I plan to put central heating into my garage/workshop, and I would lik
to know where I can get a couple of low radiators from. I could do wit as big as poss BTU wise but I don't want my car doors banging off them so long and low (under car door height) would be ideal. I intend to ru them off a combi boiler so I have hot water as well. Any Ideas?
Cheers Al
-- Gareth Jones
Sounds like you need to use skirting radiators - which are long pipes with multiple fins, which fit inside slightly over-sized hollow skirting boards. Google for "skirting radiator".
I've done this exercise.
Unless the garage is well insulated, which means pretty much to modern house standards, it is unlikely that skirting radiators will have enough output (it is measured in kW) to warm the space usefully.
I used 50mm Celotex on roof and walls (clad in ply on the walls) and equivalent insulation for the door. I didn't bother with the floor because it turned out that the heat loss through that route was comparatively small - a few hundred watts in comparison to about
12-15kW for the rest of the structure. It was important to reduce draughts as well.This takes it to the point of the equivalent insulation standard of a house prior to the most recent energy saving levels.
With all of that, and to maintain a temperature of 18 degrees inside, skirting heating would have just about worked. However, there's a problem in that all of the wall space would have been used. Keep in mind that these are convection heat emitters, and in order for them to work, there must be good airflow. If I then wanted to put cupboards in front, I would have lost 100mm plus of depth and not be able to have benches back to the wall unless they had grilles in the top back.
Another good option would have been to use fan convectors such as Myson. These kick out a lot of heat quickly and from a compact unit. However, they stir the air considerably and that is not something I want to be happening in a woodworking environment. I am using a fine filter fan to clean out fine dust as it is.
Therefore, the compromise I went for was to put conventional twin panel finned radiators on the side walls. This still leaves me with plenty of unencumbered wall space and is oversized anyway. Therefore even if I were to restrict airflow by having a bench above it wouldn't matter.
Of course, that doesn't meet the OP's initial requirement of something low. I wouldn't dream of using a garage for a car - it seems such a waste. They belong outside and get cleaned on St. Swyddin's day.
Nonetheless, If there is not likely to be a dust issue, then I reckon that the fan convector idea would be the best with the units mounted high. They also heat the place very quickly. In a previous house, I had a rather cold stairwell with two external walls. One of these at the bottom addressed that issue very effectively.
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