Replace radiator with towel rail

[charliebean]

I'm moving house and doing it up to sell. The en suit has a tiny radiator which has rust on the bottom. I could paint over it but I don't want to hide the problem but deal with it so I'm fair on the new owner.

We never use it as it is noisy since it started rusting a bit and yet the room is warm as its in the middle of the house and tiny room. So seems a good option to replace with a towel warmer. Low heat is fine, more saleable, problem resolved.

im hoping I can find one the same width as existing one as that will make the job easier, is that right? The pipes come out the wall a couple inches above the skirting into valve then turns into side of radiator. Seems most rails have different configuration? What else should I consider?

 

[Doggit]

Drain the system down, and if your soldering skills aren't up to much, then readjust the pipe work with compression joints.

 

[charliebean]

I've ordered a radiator about the same size as the current one. About 10mm smaller width. And I've got some elbow compression joints and tails. I'm hoping it'll work out. The pipes will obviously be slightly to the sides of the radiator but it's only a small distance so I think it'll look ok. If it doesn't work out size wise then I'll have to drain the system down and change the pipework in the wall to reduce the width and have them go straight up from below, but I'd rather not have to do that as I've never drained the system down before and then I'd have to worry about inhibitor and so on.

I think I'll be able to avoid that but I just hope it doesn't look ugly the way I'm planning on doing it.

 

[DP]

Just as well as you are selling the house
The light bulb will put out more heat than that climbing frame
And getting decent fixings on the wall will be a comedy of errors

 

[charliebean]

As I said, the room doesn't really require any heating. We haven't used the existing radiator for years. I'm installing a towel rail to heat towels. It's not too big and heavy so hopefully getting it fixed on the wall should be fine if using appropriate plugs.

 

[charliebean]

Done the job and happy with it. Something a mate told me is that house insurance wouldn't pay out if there was a leak as not professionally installed. Is that right? I'm not expecting any leaks, I didn't reroute any pipes behind the wall, just connected it up with new valves and a very small length of pipe was needed, but I guess it's worth me remembering for next time if this is correct, as wouldn't be worth the risk if there was a leak and it caused a lot of damage, etc.