One radiator or two radiators, could I ask for advice please

[hztm2008]

So we finally sorted out replacing warm air with combi and radiators and have a couple of quotes. We have one final thing to sort out and would appreciate your views please. We have a living room measuring approximately 19" x 12 with a large window on the long wall (9.5" wide). One company has recommended a double panel, double convector (stelrad softline K2) 600 x 1600 under the window. Another company have said that this will look rediculous (too big) and recommended that it would be better to have two radiators 600 x 1000 double panel single convector (Stelrad software P+) on different walls. They said that these would be slimmer units and would also provide better heat throughout the room. The problem we have is where to put the second radiator. Also, we have concrete floors so have to run pipes everywhere. We can see that a single radiator is going to look very big but would it work ok, or do you generally have two radiators for this size room. Thank you very much for any views.

 

[oldbuffer]

I have a 500 x 3,000 K2 radiator under the sitting room window. Does it look big - yes. Does it look ridiculous - not in my opinion.
Two radiators would give you more radiator area to look at, not less, and marginally less heat (2690 watts rather than 2771, assuming softline compacts).
I don't agree that two radiators would give better heating. The best place for a radiator is under a window. It heats the cold air from the window area, and it then rolls up, across the ceiling and round. Two radiators can give you a conflict between two air streams at ceiling height. It can work, but needs careful thought.

 

[muggles]

Radiators should be sized on the heat loss of the room, not what's going to look nice. That should be a secondary consideration. Also, with modern condensing boilers, radiators should be sized to provide a maximum return temperature to the boiler of 50ºC, which usually means applying a conversion factor to the outputs given in radiator brochures. Any hotter than that and the boiler won't condense, making it less efficient. Have either company actually done proper heat loss calculations, or are they both just going on what they think will look better?