Vertical radiator heating-up in an odd way

[joefinan]

Hi all

I've replaced a radiator with a tall, vertical style radiator:
http://ww.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Reina_Osimo_Black_Flat_Panel_Designer_Radiators.html

The flow and return enter at the bottom two inlets and I haven't used a TRV. Both the flow and return pipes get can't-touch hot, but the radiator barely gets warm.

Even more oddly, off the four vertical "fins" or the radiator:
Fin 1 gets slightly hot at the top
Fin 2 barely gets warm
Fin 3 gets hot
Fin 4, like fin 1, gets slightly hot at the top.

Anyone have any ideas what the problem is?!

 

[seco services]

is it up the right way some state what should be the top/bottom.

 

[Whitespirit66]

What size pipes are connected to the rad?

Is it on a dedicated pipe run, or linked to another rad?

What happens if you turn some of your other rads off? Does it improve?

Some of these column rads take a while to heat, and need a good flow. You may need to balance the system to improve things.

 

[moggridgeplumbing]

Sounds like a balancing problem, these tall rads do seem to take a time to heat up though, and yes some are designed to be installed with specifications which end is the bottom and top. I assume you have bled the rad at the top! Even though you may get a few spits of water, there can still be air trapped above the bleed nipple. Give it a good long bleed until it stops spitting water.

 

[electronicsuk]

I had exactly the same problem with a string of Ultraheat vertical rads (and a very poor retailer response, but that's a story for another day), all due to a missing diverter/baffle that spoils the flow through the radiator. As with you, both the feed and return pipes were hot to touch, but the heat never flowed through all columns of the radiator properly. As others have already pointed out, this could also be caused by mounting upside-down, if there's only a baffle in one end by design.

 

[rego]

have you connected the flow & return to correct sides of rad as per mi
a lot of these rads wont heat up properly unless flow is on a certain side of rad (usually the left)

 

[foxhole]

Had to refit a couple of vertical rads for a friend they were designed to be used horizontally as well as vertically and for vertical fitting had knock out internally that had to be removed for them to work correctly.

 

[bengasman]

Could be:
upside down
diverter in the wrong place
piped up wrong
faulty balancing
blockage in rad