Fitting a radiator in a narrow space

[Steve]

Hi. I want to fit a 400mm wide radiator onto a 470mm wide wall. The problem is that there will be no room for the extra width of the tails and valves at the sides.

I've found a couple of radiators that do pipe entry from underneath (Ultraheat Compact 6 and Vogel and Noot Vonoplan) but these are very expensive. (And the Vonoplan themostat sticks out sideways.)

I could get a towel radiator which would fit but the heat output would be too small.

I thought I might be able to find sompact elbows/tails so that I could run the pipes vertically with the valves positioned horizontally and under the body of the radiator. But I haven't been able to find anything suitable.

Any ideas anyone? (By the way I don't want to mount a 300mm high rad' sideways!).

[Roger Mills]

Tails for compression type valves are simply short 15mm pipes with a 1/2" BSP thread on the end to screw into the rad. I see no reason why you couldn't use 1/2" male iron to 15mm compression elbows [1] - which would bring the pipes down vertically very close to the ends of the rad. You could then use another pair of elbows to take the pipes under the rads - where you could fit either in-line or right-angled compression type valves, depending on where you want the pipes to emerge.

[1] OK, tails have a tapered thread, whereas elbows usually have parallel threads and a flange - but it's still perfectly do-able.

[auctions]

The connections on radiators are just 3/4 inch BSP, so you could fit an elbow like

in, giving you a compression fitting going down. Fit a reducing olive set then a short bit of pipe, and you can mount the valve onto that (needs to be a compression valve like Neater if you find all the bits in chrome.

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[Andrew Gabriel]

I used a number of Ultraheat Compact 6 rads when I did my heating, and they weren't expensive. If you are anywhere near Dunstable Beds, I bought them from Dunstable Plumbing Merchants Ltd,

137 High Street North, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU6 1JN 01582 668893 (I doubt they do mail order -- it's a two man band at a trade counter.)

Can you get any extra space by having all pipework on one side (inlet top, outlet bottom)? Need to think how to handle bleeding though.

[Steve]

Thanks for the replies chaps. Ill probably go for

unless I can find one that is chrome and/or is 15mm, rather than 22mm.

I'll also consider doing both pipes on the same side (top and bottom connections). That may be possible if I can retain enough space for bleeding.

(FWIW, the price of a 600mm x 400mm Planal 6 (which would remove the problem as connections are undereath) is£129 (from

which is the only place I've seen them for sale). This seems a bit too much for me.

Thanks again.

Steve

[Roger Mills]

You do *not* want that one - you need this one instead:

will screw into your radiator and enable a 15mm pipe to be connected.

Unless your radiators are very unusual they will have 1/2"BSP *not* 3/4"BSP threads. [The person who suggested otherwise is probably getting confused due to the fact that the OD of a 1/2"BSP thread is approx. 3/4" - (1/2" is the nominal *bore*)].

[Peter Watson]

Does it have to be 400mm wide? Any height restrictions? What power output are you after?

[Steve]

which will screw into your radiator and enable a 15mm pipe to be

Thanks Roger. Thats great.

[Steve]

>>Thanks Peter. Well done - I coudn't find any that narrow. They may do the job, though I was thinking about 400mm x 900mm, ones which have a much higher output. .CheersI'll give it some careful thought thought!

[auctions]

d.

Not confused, just had a momentary brain failure - they are 1/2" indeed. :)

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