| With ever increasing heating bills and concerns | | | | You determine how many, and what sized, |
| over greenhouse gases and CO2 emissions there | | | | radiators your home should have by comparing |
| has never been a better time to take measures | | | | the heat output of the boiler with the combined |
| towards reducing home energy costs. | | | | heat output of all the radiators (in kilowatts). Once |
| There are of course many measures that you | | | | these figures are known it is then possible to |
| can take that will reduce the amount of fuel | | | | increase the number of radiators in the home to |
| necessary to heat your house and these include, | | | | produce a slight overcapacity on the radiator |
| an efficient modern boiler, lagging around pipes, | | | | side.i.e. Boiler output (Kw) |
| and insulation in roof spaces and cavity walls. | | | | In a house where all of the radiators are |
| Sensible programming of the heating timer | | | | independently controlled by their own thermostat |
| scheduler and a precise thermostat will also result | | | | it is highly likely that there will be times when one |
| in fuel savings, as will lowering all heat settings by | | | | or more of the radiators will "shut off" |
| a degree or two. | | | | automatically. When this is the case it is can be |
| Add some extra radiators | | | | advisable to balance the "boiler versus radiator" |
| Surprisingly, another way to save heating costs is | | | | heat output in such a way that the radiators have |
| to actually increase the number of radiators that | | | | a capacity that is as much as 20% above that of |
| you have in your home. With radiators more | | | | the boiler. (This allows for the fact that there will |
| really can be less - at least in terms of heating | | | | regularly be inactive radiators.) |
| costs and energy usage. | | | | This differential will of course be countered by the |
| Very few people realise that the heat output of | | | | fact that, after a short initial heating phase, one or |
| their boiler is typically far greater than that | | | | more of the radiators may switch itself off and |
| required to heat up their domestic central heating | | | | the circulating hot water will consequently by-pass |
| system and this results in the boiler attempting to | | | | it. |
| re-heat hot water that is returned to it from the | | | | Types and locations of radiators |
| radiators. This is inefficient and costly. | | | | An important factor that will influence the |
| Ideally the total heat output of a home's radiators | | | | efficiency of radiators is where they are placed |
| should be equal to, or slightly greater than, the | | | | within a room. Positioning a radiator near an |
| power output of the boiler. This makes sure that | | | | opening or a door encourages heat loss out of |
| the water that is returned to the boiler, after it | | | | that room. Equally, having a small radiator in a |
| has completed a circulation cycle through the | | | | large room means that the radiator will always be |
| radiator system, has cooled down. In other words | | | | struggling to work beyond its capacity and heat |
| it has efficiently released its heat energy into the | | | | output. This results in high energy usage and an |
| house and not returned it to the energy source. | | | | uncomfortably cool room. |
| How many radiators is enough? | | | | |