Changing Unfinned Rad to Finned Rad - Size issue

[First-time-buyer]

Old unfinned radiator, fed using 15mm copper pipes.

The plan is to change to a finned radiators, the old one does not have a TRV therefore its time to upgrade and make the house more "efficient".

For £100, I can pick up 3x rads, 3x TRVs etc. The plumber wants £200 to fit them, which for 3 rads seems steep. There is some minor adjustment to the pipework, however the pipes run under the floor, therefore its extend one, and shorten one... simples..

Measuring the rad, I cant find a radiator which matches the exact size..why is this?

An example of one of the 3, Is its 59.5"...

 

[45yearsagasman]

Most, if not all rads are now metric sizes. Buy a rad slightly less wide than the one you're replacing and either fit extension pieces, or make them as I do.
PS, don't use the telescopic extensions as these tend to leak if not aligned correctly. View media item 39743

 

[Agile]

Good quality TRVs like Drayton TRV4s cost about £18 each!

Sounds like you are buying the worst quality wax element because you want the cheapest.

I charge about £100 each for fitting a rad if there are no pipework changes under the floor! More like £130 if underfloor changes needed and thats if old boards which come up easily!

Seems you want a cut price job.

Perhaps the house is a cheap ex-council or something but if its a normal house my advice would be to buy the best! The fitting charge is the same whatever you fit !

Tony

 

[First-time-buyer]

^ Thanks for the reply.

Never had issues with cheap TRV's.... (Drayton RT12)

 

[Agile]

Perhaps you have never had any exposure to TRV issues!

You probably dont know the response times of wax element ones compared with liquid ones?

Tony

 

[First-time-buyer]

No, not really. Never heard of the difference.

Only recently had a "Nest" fitted.. previous to that we had no thermostat, just a timer. To go from No Trv, to a Trv is a step towards the future..

 

[Agile]

In my view you would have been better buying TRV4s and installing a normal programmer!

And yes, I have a Nest here and I am an accredited installer for them!

Tony

 

[First-time-buyer]

We are getting there slowly. When we purchased the house, it had no rads in the lounge, hallway or bedroom 4 . We've had them fitted, the cladding off the dorma section of the house and insulation upgraded to 75mm. Next is flat roof insulation.

In the short term, a fix is the rads changed with trvs then we can decorate. A few months then maybe a combi instead of an immersion.

Where in uk are you? Always looking for a plumber. Even to fit me a 3-way valve as currently it is 2 knobs..

 

[Nige F]

That rad is ancient - maybe 1960's . £ 200 for a day's work including the bottle of inhibitor sounds about right . It could be a long day or a normal one depending on how it fills and runs after . Looks like it could be a 1 pipe system

 

[First-time-buyer]

Its 2 pipes, both pipes are pictured. The far one is leaking at the valve.

It drains well, I have drained it and cleaned the header tank out (inc sludge), then put in a bottle of Sentinel De-Scaler/Sludge remover. I also have 2 further bottles of De-Scaler to go in during summer for the heat exchanger. The boiler is a Ideal Mexico RS30 ~ Floor standing, Heat Only with rrectangle flu...

 

[First-time-buyer]

Most, if not all rads are now metric sizes. Buy a rad slightly less wide than the one you're replacing and either fit extension pieces, or make them as I do.
PS, don't use the telescopic extensions as these tend to leak if not aligned correctly. View media item 39743

I guess its a case of measure, and cut down to size. I guess with a huge radiator, the bedroom will be pretty warm, pretty quick....

If so, £4.00 isn't a bad idea. Might have to go with 300mm or 400mm high rads instead of a narrower, 600mm high rad.

 

[Nige F]

Its 2 pipes, both pipes are pictured. The far one is leaking at the valve.

...

I can see that ... I mean under the floor .A one pipe system often has a valve on one end and an elbow @ the other like yours . The thermo valves for these systems are expensive

 

[Agile]

In the short term, a fix is the rads changed with trvs then we can decorate. A few months then maybe a combi instead of an immersion.

Best top take old rads off and THEN decorate!

If you fit new rads first they will be in the way as you decorate!

Tony

 

[First-time-buyer]

Nige - Thanks.

Agile - I think having newer rads fitted is more than a priority than decorating at the moment.

 

[Agile]

Rads still work at any age!

Although new ones with fins give more heat output.

This is needed because a condensing boiler works best at a flow temp of 70 C whereas old boilers were designed for a flow of 80 C.

So the extra output of the fins just compensate for the lower heating temperature.

But then new rads do look so much nicer.

Tony