Standard white convention radiators - are they all the same quality

[AndyColeman]

Hi,

Our central heating system is now 20 years old and we are having the boiler replaced. At the moment we have bog standard white convector panel radiators that were put in when the original boiler was fitted. Some of them are looking a bit battered, have paint on them and chips in the enamel so we are looking to replace those as well. One of the plumbers that quoted for the job suggested we would be better just painting them as the modern radiators are not as good quality as the ones we have.

Is that correct or are there brands that we can look out for that are going to be better quality than others? We are not looking for any fancy designer radiators so will be sticking to the bog standard white ones.

Thanks
Andy

 

[cross thread]

Yes the quality varies, I prefer stelrad

 

[sjmac]

Stelrad Vita Compacts

 

[Madrab]

As far as the quality of the steel used, your plumber is probably correct ... as far as how efficient they are and how well they work, design dependent, then your old one are probably less efficient. Are your old rads doubles and do they have a central channel with radiator fins?

 

[AndyColeman]

Thanks for all that replied. The existing radiators are a mixture of type 21 and type 11.

Looking back through the quotes one of the plumber's has specified the brand 'K-RAD' - how do those compare to Stelrad?

Just taken a look at prices on a random website and it seems Stelrad and K-RAD (which seems to be Kartell) are around the same price. Although this may not be an accurate indication of quality I would at least take it that they are comparable.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

My rads are 40 years old and I would not dream of changing them, unless one began leaking. They were installed when the place was much less well insulated so probably over-sized now, but over-sized simply means the boiler can run cooler and more efficiently.

Just add a coat of paint, or strip them first then repaint.

 

[sxturbo]

Thanks for all that replied. The existing radiators are a mixture of type 21 and type 11.

Looking back through the quotes one of the plumber's has specified the brand 'K-RAD' - how do those compare to Stelrad?

Just taken a look at prices on a random website and it seems Stelrad and K-RAD (which seems to be Kartell) are around the same price. Although this may not be an accurate indication of quality I would at least take it that they are comparable.

K RAD are ok, they are Korean,

Stelrad are owned by a Turkish firm now but still produce rads in Europe,

Old rads are designed for high temperature boiler systems, the new way of heating effiency is to use lower temperatures.

New rads have higher outputs than old rads for the same size rad due to efficiency and better use of extracting the heat from the water.

 

[richw]

I prefer my modern ones because they have convector fins. This gives much better heat output.

I have replaced all but one of my 1970s Stelrads with new Myson Premier HE.