Fan assisted heater on central heating

[Colin Docherty]

Hi Folks,

I have terrible trouble heating my sitting room, a combination of not enough radiators and a open stair case.

The trouble is that I don't want to whack in a monster conventional radiator which would take up all the room.

So I've seen these fan assisted convector radiators which I imagine work a bit like the heater in the car, and they seem to be quite small for their output.

Can anyone recommend these? Any particular brand? Anything I should look out for? Any difficulty to install? Do they really work?

I was also hoping that buying one of these might mean that the return pipe might be a lot cooler on my central heating, and thus get better use out of the condensing boiler I'm planning on getting installed.

cheers! Colin.

[Tim S]

I've been looking at the Myson range. Seem OK on paper. People here have said they do run quiet as long as you size them so you don't need to run the fan in boost mode.

Plumbing is just a case of drop in place of the radiator, provided that the pipes are capable of providing enough hot water (pertinent if you're putting a device with higher output in place of the current rad).

You will need a mains supply via a room thermostat in all likelihood (certainly the "Kickspace" models don't have a thermostat built in).

HTH

Tim

[Christian McArdle]

Yes, I have one and shall be buying another when I get round to it.

Myson. Products are Kickspace, Hiline and Loline.

For best results, they should be run off their own 2 port zone valve and thermostat. This can be integrated into your heating system as an additional heating zone (which may be a lot of work, or little, depending on your system), or you can just connect it in series as if it was a TRV, which will work, but not be as flexible. You will also need a balancing valve.

Yes.

To reduce the return temp, ensure that you balance the system properly. It will respond to this just like a conventional radiator. If you want to plan for condensing (say at 70/50) read the 40C temp differential line on the charts and size accordingly. There's no harm in oversizing, if it suits.

Now the bad news.

They are pretty noisy. I'm happy to have them in the kitchen (as an undercupboard kickspace) or in the conservatory (an over french doors hiline). I probably wouldn't choose one in a lounge, where I might want to watch a film with quiet sections, or engage in quiet conversation.

Christian.

[Doctor Evil]

You can use one in a lounge as a booster to get the temp up quick then the rads maintain the temperature. A two stage thermostat (a controller can be used. When cold both stages are on (stage 1 is rads and stage 2 is the Myson). When room temp nears the setpoint, the 2nd stage cuts out.. When up to temp the 1st stage cuts out too.

Try looking at designer rads. Like the tall car spring looking ones. Not cheap but effective and a talking point.

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[The Natural Philosopher]

No. That won;t happenm

I have some shiths fan convectors, and although they are rated at 1.5KW i'd say in normal use with normal circulation temps its nearer 1kW.

They won;t come ON till the internal stats detect water over 60C. So kiss low return temps goodbye...best answer to that is have a towel rail somewhere in the arse end of the scircuit, but try and get teh fan heaters ion teh hott side of things.

They are a little noisy - especially through structure borne vibration - I have wooden stud walls.

They are better than radiators at spreading the heat uniformly, but nowhere near as good as UFH.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I'd sday that is the killer, yes. Mine at about 2ft square would probably do 700W or so per unit in non boost mode.

Not sure about the mnysons, but mine were internally mounted in the walls and needed balancing valves added. NOT a straight swap by any means.

Neither do mine. I used external room stats on each one. (one per room)

[Tim S]

Yeah - The biggest Myson Kickspace claims 1.6kW in non boost mode. I suspect that assumes lots of unrealistic conditions. I worked out a pair of the biggest units would struggle to replace a pair of 1.5m long double panel finned rads - but the room in question also contains a gas fire, so I can afford some error.

OK - that's a fair point. Two valves on the ends of the fixed pipework would be useful as a means of isolation anyway (particularly if using the Myson supplied flexible pipes).

Tim

[Newshound]

I have the smiths kickspace in the kitchen which I find a bit too noisy even on low. However I used to have a myson wall mounted in another house, and that was both quiet and powerful.

[Doctor Evil]

You can have the cold feed on the DHW run through a plate heat exchanger. The plate is on the return to the boiler. It will then pre-heat DHW from heat returning to the boiler, and lower the boiler return temp promoting efficiency.

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[Christian McArdle]

Odd. My Myson Kickspace feels well over the specified output. It gets the kitchen feeling warm in minutes. Far quicker than a radiator of equivalent output, due to the forced convection flow.

As for the noise, although the Kickspace is a little noisy, I haven't actually installed my intended hiline yet. It is definitely possible that the hiline and loline are quieter, as they have room for larger, quieter fans.

Christian.

[Ian Middleton]

Other way of doing it, I have done, is place a curtain around the open stair case in the room. Might looks naff ie choose something nice, I just chose thick and cheap, but left the lounge in my case much much warmer as the heat stayed in the lounge rather than rising upstairs. Also virtually killed all the condensation problems I was suffering upstairs due to warm air rising into a cool bathroom.

[Doctor Evil]

Seal up the bathroom door.

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