'Nearly New' second hand rads

Looking on ebay there are a stack of second hand rads. Im not geting involved in cast/antique or even old radiators. But there are quite a lot of new-design single/double etc radiators that are 'removed after 6months as undersized' or 'comes from 3year old house after extenion added' or whatever.

Other than sludge, and corrosion, which can be washed out and or are proberbly no worse than what I currently have fitted. Anything else to look out for?

My rad sizes are all over the shop as the previous owner appears to have fitted a poorly speced 'radator pack' that came with the boiler, plus a few he had left over from another job and I plan to work out what I have and what I think I need and do some shuffling.

The pipes come out of the floor at spacings for the previous rads, looped in with a mix of 10mm copper and just about anything else so can be adapted to a fairly large extent

I own the house and may hang on to it for a while yet, letting out half the rooms, living in one of the others during the week, but its not a long term of family home.

Daniel

having had a leak from the rad is another possibility I suppose, but newish rads mostly don't leak, so probably not something to worry about really. I'd specifically ask about any damage, unless they mention it, much easier than arguing about it later. check if the brackets are included.

Otherwise, should be ok, usual ebay buying caveats apply of course

Radiators are not expensive to buy new , dont waste your time on second hand ones, they have had water in them and now have been left in air for a length of time that you have no idea how long, dont be so stupid as to even consider fitting them

I understand they are not expensive, and that you take on some unknowns buying something secondhand. hell, i have spent £500 getting a car I paid £650 for through an MOT this week I know all about that.

But equally if you can get a £50 rad, a year or 18months old, for a tenner, its better than it going to landfill isnt it?


Daniel

Totally agree. The amount of waste in building/refurbishment is crazy. I can understand the reasons (usually money!) but as a DIYer you can afford to take a bit more care and be a bit more eco. As you say for a tenner that's a decent saving, too and a risk you can afford to take. It's probably way better condition than the rads in my house and I'm not planning to replace them any time soon.

Buying second hand rads involves two problems, collecting them and getting the best size for your application!

I would always say buy a new rad of exactly the size that you need for your own house.

Sometimes, and perhaps the best value, if you could buy a package of 6-7 rads there is a good chance you could find several of a suitable size.

But it seems to me to be extreme meanness for anyone to fit a used rad just because its cheap if it is not the right size.

While it might seem wasteful to dispose of fairly new radiators, the vast majority of steel is recycled, it certainly won't be thrown into landfill.

Saving a few quid on a used radiator will be nothing compared to the hundreds/thousands of pounds of damage caused when that radiator decides to fail and leak disgusting filthy water all over your new carpet and through the ceiling into the room below.

Ebay is just full of junk and people lap it up and pay good money for rubbish. I dump all my power tools on there when 3 years old and/or out of warranty and i get silly amount of bids and typically sell at about half what i paid for it, sometimes more.

I sold a 3 year old Makita drill with one battery, charger and case recently, i paid 150 for it, had 3 years use out of it then sold it for 110 quid plus £15 delivery

True that you get people paying silly money for things sometimes, doesn't mean everything you buy is over priced though, you just need to purchase carefully.

As for old rads failing and leaking. As a prob;lem I think that is being over egged. It's gonna take quite a time for a removed rad left empty to rust so much it fails. I think if you purchase with some care you are likely to be ok.

I'd not bother. Getting the right rads, of the right size rads, able to collect etc. could turn pout to be a palaver. But YMMV