I have a tall 'designer' style radiator in my bathroom which has never worked satisfactorily. In investigating this I have found that the design which is a hollow tube at the top and bottom which are connected by 8 fins can never have worked as the tubes at top and bottom are straight thru' ie with the valves removed I can see straight through. Therefore the water passes through the bottom tube without circulating through the fins, hence the rad just gets a bit warm through conduction. Both top and bottom tubes are straight thru.
It would seem to me the bottom tube (this has the valves) should be blocked half way along so the water is forced up the left 4 fins and down the right 4 fins.
The supplier (a bathroom showroom) have said they'll need to talk to their tech guys but my question is : would a radiator normally have to have some sort of baffle or shield to force the flow of water around the rad ? It strikes me the rad is perfect for horizontal orientation but would cannot possibly work vertically.
Has anyone else heard of this ? I'm hopeful the supplier will come good but wanted to be a bit better informed in case of any 'discussions' with the supplier !
thanks