use package that will give you the heat output you need to heat each room in your home. It has recently been updated and improved – so it’s worth a visit to see how its changed for the better to make these calculations even simpler.
Selecting radiators is a science – not an art – it can be calculated very accurately – no ‘back of a fag packet’ calculations or ‘finger in the air’ stuff these days. There is no excuse for finding a radiator isn’t capable of delivering the level of heat required after it’s been installed. The key inputs at a calculation remain the same as when these heat loss calculators first became available – the dimensions of the room, the number and size of doors and windows in that room and the method of construction of that room.
Historically the room that has seemed to suffer most from inaccurate radiator provision is the bathroom – with pretty and even flamboyant towel warming radiators being selected perhaps from a ‘shed’ on their looks rather than on their quality or the ability to heat a space. Too many towel warming radiators do exactly what they say on the can – heat the towels – but leave the room itself decidedly chilly in colder months of the year. That’s why the bathroom deserves the same level of input as any other room when it comes to selecting a radiator – it needs to provide the necessary heating capacity to heat the bathroom or en-suite and warming the towels is a pleasing secondary benefit! Having undertaken the heat loss calculation it’s a simple task to isolate the towel warming radiators in the Stelrad range that meet the requirement – every model clearly states the heat output it can provide once installed.
And that goes for the new electric range of radiators from Stelrad as well as the traditional hydronic ranges – it’s a three-step approach – size the room, size the radiator – install and enjoy!
The increasing popularity of renewables driven heating systems has made radiator sizing even more important than when the system was driven by a boiler. Clearly a heat pump operates a lower temperature circulating heating system so radiators will need to be bigger or have the increased heating capacity that a larger radiator can provide. It’s no surprise that rather than increase the radiator footprint many people choose to go for a higher capacity radiator by increasing the metal surface area of the radiator by selecting a new K3 or even K4 type radiator. In some cases, this can be done simply by selecting vertical radiators rather than horizontal ones – but when replacing radiators in an existing building where a renewable system is being installed it many be necessary to use larger radiators to ensure comfort heating is the end product of the switch. Stelrad has added a number of larger radiators to its ranges to enable specifiers and installers to find the larger capacity radiators they need easily and quickly.
The company has planned ahead to offer radiators that are fit for the future and to ensure that they offer the heating output that a modern heating system requires albeit from a lower temperature operating heating system. Heat pumps are proven technology that can happily meet the heating and hot water requirements of a modern home so long as they and the radiators are sized properly. It’s worth remembering that until fairly recently the countries that sold the most heat pumps were those in Scandinavia and Canada – all renowned for having far more savage winters than we have here in the UK! So specified correctly they will more than replace the traditional boiler driven systems so long as allowances are made for the lower circulating water temperature and the fact that heat pumps are very different technology to boilers and need to be treated with respect as heat pumps – not the way you treated your boiler.
So, to recap, radiators are excellent bedfellows for heat pumps if sized properly and they can deliver the heat output you need using the modern radiators available to you along with the latest technical information that comes with any quality radiator from the manufacturer. Just remember there are different radiators available to you today – K3s – with three panels and three sets of fins delivering an extra 50% heat output compared to a K2 of the same radiator footprint and you can source 900 mm deep radiators, 1,200 mm deep radiators and if you have lo-line radiators in your home, that perhaps run along a window, you can now get K3 and K4 versions to step up the heat output of the radiators if you need them.
Head for www.stelradprofessional.com for more information or call Stelrad direct – and watch out for our regular posts on social media; lots of help and support just waiting to be taken advantage of so make sure to take a closer look!
