New Radiator Speedfit

[danoid]

Hello,

I currently have a plinth heater running from CH but it’s rubbish and fed up of lack of heat in the kitchen, it’s roughly 10mx4m and only have a 300mm wide designer radiator and the plinth heater.

I will be screwing some battens of wood to the side of kitchen cabinets and hang the radiator on that under a quartz (I think) worktop, i’ll be using some radiator reflective foil under the worktop to be sure as there is a joint right above it

I’ll then use the flexi’s currently going into the Myson plinth heater into 15mm copper pipe.

I was hoping to have the radiator on a new false wall but with Covid about this is proving difficult as i’ll need to get a professional round for that.

As i’ll be doing this all myself with no knowledge i’m thinking of using some 15mm Speedfit elbows for the copper pipes, is this okay to use as a temporary measure, well say 12 months? Yes it’ll be ugly as the pipe work will be exposed but not too fussed with looks as I want the heat

 

[ianmcd]

I will be screwing some battens of wood to the side of kitchen cabinets and hang the radiator on that under a quartz (I think) worktop, i’ll be using some radiator reflective foil under the worktop to be sure as there is a joint right above it

That wont work very well for heating the kitchen as you will block the convection

 

[danoid]

That wont work very well for heating the kitchen as you will block the convection

I was thinking that but sadly no where else for it to go on that side of the kitchen but i’m sure it’ll be better than the plinth heater

The worktop isn’t huge and with the battens it’ll be more flush with the front rather than closer to the cupboards

 

[oldbutnotdead]

The speedfit elbows etc will be fine. Just make sure there's enough pipe for them to fit to (25mm min) and no dents or lumps of old solder on them

 

[danoid]

Got another question, as this is a downstairs radiator is it advisable for me to put a drain off valve on? All my other downstairs radiators do bar one for some reason.

The radiator i’ll be buying comes with a free lock shield and TRV, but it’s not a drain off, so for the sake of a fiver should I put one in?

Thanks

 

[oldbutnotdead]

If your heating is plumbed as drops (main pipework in the ceiling) then a drain cock can be v useful for shifting airlocks so yeah go for it, won't hurt

 

[danoid]

If anyone is interested or ever see’s this, yes it is possible to hang a radiator on an end panel, or at least good on ours.

Thanks for everyone’s help, only problem is i’m sure it’s too hot now but as i’ve been moaning for 3/4 years of how cold the kitchen is I refuse to turn the TRV down

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Thats not too shoddy, hope the valves aren't sticking out past the units, guaranteed you or someone will trip overthem if they are.
Try turning the lockshield down a bit...

 

[danoid]

Thats not too shoddy, hope the valves aren't sticking out past the units, guaranteed you or someone will trip overthem if they are.
Try turning the lockshield down a bit...

I was worried about the valves as I didn’t count them in on my original measurements but it’s near perfect, TRV end is fine but the lock shield end sticks out a few mm as I wanted a drain off.

Other than heat, the second best thing is not hearing the plinth heater as we had to run it on max which is noisy.

Although both radiators in the kitchen area have TRV’s i’ll still be keeping my portable thermostat in the room until the hallway radiator is replaced.

Both TRV’s on max is 28oC and no way i’ll ever set the thermostat to that so can’t see an issue, unless i’m not thinking correctly. I’ll be doing some tests anyway to see if upping the thermostat to 21/21oC instead of 19.

I’m a bit cheap and only put heating on when absolutely needed. When the house gets to like 11.5oC and use to take literally 4 hours to get to 19 when the thermostat was in the hallway, so moved to kitchen which wasn’t much better but now with that radiator things will be much different