Plinth Heaters.

[adevlin]

Hi, I am fitting a plinth heater, I would prefer it to work off the CH, but my system is microbore, and most appliance I have seen only connect to 15mm.
Are there any heaters that will connect to this system or will I have to use Electric.
If electric, any recommendations??.

 

[flameport]

Converters from 15mm pipe to 8 or 10mm pipe are readily available.

 

[Dazz0i]

as above. JG speedfit do what you need if you can't solder pipes either!

 

[adevlin]

Hi there, I realise there are converters, but will the heaters work if reduced to 10mm, how important is the reduction in size to friction loss etc.

 

[Dazz0i]

it'll work fine.

alll systems reduce down at some point or other.

main flow and return's are usually 22mm.

just think, how small the diameter of a rad valve is? 5mm? even when fully open.

 

[adevlin]

Cheers, cleared up my doubts.

 

[Lectrician]

Actually, the flow and return to these hydronic heaters is critical.

You usually find you need to turn down the lock shild valves on your other rads to ensure a great enough flow into the plinth heaters on a standard 15/22 system, let alone a smaller micro bore system.

I would get the mods to move this to the plumbing section for some answers by the plumbers.

 

[Lectrician]

just think, how small the diameter of a rad valve is? 5mm? even when fully open.

That means jack

Why do you think the longer the gas pipe run, the larger the pipe? Even though the injectors are tiny?

 

[Dazz0i]

an injector is controling the amount though. providing the flow can supply the amount needed there's no reason to have a bigger pipe, surely? i get the thing of taking least path of resistance etc, but if enough pressure is there to feed all..... (i agree on balancing may be required.)

i'd imagine that the house itself to be 22mains in either the ceiling/floor anyhow. Are to Teeing into them? If so, just use 15mm directly from the flow/return.

Or from feeds off another radiator?

 

[Lectrician]

The longer a pipe run, the larger the pipe. Unfortunately this is fact. The more bends, the larger the pipe also.

If pipe sizing meant so little, everything could be run in 15mm, or even 10mm, or 8mm, or hell, 1mm

Hydronic heaters are well known for issues.

If you install a circuit (as in pipe work) for purely these heaters, you will have a nice balanced flow. As soon as you add a 'gready' standard radiator, the hydronics become 'starved'. They then no longer produce the heat they once did.

Hydronics and standard rads on the same piped circuit can be hit and miss. You really do need to balance the system correctly if you mix these heat sources.

 

[Dazz0i]

yea, i get that longer and bendier runs have a need for bigger bore. But if the presure is there, and the system is balanced ok.... it should work surely?

didn't realise they were well known for issues.

 

[adevlin]

Seeing people expressing doubts, I thought the length of runs of 10mm and the passage through the matrix of the heater, would prove problematic. i think I will contact Myson for a definitive answer.
Thanks to you all for your thoughts.
If I have to chose electric, are there any recommendations.
Thanks..

 

[Lectrician]

Smiths are cheaper than the mysons.

Both manuals make a point of addressing mixing systems, and state to ensure you correctly balance the entire sytem (which basically means backing off ALL your lock shields on the current rads you have).

 

[adevlin]

Thank you, moderator 8

 

[raydar]

just fitted a smith heater to my kitchen. Is a good piece of kit, put it on a seperate thermostat so I could control the room temperature in the kitchen. Would not worry much about pipe sizes (providing you are not trying to supply loads of big radiators via the one 10mm microbore branch) , balancing rads and adjusting bypass on system if fitted is how you ensure good flow to plinth heater just as if you were fiting any extra radiator. I got the stainless cover for it, here is a few pics.l

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• raydar
• 1 Aug 2009
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• raydar
• 1 Aug 2009
• 1

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• raydar
• 1 Aug 2009
• 1