Supporting a towel radiator

[Steve]

Hi. I've bought a fairly big (400mm x 1500mm) towel radiator, which will be water filled (attached to CH), so quite heavy.

There are 4 supports which came with it. I think they are standard towel radiator supports. They include 4 tubes. Each tube is completely open at one end and closed at the other end. The closed end is drilled with a hole for a screw to pass through, so the tube is screwed end-on to the wall. (That doesn't sound clear, but if you've used them, you'll know what I mean!). The radiator is attached to the tubes with some other bits

My wall is fairly sound - plaster over brick - but my concern is the leverage on the tubes. It will tend to bend the tubes downwards as the relatively soft plaster will be crushed by the leverage. If I were putting these on tiles, I think the hardness would provide sufficient support, but I'm not.

Has anyone used this system and found problems? Or am I worrying over nothing? Do I need additional support for the tubes (e.g. metal plate on the wall surface for the tube to press against)?

Cheers

[The Medway Handyman]

If the fixing is sound you won't have a problem. Use large plugs 7mm/8mm drill size and No;10 screws protruding 50mm ish past the fixing.

Be easier to pull a sailor off your sister...

[Roger Mills]

Going off at a tangent slightly . . .

Anyone know whether you can get 7.5mm SDS bits? [I've got some plastic plugs which won't comfortably go into a 7mm hole, but are like a prick in a shirt-sleeve - and turn with the screw - in an 8mm hole.]

[Steve]

Thanks Dave. I presume you mean the screw should be 50mm into the wall (it can't protrude outwards from the wall as it has to be fully screwed in). I can see this will definitely be difficult to pull out, but if the plaster is soft, won't the tube tend to tilt, pivotting on the head of the screw, and be pulled so the underside of the face in contact with wall sinks the plaster?

(I think my sister might repel boarders and prevent any protruding in the first place.)

[Steve]

You could use a 7mm bit and 'wiggle' it around a bit to slightly enlarge the hole. Also I've found debris can prevent plugs going in cleanly, so I usually vacuum clean the hole after drilling. Or you could replace your plastic plugs. Cheers Steve

[John Rumm]

Yup, I know the things - effectively a capped tube with a screw slot in the cap.

You are worrying about nothing. If you think how the tube works, it typically slides into a sleeve that is fixed to the rad - usually using an arrangement that locks the sleeve between two rungs of the ladder rail. Once these slide over the tube, the loading on the tube is all in shear since the sleeve fixed to the rad prevents the tube from rotating.

Nope since there is no rotational moment on the sleeve - mostly shear on all four, with some tension on the top ones and compression on the lower ones.

[The Medway Handyman]

Yes.

The fixing will be into the brick, not the plaster. I dont see that it will tilt.

[Steve]

.Thanks for replies chaps. Very helpful. I'll go ahead.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Or, to get a smaller cleaner 8mm hole, drill a 6mm one first, and then widen it out using 7mm and 8mm bits without hammer action.

I have a 5.5mm SDS, but I suspect that above that, any .5's are generally lost in the inaccuracy of the hole, resulting from the way a hammer drill (most particularly SDS) works.

[JimK]

IME with a large towel rad on a stud wall - I had to remove squares of plasterboard where the fittings went (on a stud) and replace with squares of timber to prevent the fixings tilting and digging into the plasterboard and the rad dropping a bit as the fittings tilted. This was happening before it had any water in it!!

I believe the rad is too big for the 3 fittings supplied, plus they are all in the middle of it vertically above one another - so it tends to want to waggle a bit too!! It's currently off whilst i sort the rest of the bathroom out but when it goes back on I'll be after some additional fixings to secure it better - can you buy better fixings to attach tubular towel rads to stud walls? any pointers/thoughts most welcome

cheers JimK