Radiator Location

slave1

Hi,

Am looking at buying a recently built house.

It's circa 2400 sq feet and a lot of the rads - bedrooms - are located on the inside walls whereas I'm used to seeing them under windows.

Virtually all the rads are double and are fed by Grant 60/90

Any thoughts on how this would impact room heating?

Cheers

Dr. Dre

I'm no expert by any means, but I would have thought that rads under windows was a considerable waste of energy ?

Interesting, I always wondered this very point myself.

Borzoi

Theoretically the heat loss from the window will be same, wherever the radiator is located, however the window is still the place where the largest heat loss happens. So the reason for placing radiators underneath windows is to prevent convection currents (draughts to you and me) from the rad to the window.

This is probably less of a factor in modern houses with double glazing and good airtight windows - and bedrooms even less so as the curtains will be closed over most of the time you're in the room - further cutting the possibilities of draughts.

Lex Luthor

Sometimes I wish some of the rads in my place were not under the windows, but c'est la vie. Too much hassle now to get them moved.

How many rads in total in that house. I'm guessing a house that size, you've got to have at least 17-18. That Grant 60/90 is gonna be running at full power to keep you warm.

I've got one of those 60/90's and had a few problems over the years.

Bearing replaced, pump replaced, leak in the filter fitting, braided hose leak, the list was endless. Needless to say I've had the burner apart several times so I'd nearly fix all the problems myself now and do all the servicing myself. Is it indoor or outdoor? Mine is indoor.

When the bearing went, I went to Heat Merchants to get a replacement, and they wanted to charge me for a full burner (€250). I went to SKF off the Naas rd, and bought 2 bearings (identical) for €5.

slave1

"How many rads in total in that house. I'm guessing a house that size, you've got to have at least 17-18. That Grant 60/90 is gonna be running at full power to keep you warm."

Dunno being honest, you don't pay that much attention when viewing, I'd say no more that your est.

I have a 60/90 running 13 at the minute, no probs whatsoever, smaller house though and older. Have seen Grant boilers everywhere and no bad news.

I do think its a 60/90 as it looks identical to my own, maybe the 90/120 are the same size?

If the worst come to the worst I could always just replace it with a 90/120, only time can tell.....

Lex Luthor

Most of my problems happened in the first 4 years and that's the time I was getting some local cowboy in to do the annual service. Since then, I've been doing it myself and replacing the components myself on a regular basis and have little trouble.

Not sure if the 60/90 will be up to keeping your new house up to temp. Only time will tell. You might have to jack the pump pressure up to max and fit a slightly bigger nozzle to bring it up to the 90kbtu. If you need the pump pressure settings & nozzle size for that output, gimme a holler.

For parts see http://www.boilercare.ie/

Victor

Builder's seem to be placing them centrally to cut down on pipework. Any comment pipers?

Put a rad under a window is slightly less efficient heat wise, but gives a more balanced temperature through the room.

pipers

I wouldn’t get to concerned regarding the radiator locations; ideally they should be located on outside walls, but as victor said, they are located back to back (centrally)to cut down on installation costs.

What I would look for is that the heating system is zoned, (i.e. different circuits) and has decent controls fitted. This will greatly increase energy efficiency and economy.

Regarding adjustments to an oil burner: do not increase the burner pressure, if it’s increased more than the recommended settings (there are 2, one for diesel and one for kerosene) it will destroy the baffles within the boiler, and drastically increase oil consumption.

Do not pay attention to the amount of radiators a boiler can handle, it’s the amount of heat required, that is the point. Some houses may have 13 small rads; others may have 8 big rads, with both houses requiring similar heat outputs. Also allow an additional 20% for hot water requirements.

Regarding burners, look for a Reillo, everything else is trouble.

Regarding boilers, a cast iron boiler will last forever, where a steel one can rot in less than 10 years.