Is There a Difference in Efficiency Between Different Types of Radiator?
There are many different types of radiator on the market; some are more efficient than others. It is important that consumers understand the things that affect efficiency, so that they can make the most informed choices when buying their new radiators. A few factors influence the efficiency of a radiator. We will explore these in more depth during the course of this article.
Electric Radiators vs Gas Radiators
The first difference in efficiency rests in the fuel used to heat the radiators. In general, radiators are either connected to gas central heating or electric central heating or storage heaters (which are electric too). There are also dual fuel radiators that can draw from both gas and electric, depending on your requirements at the time.
Generally speaking, gas is much cheaper than electric. Therefore, radiators that use gas are far more efficient than radiators that use electricity. There may be exceptions to this, but on the whole, gas central heating is much more efficient than both electric central heating and storage heaters.
Radiator Content
As most of you know, most radiators contain fluid. A boiler heats the fluid and then moves it though the central heating system. As it moves around it heats the radiators, which then radiate this heat out into the room.
The fluid content has implications in terms of efficiency. In central heating, the radiators contain water. Having oil moving around the system would mean that the radiators fail more often because oil is harder to maintain than water. From the point of view of a central heating system, then, water radiators are best.
However, you can buy stand-alone oil radiators. These just plug into the mains. They’re not connected to a central heating system. This type of radiator generates higher levels of heat, because oil keeps its heat better than water. This means that you generally use less energy to heat such a radiator.
However, they do use electricity, which as we stated above, is more expensive than gas. The one reason to buy such a heater is if you do not have central heating. Make sure that you look out for radiators for sale, because this type of radiator can be more expensive and by buying radiators for sale, you should be able to save a fair amount of money. Oil radiators are best for people that do not have gas central heating, because you have to pay for electricity anyway.
Finish
There is plenty of research to show that the finish on a radiator has an effect on heat output and efficiency.
Painted radiators emit more heat than non-painted radiators. This is obvious when you think about it, because we rarely, if ever, see radiators that have not been painted. The reason is that they're far more efficient than non-painted radiators. The most common non-painted style of radiators are chrome radiators, which are up to 20% less efficient than the normal white radiators.
Follow us :
