Unbranded designer radiators any good?

[rarara]

Looking to find a large vertical column rad, the type normally described as 'designer'

There are an abundance of unbranded ones on the likes of Amazon or Ebay which look ideal and are cheap (£150) and state 15 year guarantee. Are these worth buying? Or will the quality prove to be sub par?

Otherwise, any reasonably priced brands to look out for?

Thanks

 

[flameport]

and state 15 year guarantee.

They can state anything they want.

In 3 years time when it is rusted through and water has destroyed your flooring, who will you be complaining to?

 

[Gasguru]

At least 1/2 the designer rads I come across don't work properly from new....the most common problems are...rails failing to heat up (the ports are brazed over), restrictors missing inside (water bypasses the rails), the copper plating is flaking off inside, they're full of millscale. Not only do you waste your money on them they have the potential to seriously damage the boiler/system.

 

[muggles]

I've had a few from soak.com and they seem to be ok

 

[rarara]

At least 1/2 the designer rads I come across don't work properly from new....the most common problems are...rails failing to heat up (the ports are brazed over), restrictors missing inside (water bypasses the rails), the copper plating is flaking off inside, they're full of millscale. Not only do you waste your money on them they have the potential to seriously damage the boiler/system.

any brands you think are a better bet?

 

[dilalio]

Soak and best heating are where most of the ones I have fitted come from and they have been good. but take note that the better ones are directional/handed and the inlet and outlet tappings have to tie up with the flow and return tails of the CH circuit... usually inlet bottom left and outlet bottom right.
On the double column rads this is not an issue as you can just hang them back to front but with the single column ones you will need to make sure that existing/new pipework tallies up.
The brackets that these rads are supplied with are also a right PITA and could have been designed a whole lot better for the installer.

 

[Hot&Cold]

15 year guarantee

You would need to see the terms & conditions first.

Stelrad do the vita column range of horizontal and a very limited vertical column range,good radiators.

zehnder do the charleston column range of horizontal & vertical radiators,much more choice of sizes and colours.good radiators .

Have used the above column's they are very good,heat up evenly & quick just follow the manufactures instructions for a fault free installation to prevent any hard-work

 

[dilalio]

Stelrad are very good and an established radiator manufacturer... They'll likely still be around for the length of any guarantee

Should be easy to fit with a good product... Only sh!t products and digging holes are Hard Work

 

[ReganAndCarter]

There are an abundance of unbranded ones on the likes of Amazon or Ebay which look ideal and are cheap (£150) and state 15 year guarantee. Are these worth buying? Or will the quality prove to be sub par?

Depends. If you're just tarting the place up and intend to move soon, fit the cheap stuff. If you will be living there a while, paying extra for quality is the only way to go. If you can't afford quality 'designer' stuff, fit ordinary rads.

 

[Hot&Cold]

, the type normally described as 'designer'

think they should be called decorative,not designer

 

[rarara]

Thanks everyone - some good advise

One last question - anyone got an opinion on Reina? (http://www.reinadesign.co.uk/). They seem to offer some really nice looking ones in RAL colours.

Thanks