Hi,

Just thinking of moving our ancient radiator. The plumber has suggested that we swap them for something like this:

Vertical would suit our requirements because the horizontal is taking up too much space.

Anyone got anything like this?

Mick

We did at an old house, no probs, heated the room in the way you’d expect a radiator to

Yes we have.
As a space reclaiming technique it’s done the job.
As a heater, it’s a compromise. Output aside, it’s in the corner of the room so very tucked away – the heat source is further away from parts of the room than a normal shaped one would be, and we can tell. I’d oversize it if I did it again. I’m tempted to swap out for a bigger one as it is.

Anyone got anything like this?

We’ve got them in the Kitchen, lounge and hallway where they take up less space, and function pretty normally as radiators…

Yep, got a vertical thing similar to the image above in the kitchen, seems fine, no problems

Put one in the spare room/office to free up wall space. Does what a normal radiator does. Make sure plumber gets one with enough output and you’re good.

We’ve got vertical column rads, so look more traditional, they work well and you can lean against them to warm up.  The tiling in that image above needs finishing, there’s going to some odd cuts to meet those funny hexagonal tiles in the middle no doubt 🙂

We’ve got a couple of those, one in the kitchen and one in a bathroom. We’ve said that if we were replacing the central heating we’d have them all like that rather than the normal ones that are carefully sited to lose heat through the windows.

Yep, have 3 in our lounge/kitchen/diner.
They are not always as efficient as the regular flat panel radiators – so check the BTU ratings of both options before you commit.
We have 3 in a 5m2 room and they sometimes struggle.

Got one exactly like the pic in the bathroom of the place we bought recently. Seems to do the job & it’s mint for hanging your dressing gown on 👍

rather than the normal ones that are carefully sited to lose heat through the prevent convection currents being set up by cold windows.

FTFY

I have one. it just works. IIRC bought from B&Q for a tiny fraction of the price of “designer” ones

Wouldn’t you then need a step ladder to put your wet pants on top?

Where did you get them from? Plumber suggested Amazon.

rather than the normal ones that are carefully sited to lose heat through the prevent convection currents being set up by cold windows.

Is this now more of a moot point with DG windows? Whichever cheapskate did our house conversion back in the 80s put all the radiators next to the door to the room, I’m guessing to minimise the run of copper.

Currently planning a big house redevelopment. They on my list. Most don’t seem to have the fins though (like say a type 22 rad with 2 panels and 2 sets of fins) so I can see you’d need a much bigger one in terms of surface area to get the same BTU.

Where did you get them from? Plumber suggested Amazon.

B&Q do a range at good prices

They are not always as efficient as the regular flat panel radiators – so check the BTU ratings of both options before you commit.

Very much this – we have some in our open plan kitchen diner and we struggle to get it warm enough unless we are cooking. In fact just last week I started to look at options for larger higher output replacements.

Where did you get them from? Plumber suggested Amazon.

I’d find a new plumber who actually has an account at the local plumber’s merchant 🤣

He does but said that they are cheaper on Amazon.

rather than the normal ones that are carefully sited to lose heat through the prevent convection currents being set up by cold windows.

FTFY

No, it was right the first time. And it gets worse if you close the curtains and the warm air goes up behind the curtains. An adequately sized vertical radiator seems to give a much more even heat to the room, although for total even comfort you really want underfloor heating.

got ours from screwfix, but have seen identical looking ones on amazon etc.

No, it was right the first time.

He wasn’t wrong with his edit. The locating under the window to better conduct heat around a room is a thing. Surprised me too when I read up on the physics of it as it seemed very counterintuitive. Or it was a thing when windows were very cold spots in the room – the effect is less now that windows are not such a source of cold in a room. You are right however that curtains covering them rather bollocks up the concept!

No, it was right the first time.

It is not the prime reason for siting them under windows.

If your curtains block the rad from heating the room, that’s another, different problem.

Look for column rads rather tha designer.

Designer box on most sites seems to give a bunch of nice looking but woeful performance rads.

The ones in bnq and Screwfix have crap BTUs for their size but look cheap till you get an appropriate sized btu one.

I have a tiny width 3 bar 5ft tall one in the kitchen and a 4 bar 5ft tall one in the dining room.and they cope with heating the 6mx7m with vaulted ceiling no bother ….. Thy are about double the BTUs of anything the same size from bnq/Screwfix thus avoiding the issue Johndoh has. Neither are in optimum location……mainly for room constraints.

Iirc it was ukradiators or radiatorsuperstore they came from.

On the BTU thing – yes the cheap ones are lower but IIRC some are close – alloy rather than steel?

But yes – be very careful to get one with enough BTUs

As a heater, it’s a compromise. Output aside, it’s in the corner of the room so very tucked away – the heat source is further away from parts of the room than a normal shaped one would be, and we can tell. I’d oversize it if I did it again. I’m tempted to swap out for a bigger one as it is.

I’m not sure that has anything to do with the “heater” its because you’ve put it somewhere stupid.

OP – have you thought about the weight of it and how it will be mounted to the wall? They are bloody heavy when empty never mind full. Modern plaster board walls weren’t designed for 200kg to hang off… so you may need to do some engineering behind.

They are not always as efficient as the regular flat panel radiators – so check the BTU ratings of both options before you commit.

This +1. We specified poncey radiators in our rebuilt kitchen/ diner last year: I did a lot of research to find models with a decent BTU output as a lot of them are much lower than an equivalent standard radiator. Ours are made by Reina.

Anecdotally, we have a ‘high output’ towel radiator in our main bathroom – it is no bigger than any other radiator in the house but it is the only one that you can actually feel the heat radiating from – so I do think it is worth making sure you get performance radiators if you are concerned about them not heating the space.

OP – have you thought about the weight of it and how it will be mounted to the wall? They are bloody heavy when empty never mind full. Modern plaster board walls weren’t designed for 200kg to hang off… so you may need to do some engineering behind.

This is a good point. Ours was being mounted into a ‘breezeblock’ wall, and rawlplugs wouldnt hold it, we ended up using chemical bolts to fasten the radiator to the wall.

Or it was a thing when windows were very cold spots in the room – the effect is less now that windows are not such a source of cold in a room

I think this is the key point – I get the physics, but radiators under the windows seems to be hangover from the early days of home central heating when a low-output single or dual panel radiator was stuck under a single glazed window with at best a flimsy curtain. Things have moved on in both insulation and radiator design. And, indeed, curtains.

All my walls are brick.

I’m not sure that has anything to do with the “heater” its because you’ve put it somewhere stupid.

No, it’s because the ‘designer’ aspect of it compromises the heat output. Buy a cheap pressed steed radiator and is already has a large surface area (actually increased by the dimple line things) and then a corrugated ‘heatsink’ attached to the back of it to increase the surface area further. Most designer radiators are just some tubes or flatpanels – nothing like the same surface area so don’t transfer heat as well.

Maybe this then?:

https://ukradiators.com/sphera-anthracite-vertical-column-radiator-h1800mm-x-w507mm-2-column.html

Just redecorated my lounge which used to be the coldest room in the house. 3 outside walls and we used to sit with blankets on in the winter. Replaced the old radiators with a pair of these:

https://www.bestheating.com/milano-skye-anthracite-aluminium-vertical-designer-radiator-various-sizes-92489

It’s now the warmest room in the house 🙂

As others have said, check the BTU rating as the size doesn’t necessarily correlate with the output. I got aluminium ones which heat up quick and are lightweight so hang on a dot and dab wall with no issues.

The only problem I had was finding paint to match. I used the RAL code to get the same colour paint and it was way off. In the end I took a punt on a similar dulux trade colour and its bang on.

We have a few. Rear extension space gets cold in winter but it’s due to too little output for the space and uninsulated floor rather than the radiators. Check output and size appropriately.

My wife likes to sit on a stool in front of one like it’s a great big heated throne.

Check you trust who is fixing it to the wall. My boss had a nasty incident involving a newly fitted one parting with wall and interfacing with their child’s head. Lots of blood apparently.

Got one exactly like the pic in the bathroom of the place we bought recently. Seems to do the job & it’s mint for hanging your dressing gown on 👍

Whoever fitted a vertical radiator in a bathroom seems to have been unaware of the existence of heated towel rails. A designer towel rail would look very similar but allow you to hang much more on it!

Check you trust who is fixing it to the wall. My boss had a nasty incident involving a newly fitted one parting with the wall and interfacing with their child’s head. Lots of blood apparently.

Got one exactly like the pic in the bathroom of the place we bought recently. Seems to do the job & it’s mint for hanging your dressing gown on 👍

Whoever fitted a vertical radiator in a bathroom seems to have been unaware of the existence of heated towel rails. A designer towel rail would look very similar but allow you to hang much more on it!

Got ours from the local Screwfix on a deal / in the sale and it works well. We were told to go bigger if you can afford to and I would recommend doing the same.

mine are made by Reina

Having looked at mine on the way past so are mine. Head and shoulders above the equivalent BTUs size for size on anything I could source locally at the sheds.

I have some column rads by acova from screw fix in the hall. They are nice to look at but piss poor providers of heat compared to the twin panel pressed delonghi units they replaced (size for size)

Got one in the bathroom with a separate element on a timer so that we can still dry towels when the central heating gets turned off from about now to September. It’s probably the nicest thing in our house.

Only issue being that I had the timer fitted at plug socket height without thinking. My lovely daughter pressed all the buttons and I’ve lost the instruction booklet for the timer. The timer that is the most needlessly complicated thing ever.