Designer vs Standard radiators inc output

[darkan9el]

Hi all, wanted some feedback on designer radiators vs traditional radiators. Things like Function, Price and Form, what are your experiences; better than expected or a complete waste of money?

I have noticed there seems to be a big difference in Btu output for comparable sizes, so, is Btu important or can it be overkill i.e. how would one work out how much Btu is required to adequately heat a certain size room?

 

[adlplumbing]

depends on size room depends on the radiator

 

[theheatinghelper]

its not the best site but you could have a try here and see what size output you need for your rooms.

http://www.radcalcs.com/


designer radiators vs traditional radiators ....at the end of the day its up to you on how much you want to pay and how "pretty" you want them to look. i normally use stelrad or quinn/barlo

http://www.stelrad.com/UK/index.html

http://www.quinn-radiators.com/

good luck with your quest !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[wibbit]

heyah.

I've spent a bit of time looking at towel radiators after doing up the bathroom in the flat, and experiencing the "design" flaws.

We used a fairly average white towel radiator for the flat, and when it came to using it we found that it was a real pain to actually USE the damnable thing, the gaps for the towels were not quite big enough, and the though the radiator was quite wide, the supports for the radiator were placed (could have been an install issue), sufficiently close togethere that the majority of it was just heating up the room (not really what we wanted).

As such the next radiator we looked to buy for the house we were slightly ore circumspect on the design, and associated practicalities.

We found that the only radiators that seemed to fit what we were looking for ended up being designer. All of the non-designers seemed to be very much of the same style (useless).

Regarding BTU, it may have been due to me growing up in a house without any central heating, i don't particularly want/need my bathroom to be as hot as seems to be the going rate, so I checked the only calculators and went with a rad that pumped out about 75% of what was "required".

Not sure if that's any help, but it's my expearience.

Here is the one we bought in the end.
http://www.geyser.co.uk/entice-stainless-steel-heated-towel-rail-p-247.html
Really good company by the way, delivered next day (22nd of december).

 

[jono_h]

Having fitted a couple of designer rads in my house I would say;
Function - Disappointing
Price - Uncompetitive
Form - Lovely!

In my experience whilst they look good they aren't very efficient so you need a massive radiator to provide the same heat output as a panel rad. That said I have used units at the cheaper end of the range.
They have some advantages - I didn't have much wall space in a bedroom so used a tall but narrow designer rad instead, and I have a small rad in the front room as a feature but with a large panel rad on the wall to provide the heat.

 

[electronicsuk]

Having fitted a couple of designer rads in my house I would say;
Function - Disappointing
Price - Uncompetitive
Form - Lovely!

I'd more or less agree with that. A lot of 'designer' rads appear to be only single panel, so if you're accustomed to the sort of heat output you get from a double panel rad, you'll be disappointed. However, if you compare them with a standard single panel radiator, the efficiency isn't all that much lower.

For example, I have an 1800x600 vertical in the hallway, and the same radiator horizontally in the extension hallway. They are more or less the same as the Oceanus designer radiators sold by Screwfix although branded under a different name. Both of these have more than enough output for the areas they are heating, as they were sized accordingly.

However, compare that to my bedroom where I have the same style of rad albeit something like 1000x600 in single panel, and it doesn't provide enough heat to warm the room to a comfortable temperature on a particularly cold day. I was always worried this would be the case when I fitted it, as the room has a large patio window and three external walls, although they are all insulated. Unfortunately space constraints meant that the radiator I fitted was the largest I could manage, and for some reason, the one particular size I wanted wasn't manufactured in double panel in the style/colour I wanted.

Conversely, I have been very impressed with an Ultraheat Trojan that I've fitted in another room. It's very reasonably priced for a designer rad if you shop around, and the output is absolutely excellent for its size.

So in summary, it's horses for courses. If you're particularly concerned about aesthetics then designer products aren't a waste of money, but if you're only concerned about function, you wouldn't be considering buying them in the first place. I think my best advice would be to shop around on the internet, as you'll find many similar products branded under different names and sold for varying prices. I managed to save £20-£30 per rad over Screwfix prices on the Oceanus rads, and that was including delivery. I also managed to get a great deal on the interwebs when I fitted CH in my previous house with column rads in every room.