Radiator Requirement for Open Lounge/Kitchen

[sush83]

Hi, We are currently in the process of renovating and are creating a large open lounge space which will have our kitchen, dining area and lounge area. We are having some trouble with location and radiators and hoping you can help here.

One wall is taken up with the kitchen units, another wall for the sliding glass doors onto garden and a third wall that has the room doors and tv.

This leaves us with just one wall for heating. I am hoping this will be ok as this is the wall where the sofas, etc will be positioned. and I guess generally kitchens do not require much heating.

The room dimensions are 6mx7mx2.5m, we are thinking of installing the following radiators

- Standard double convector/panel radiator - 2400mmx500mm at the front lounge area (right wall) - 16626 BTU

- Tall vertical designer radiator - 445mmx1800mm - 6913 BTU (right wall) next to glass doors

Both are marked as the green items on the right wall on the attached floor plan.

Worth also mentioning that the garden is north west facing and the left wall is an outside wall. Also, we will have 2 x 1500x1500mm velux roof lights in the ceiling of the extension.

Taking all that into account, is this enough BTU output to heat a room of this size, layout and will the warmth still distribute evenly across the room?

Appreciate any help, this has got us really confused about what to do.

PS - underfloor heating isnt an option. thanks.

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[Muddymike]

We have a wet kick space heater under one of our kitchen units and it works well in two ways. Not only can we boost the temperature in the kitchen at the flick of a switch but as the heater itself gets hot whenever the central heating is running it makes the cupboard above quite warm, nicely warming the plates we store in it!

Mike

[David.WE.Roberts]

Haven't looked at the pictures, but we have an open plan rear to the house which is roughly 5.6m * 5.2m plus two areas off - one a galley kitchen and the other a 'lobby' area by the hall door.

We have about 4.7m of bifold doors to the South, and three Velux windows in the roof.

One complete wall is kitchen units - first part is the kitchen and second part is the dining area - running from the centre of the house to the bifolds along the outside wall.

So we had a similar challenge - where to site radiators.

We put two wet plinth heaters in the run of kitchen units - one in the galley kitchen and the other in the dining area by the bifolds - plus a radiator on the opposite (party) wall.

Radiator is 1300 * 800 twin with TRV.

The plinth heaters (can't remember the size) are linked to a wall thermostat.

This works well for us and heats the room easily.

We opted for the plinth heaters because we weren't confident about evenly heating such a big area using just one wall.

The plinth heater in the living area seems to heat up the room quickly.

The plinth heaters are on a room thermostat because we also have a wood burning stove so when that is in we don't need any additional heating - the stove is sized to heat the whole room when going full blast.

Hope this helps.

Dave R

[The Other Mike]

Probably

Probably not

Brick the glass doors up or move the sofa and telly

Partition off the kitchen

[sush83]

Many thanks to you both I had not considered plinth heaters, in fact I have never really heard of them.

Dave - it certainly seems like we have a very similar layout (glad to know we are not alone).

We are struggling with the same issue as we're sure the right side of the room will have enough heating, but concerned about the kitchen side (left).

Are the plinth heather something that can be put in later, or do they really need to go in at the time of kitchen install, etc?

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[David.WE.Roberts]

Wet plinth heaters are plumbed into the central heating just like any other radiator - so you will need to bring the feed and return for the central heating into the area under the kitchen units.

This is much easier to do before the kitchen units have been installed; it may be very difficult after the units are installed depending on where your central heating pipes run.

As long as there is a feed and return accessible under the units then you can fit the plinth heaters later.

Oh, you will need power, as these are fan heaters which blow air over a central heating radiator core - much like a heater in a car.

It is advisable to link to a thermostat somewhere on the wall to get fine control of your heating. Otherwise you are constantly having to manually switch them on and off. Again, getting this installed before you fit the kitchen units (or even plaster and tile) is a great deal easier.

Our thermostat is on the wall above the work surface.

Cheers

Dave R