How to Choose a Radiator for Your Home
Radiators are an essential feature of any building in the UK. Clearly, they help to keep us warm during the winter months, but most importantly, they keep the building warm and help to eliminate problems associated with moisture, such as damp and mildew (- although a radiator is just a part of damp control, air circulation and removal of damp air, is important too). It is important that you make the right choices when you buy a radiator. Here, we’re going to look at some of the things that you should be thinking about when choosing new radiators. It is particularly important that you understand these choices if you buy radiators online. In a shop, you will have staff to offer advice, but if you buy radiators online, then you will need to carry out your own research.
Type
The first thing that you need to decide is the type of radiator you buy. There are several different types, but most fall within two broad categories:
1.Central Heating radiators: these can be heated using gas or electric, but the important point is that they are part of a larger system attached to a boiler. Hot water or oil, or other types of fluid, are heated by the boiler and moved around the central heating system, which is controlled by a series of valves.
2.Storage heaters: these are standalone radiators. They’re powered by electricity. They usually comprise of specialist bricks which retain heat and release this heat slowly (in other words, they store heat, hence the name).
Your choice depends on a number of factors. For example, you may not be able to have central heating if you do not have the necessary boiler system in place. You could have a new system installed, but it will be expensive. On the other hand, electric storage heaters can be more expensive to run than gas central heating, but this is a bit of a dubious claim because they’re usually switched on at night, on a special electric rate. They’ll retain that heat gained over night during the day. Gas/electric central heating is on demand, so if you want to run it in the day it can be more expensive. People often use timers to set their central heating on timers, to minimise costs.
Size
Next, you need to consider size. Again, there are two considerations:
1.The size of the room: you want your radiators to fit appropriately in the room, and this means ensuring that you buy a radiator that is neither too small nor too large.
2.The amount of heat you require. The size of the radiator is directly related to the amount of heat it can put out. A larger radiator, identical in all ways except size, will produce more heat than a smaller radiator. There can be different output ratings between brands regardless of size, but in general, size matters. There are specialist calculators that can help you to determine how large a radiator is required for a particular size of room.
Energy Efficiency
Finally, you want to be getting as much for your money as possible, and in the long run, this often involves calculating the cost of energy (gas or electric) needed to power the radiator at adequate levels. You may buy a cheap radiator because it offers, supposedly, value for money, but if it increases the cost of your household bills, then you're not making any real savings long-term.
Follow us :
