Towel Radiator with Microbore

[Charles Middleton]

All,

Im thinking about installing a towel radiator in my bathroom. However, my central heating is Microbore and Im not sure what sort of fittings I need to connect the radiator to the central heating system.

Ive created a diagram to try and explain how it fits together....

side view is meant to show how far the pipes come away from the wall.

The front view is reasonable self explanatory I hope. The current radiator fits in between the 570mm span.

Will it be possible to install some sort of valves that go upwards instead of inwards (towards the radiator) like the current ones do and then perhaps put a reducer on that to make it into the correct size (15mm??) to feed the radiator?

The microbore is embedded in the wall of the bathroom so I don't have much flexibility to move it around. I've had a quick look on screwfix etc and I can see radiators advertised that are for example 600mm in width. I presume that that measurement is the total width of the item and not the width between the two pipes that would feed it?

If anyone can give me a quick and simple overview of what I would need to do fit the radiator Id be very very grateful.

Thanks in advance,

CM.

[Cicero]

===================== You can use 'inline valves' as recommended by Screwfix in the description of the towel radiators. Also look for 'reducer' (in

which will point you to either 15 * 10 or 15 * 8 reducers. You will have to check the size of your microbore pipe (either 8mm or 10mm) to decide which reducer you need. Of course it would be more sensible to buy a couple of reducers from your local plumbers' merchants rather than buy the pack from Screwfix unless you need them for other jobs.

I'm pretty sure that 600mm is the size of the radiator but you'll always need a bit of extra space for fitting the pipework and you should be able to extend your existing pipework if necessary using a 'straight coupler' - also from your local supplier.

Cic.

[Andy Hall]

Yes you can.

If the towel rail has tappings in the bottom, one way is to use straight through radiator valves fitted vertically if the pipes are as you've drawn them.

Otherwise you will have to do some adjustment of the pipework.

You will need to buy some soft copper microbore tube of appropriate diameter (a plumber's merchant may let you have a short length) and some fittings and possibly a pipe bender. You will need a small microbore pipe cutter.

Pipe benders for microbore are a hand held tool available for a bout a tenner. If you have enough space to make bends this way, the job should be neater and the flow better. However, you can get bends for microbore with a fairly gentle bend which are not too bad. Given the tight space of the pipe against the wall, you may have to use bends.

To connect on, cut the pipe on the horizontal portion if you need to add a piece. Don't try to unbend the pipe - it will have hardened with time and will likely simply crease.

For the valves, you may be able to get microbore ones. Otherwise there are reducers which have a microbore female end and a 15mm male tail. You attach the reducer to the pipe and then it will insert into the valve as though it has 15mm tube. There are also reducing ring sets which fit into the valve. However, unless you are really careful and also assemble in the right order (not obvious) they are a PITA.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Charles Middleton]

Thanks Andy/Cicero for your help on that one - looks like next weekends project is a towel radiator then!

One more question - will there be any problems with connecting the radiator to my system?

Are there any differences with using the Towel Rad. with microbore over 15mm plumbing?

CM.

[Andy Hall]

It should be OK unless you have a very high output one (although I have never seen a towel radiator with high output).

As a rule of thumb, with 8mm tube over typical lengths in a house of say 4-5m from the manifold or other connection to the main flow and return, you can get about 1.5kW worth of water flow. With 10mm, it's about 2.5kW.

So unless you have really long runs, you should be OK. You may have to play with the lockshield valve.

Don't forget the inhibitor :-)

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl