Rearranging Heating In Living Room.

[Stuart B]

I live in a tenement flat with other flats above ,below and on two sides . The living room is 3.7m x 5.5 m and 3.3 m (High) and the present heating arrangements are two rads ,one ( RAD1) on the wall opposite the windows and one (RAD2) on the wall to one side of the windows .There is also a gas fire on the other side wall. The rads are 600 x 1200 mm . Having the fire stops me using this wall for siting furniture against it and the rad on the wall opposite the window stops me doing the same there . What i was thinking of doing was either remove the fire and move this last rad to the other end of the wall that already has a rad on it (Shown As RAD3) . The alternative is to still shift the rad but keep the fire where it is . I find that using the rads without using the fire is OK.though. Here is a rough sketch of the layout

thoughts .

Stuart

[Martin Pentreath]

layout

> Any thoughts .

Another idea for your consideration: does the window go all the way to the floor? If not you could put a long low rad under the window, which I guess is a wall that is already out of bounds for furniture. This has the added advantage of avoiding cold spots near the window.

[Stuart B]

layout

>>> Any thoughts .

I did actually consider that .The windows stop about 2 feet from the floor ...The only problems are that obviously it means more floorboard lifting ,altho' that is not an insurmountable problem but also the curtains are full length as that suits this type of flat with the high ceilings ..

[Jim Alexander]

From one I did earlier I reckon you need about 2600W assuming limited losses to neighbouring occupied properties. That's a 2000x400 double panel rad under the window or a 1300x700 double panel rad at Rad2. Curtains v. good design is up to you, well maybe not entirely. IMHO the other rad positions just result in an unpleasant temperature gradient across the room.

Jim A

[Stuart B]

So are you suggesting just using the ONE rad in either of the 2 positions and no fire ? Stuart

[Jim Alexander]

Yes, and preferably under the window. You need to do your own checks regarding required output. A request here or a Google search will pull up some radiator sizing programs.

Didn't include the fire in the heat output. It's your choice to keep or not but most developers would keep a fireplace in a living room as a feature or source or radiant heat or both.

Jim A

[Stuart B]

Thx Jim . My thinking behind getting shot of the fire is to give me more wall room as it sits bang in the middle of one long wall and it causes problems with siting couches etc . That's also why I want to move Rad

1

[fred]

In article , Stuart B writes

dimensions. I have 1 x 1200x450 p+ at your rad 2 posn and another the same size diagonally opposite in the corner on the same wall as the fire. The loss from the window is compensated for by a small (1000x300) single convector in the middle under the windows.

I think these large tenement rooms do need multiple sources of heat and the diagonal split is probably the best for circulation but your rad 2 + rad 3 setup would be a close second. The wall close to the walk-in cupboard is be dead space anyway so placing a rad there would be 'cheap'. The small rad under the window improves the comfort level close to the windows and the low set TRV there stops it becoming superheated behind the curtains when they are drawn. I wouldn't be a fan of putting a main heat source directly under the windows.

My preference is not to have rads right by the door as I think it makes them more obtrusive and you probably want those rads to heat the room rather than the hall.

My fire hasn't been on since I installed the heating.

Good luck.

[Stuart B]

Thx Fred. That's given me more things to consider .My reason for moving the RAD1 ia that a 2 seater couch I have fits that space exactly but no good when the Rad is still there . Similarly my reason for moving the fire is to free up that wall as well