Could anyone advise if these are serious issues?

[RF Lighting]

I've done one electric radiator installation, and I have to say, it works very well indeed.

They look and function exactly the same as standard central heating, but the heater and pump are built in to the rad, so no inefficient pipe runs to worry about, or all of that heat wasted straight out the flue, and no having to pay a plumber to service your boiler every year.

 

[JohnW2]

I've done one electric radiator installation, and I have to say, it works very well indeed. ... They look and function exactly the same as standard central heating, but the heater and pump are built in to the rad, so no inefficient pipe runs to worry about, or all of that heat wasted straight out the flue, and no having to pay a plumber to service your boiler every year.

Does the pump really achieve much (apart from representing something else that can go wrong)? With a properly designed oil-filled electrical radiator, the heat will distribute satisfactorily throughout the radiator by convection (within the oil) - and, in any event, as we've been discussing, virtually 100% of the supplied electricity will inevitably end up as heat in the room, virtually regardless of any other considerations. Am I missing something?

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

I'm not sure. Maybe a question for the manufacturers. I was slightly taken in by the sales pitch, but the installation has been in 3 or 4 years and is still working very well.

 

[JohnW2]

I'm not sure. Maybe a question for the manufacturers. I was slightly taken in by the sales pitch, but the installation has been in 3 or 4 years and is still working very well.

It certainly sounds all a bit iffy (unnecessary) and expensive to me. As I said, essentially all the energy from the electricity will inevitably end up as heat in the room, regardless of all else, so I'm not surprised that it works, but I struggle to think of a way in which it can be 'working better' than it would without the pump!!

Kind Regards, John

 

[333rocky333]

Im proberly talking rubbish, but dont they work similar to an electric shower, where the pumped water passes through the element tank, without a pump I would suppose the water would just boil away in the tank.

Then again wouldnt the water eventually evaporate anyway

 

[Iggifer]

Then again wouldnt the water eventually evaporate anyway

Where would it go? An electric rad is a closed system, it's not plumbed in, so if the stat let it boil, you'd be in trouble (although I assume there's some kind of emergency relief valve should the water actually boil)

Dont forget, hot water naturally rises and the cool sinks, so with the heater being at the bottom, it would always get some level of flow of cold water, pump or no pump

 

[JohnW2]

Where would it go? An electric rad is a closed system, it's not plumbed in, so if the stat let it boil, you'd be in trouble (although I assume there's some kind of emergency relief valve should the water actually boil)

Not only that, but there's probably also thermostatic control of the element. It may be water, but I might have guessed that it's more likely to be oil.

Dont forget, hot water naturally rises and the cool sinks, so with the heater being at the bottom, it would always get some level of flow of cold water, pump or no pump

Exactly - as I said, convection. I remain unconvinced that the pump adds anything much other than complexity, expense and reduced reliability (pumps fail) - but I suppose I may be missing something.

Kind Regards, John

 

[DaftPunk]

Maybe it means the entire rad gets hot rather than just the top one third as may be the case if you're relying purely on convection?

 

[JohnW2]

Maybe it means the entire rad gets hot rather than just the top one third as may be the case if you're relying purely on convection?

That might make a difference if there were a thermostat sensor at the top, which switched off the element when the top got hot. However, if the element runs more-or-less continuously, then it shouldn't make any appreciable difference.

Kind Regards, John

 

[plugwash]

or all of that heat wasted straight out the flue

Gas is a LOT cheaper than daytime electricity and modern boilers are pretty efficient.

So to make electric heating cost competitive with gas you either need a system that can store heat at night when electricity is cheap or you need a heat pump that can achive an "efficiency" over 100% (that is heat released into the room > electricity into heat pump).