Beware: When being shown around a German eco kit-house building firm we were shown their meeting room with a heated wall. They said it had two problems: I think one was that the heating and cooling meant there was a lot of cracking where the wall met the ceiling and floor. The other was definitely that you couldn't put a nail or a screw in!
=================================== The link (heated wall):
Yeah, kitchen-diner and there really is very little wall-space - no more than 60cm which also has to accomodate a light switch. So the 30cm rad-on-end would be ideal and would fill the otherwise useless bit of wall.
I looked at towel rads but they don't go that thin or as tall as the 300 x 1400 standard rad at Screwfix.
I searched the group re: kickspace heaters but several people said they were noisy and/or inefficient.
I considered the ordinary short rads linked via chrome pipe but I'd need three above each other to get the BTUs which I think could start to look a little odd.
There's no stud partition for a heated wall so that option is out.
Thanks - Cic and AG - for the info on the twin entry valves and the 1.5 panel rads.
I'm surprised that you can't just get a tall, narrow, plain rad from one of the main suppliers - it would be the economic, discreet, low-tech solution . I'm sure I remember seeing them in the Wickes booklet many years ago, and being short of wall space doesn't seem like an entirly uncommon problem.
No it isn't.
Yes, that's a radiator cover, not a chimney.
cheers, Pete.
Yes it is. The result will be the same.
There will be a substantial reduction in output from a radiator arrangement that is already less than optimal. This is not a useful idea for this application.
Last time I looked a rad cover had lots of small holes all over and a shelf on top, and a chimney just a hole at top and bottom.
If you think they're the same, then I'm happy to agree to disagree on this one :)
cheers, Pete.
There would be some differential expansion, this is addressed by using silicone as caulk around the edges. Bear in mind youre looking at an external surface temp of just 25-30C
The nail and screw question is solved by hanging the pipes on wire or string, leaving them free to move out the way as a screw comes through.
Thanks to Cicero for the link, google didnt retrieve it earlier.
AFAIK no-one here has tried the proposed wall, me included, but the potential issues appear to have been addressed, so its something I'd certainly try out if the need comes up.
NT
They are not inefficient if you get the right model. Also the Smiths model is rated better.
I would go with a plinth a heater Kicksace or Smiths.
================================== But they are expensive and for the same cost the OP could get a basic wet 'designer' radiator. Expense is the main reason he is looking for an alternative solution.
Cic.
He has little space, and will the radiator be man enough to heat the place. I would go for a plinth heater. Well worth it.
We have the same problem. We also found that the tall thin rads are all 'designer' rads with tiny heat outputs and huge price tags. We worked out that running an equivanlent electric heater would be cheaper (even over 10 years) than buying a designer rad.
have you considered mounting a series of small conventional rads one above the other?
Robert
Doesn't a plinth heater have the effect of heating the contents of the cupboard above it?
Not if it has a zone valve controlling it. Then if piped up right, only the plinth heater can be on and the rest of the house off. The kitchen will be a CH zone in itself. They can also have wall stats to sense the room temperature far better reducing heating bills and improving comfort conditions. They also blow heat at foot level across the floor, which is superb on cold mornings. The are only noisy on the full fan speeds.
If no zone valve, a thin sheet of insulation under the cupboard will prevent much of the heat, heating above.
I might just have got it. Why not make a rad from pipes like the first rads were done? They had a row of many vertical pipes, plumbed together along the top to the outlet at one end, and plumbed together along the bottom to the inlet pipe. Simple, characterful, and dust gathering, but a duster should clean it up pretty quickly.
NT
In message , snipped-for-privacy@care2.com writes
And you could probably get it chrome plated or epoxy/powder coated for not a lot of money if you wanted to.
My mate had a strange arrangement of vertical runs of chrome plated copper pipe in the tiny gap in his kitchen wall as a "home made" radiator fitted by the previous owners. Looked like some of the modern designer radiators you can get nowadays. Worked well, but kitchen was very small. I think is was just 6 vertical runs of pipe in one long loop.
When kitchen was extended and redone it was replaced with kick space radiators..
I had considered this... and what stopped me was the thought of the monster I might inadvertantly create...
What has any of that got to do with heat escaping into the cupboard above?
That's better. You see, you can do it when you try.
MBQ
Why not use two normal rads, one in front of the other? You'll need to make some kind of brackets for the front one.
MBQ
...or have them haging from the ceiling with mod-art all over them.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required