[Closed] Central Heating Radiators - Where to Buy?

All well and good if the new radiator has the exact same valve spacing and projection from the wall as the old one... Some wiggle room if it's 10mm pipe but you may need to re-do a bit of the plumbing as well to get it all to fit properly.

I've found screwfix have radiators on offer fairly regular (providing you're not after anything fancy looking).

Screwfix - I bought some Kudox ones. In summary they were very cheap and have been very good with good uniform heat and easy bleed valves.

They look neat too.

PS - I would advise buying a new thermo-valve and stop-cock to go with it too. Again from screwfix.

B&Q had tons in yesterday, the bog standard kind were between £30 and £120 for a giant one. They also had push-fit fittings and short bits of pipe which would be ideal for a small project I reckon.

I'm hoping I can get one with the same valve spacng (not measured it yet).

It's 10mm pipe, and there seems to have a bit of movement available, although I'll think about this a bit harder once I know what the possible options are.

If it ends up needing pipework moving/altering I'll leave it until the spring when it's a bit warmer.

I redid my whole house with Screwfix radiators and they've all been fine except for the bathroom, where it seems to have developed surface rust - possibly because it's a damp environment. I've just bought a stainless towel radiator to replace the duff one with.

Don't buy the cheap rubbish, buy Stelrad or similar. Try BSS or PTS.

there seems to have a bit of movement available

If it's not in too obvious a place you can use [url= http://www.discountedheating.co.uk/shop/acatalog/stelrad-valve-extension-piece-30mm.html?language=en&currency=GBP ]radiator valve tail extensions[/url] (other makes are available) to buy a bit more wriggle room before you rip all the plumbing out.

Bnq rads - just burn your money

Go down the builders merchants , ask the fella if he has any "marked stock"

I got nearly all the radiators in my house for between 20 and 30 quid each . Delonghi ones

They had scratches on them and were returned from a job.

Put em in the garage and sprayed em. Look good as new.

Dont be scared of moving z/replacing the tails inpf your not a diy clutz once you have done one youll wonder what the fuss was about.- plumbing scared shit out of me before then me and my plumber mate installed my boiler and central heating - very little i wouldnt do my self with it now and ill know what to do in future 🙂

So.. if one had a rad plumbed in with pushfit fittings on plastic flexible pipes, and one wanted to replace it with a larger one requiring a short extension piece of pipe, how would one do this without getting water everywhere?

Start by drainng the system down fully - remembering to open the radiator bleed valve stop the airlock effect.

Remove the radiator once the water stops , bung the holes up

flip it upside down

Carry it outside

Id also lift the floor and cut the pipe and put the fitting under the floor out of sight.

So.. if one had a rad plumbed in with pushfit fittings on plastic flexible pipes, and one wanted to replace it with a larger one requiring a short extension piece of pipe, how would one do this without getting water everywhere?

Choice between draining the system down, or freezing the relevant pipe.

Or getting water everywhere of course 😉

Haha or both if your an amateur eh neal ?

Freeze it and getting water everywhere 🙂 my mate suggested i just stick to draining it 🙂 - he did the freezing trick which is quite cool when done by a pro.

Freezing can be a bit "iffy" unless you have access to a decent Freezer Kit I suppose.

Today I just bought and fitted another Center Brand from Plumb Center twas 1200x600 single panel with fins £48+vat they are alot cheaper than Stelrad and are just as well finnished

I am slowly replacing all my old single panel unfinned rads with the center brands and there is hell of a differance with the heat output

Highly recommended

BTW you cannot reliably freeze poly pipes and TRV's need to be wound fully off

Salad - rubbish, my freezer will freeze a poly pipe. I'm not freezing the pipe but the water inside. The material is irrelevant.

have also had problems with cheaper radiators on jobs, they have appeared to 'flake' badly from the inside and cause blockages. Stick to a brand, Center Brand as Salad said are fine, so are Stelrad, Myson and Delonghi, but I prefer Purmo.

BTW you cannot reliably freeze poly pipes

Who told you that ??!

Complete cobblers I'm afraid, of course you can freeze poly pipe.

No problems at all, exactly the same as freezing copper pipe, steel pipe or any other pipe.

as a 'pro' we normally install Purmo great value and smart. beware of bulk discounters like b and q screwfix..( one and the same) the rads are often cheap and often stacked on pallets and larger rads tend to be bent.

get the size as close as possible to the original smaller rather than larger if you dont want to move the tails.. if smaller use chrome 'extensions' available in 20/30/50mm lengths.. DONT freeze rads when replaceing even if using a pro kit..

fit the valeves with boss white and ptf to be leak/ weep free.. for the hassle i'd ask an experienced plumber should nt take 90 mins for eeven the most tricky rad.. so thats 65 quid max plus materials

Total - why wouldn't you freeze to change a radiator? My freezer kit will freeze 15mm copper in about 10 mins, much quicker than a drain down and refill surely, especially on a big system.

Surely any radiator will be fine as long as you have enough antioxidant (Fernox) in the system?

I'm not freezing the pipe but the water inside. The material is irrelevant.

It's not - many plastics would be damaged by the cold temperatures required, I'm sure. The question is, is the stuff they make radiator pipes out of damaged by cold. Apparently not, this is good news.

DONT freeze rads when replaceing even if using a pro kit..

Why?

Just to give a bit of background to my statement

BTW you cannot reliably freeze poly pipes

I tried using a couple of cans of Artic pipe freeze and er FAILED

with a proper pipe freezer ok but not many people have access to em unless they hire them

I tried using a couple of cans of Artic pipe freeze and er FAILED

What type of pipe wrap/jacket did you use ?

Was the system cold ?

If you are trying to freeze vertical pipework with even a little bit of warmth you can sometimes get some 1 pipe circulation going which as plastic is a better insulator i can imagine you would struggle!

I have the Polar Professional pipe freezing kit. I use it if I'm just doing a single rad swap or installing a towel rail to avoid draining the whole system. Mine works on copper and poly and works reliably. obviously you can't use it if you're soldering joints though!

What type of pipe wrap/jacket did you use

The supplied blue foam jacket and it was on a cold pipe with no flow what so ever ( believe it or not, not even I am that daft 😯 )

Grahams were good for us - slightly unusual Stelrad, but they've certainly got standard jobs too. They delivered to us. I'd echo what was said above RE B&Q and the likes - rads get stacked up with everything else, bashed about and damaged. I'd imagine much the same from a small mail order outfit. Plumbers merchant all the way.

The supplied blue foam jacket and it was on a cold pipe with no flow what so ever ( believe it or not, not even I am that daft )

Wasn't suggesting you we're daft 😉

Just looking for possible reasons why it wouldn't work, I've been freezing poly pipes for years using everything from the disposable kits from Screwfix to a full on Electric Freeze kit (when I finally decided that £1300 was worth spending) and I've never had any problems.