Stelrad Radiators – as the largest manufacturer of radiators in the UK – is taking a leading role in celebrating National Radiator Day on Wednesday 1st November 2023!
As a member of MARC – the Manufacturers Association for Radiators and Convectors – Stelrad is encouraging people across the UK and Ireland to bleed their radiators before the winter hits with full force. Removing air from the heating system will ensure that the radiators are able to operate at maximum efficiency – how to do it – and it’s simple to do – is explained at www.marcuk.com/national/radiator/day.
Whilst Stelrad is keen to support the campaign directed at homeowners up and down the country, there are a number of key messages that Stelrad is keen to share with homeowners and with the heating trade and the thousands of installers who make a living from fitting and maintaining heating systems – the majority of which will have radiators sharing the heat from the boilers or renewable heating systems that power our heating.
Radiators make an everyday contribution to heating systems across the UK and Ireland with more than 90% of heating systems installed featuring radiators of one design or another.
The development of lower temperature heating systems, utilising renewable heating appliances such as air source heat pumps – has given rise to a number of questions including where do components we have got to know and love over the years fit into the future of heating? Stelrad Radiators has responded forcefully to those people who claim for example that underfloor heating is the only or ‘best solution’ for heat pump installations.
There is still a marked reluctance to use UFH upstairs in new build and it can be a complex option to fit as a retrofit solution – so radiators tend to win out much of the time. Radiators heat up and cool down far more quickly than underfloor heating, something that needs to be borne in mind when selecting the best way to share heat around the home.
In new build housing, using a heat pump-based solution is a relatively simple solution. The heating system can be designed into the home at the outset so you know the parameters in which the heating system has to operate – the method of construction, the size of the rooms, the number, type and size of doors and windows – so the heat loss calculations can be done up front and radiators sized accordingly. The key to radiators operating well in any situation is to size them properly at the outset.
In replacement heating systems for older properties there are additional issues. Do we need to ditch radiators altogether and look for alternatives?
The simple answer is no. Radiators will work well with heat pumps, but you will need to increase the size of the radiators to provide a larger metal surface area to heat the air in the room to the level required to provide comfort heating. You can achieve the extra boost radiators need by replacing the existing single or double panel radiators with K3 radiators that have three panels and three sets of fins – providing the additional metal surfaces you need but without increasing the radiator footprint on the wall. These combined with additional levels of insulation will work well.
So new low temperature heating systems offer additional opportunities for the products we know and love and have used virtually every day of our working lives, for years. There’s no need to change what we do, just an element of changing how we do it and the questions we ask when undertaking an installation or specifying for a heating system design.
“Radiators are very much ‘fit for the future’” says Stelrad’s Chris Harvey. “But as always, correct sizing will need to be undertaken to ensure that they keep the home warm and cosy. But can radiators work well with air source heat pumps? Very definitely yes they can – and they already are in a host of installations across the UK.”
To find out more about Stelrad radiators go to www.stelrad.com. For more information call 0800 876 6813 or email [email protected]. Alternatively, you can also see regular updates from Stelrad on Twitter @Stelrad and Facebook @StelradRadiators.
