Radiator problem

MrBlobby · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:20

My friend lives in a flat where the heating is paid for

hooray !

However, in the winter it gets too cold and the radiator doesn't dish out enough heat, is there any stick on black stuff or something to so she can more heat out of it ??

Anyhoo any suggestions.

St0rmer66 · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:22

Turn up the temperature on the front of the boiler, will mean the water going around it is hotter so it'll obviously give off more heat.

crisbduck · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:25

bleed it?

Windle · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:25

What type of radiator? Old school single panel or modern finned? Reflector sheets don't work as well with newer radiators.

http://radiatorreflector.co.uk/

MrBlobby · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:25

Thanks but the boiler isn't accessibly. She lives in a block of flats and just has a radiator obviously it's full on !

MrBlobby · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:26

Windle said:
What type of radiator? Old school single panel or modern finned? Reflector sheets don't work as well with newer radiators.

http://radiatorreflector.co.uk/

Thanks worth a go, it's a big ugly one.

garak112 · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:40

I have this exact same problem in my flat, its taken a lot of effort to work out how best to warm the place up.

Is the radiator getting hot? Ours were but it didn't seem to have any noticeable effect on the heat levels in the room. What I discovered was that the air in our flat was very damp (lots of condensation on the windows), which makes the air much harder to heat up.

We bought a dehumidifier that dries the air out and made the place warmer.

If the radiators not getting hot then you could try bleeding it, or disconnecting it and flushing the sludge out of it.

arknor · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:41

St0rmer66 said:
Turn up the temperature on the front of the boiler, will mean the water going around it is hotter so it'll obviously give off more heat.

dont most flats have a communal boiler for heating?

Haze · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:42

get an oil filled rad, i got a small one in my bedroom for a bit of extra heat works wonders

LOAM · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:45

If its btu rating is to low for the rum size there's little you can do other than put a bigger rad on

Firestar_3x · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:53

A metal reflective sheet stuck to the wall behind the radiator should help.

clocka · 13 Feb 2012 at 00:13

a few slow 60mm fans attached underneath blowing hot air upwards??

this may, possibly work i think. it may make the room warmer my taking more heat out of the radiator, which the hot water then warms back up, which means the water is colder when it gets back to the boiler so the boiler warms it back up. PS. I'm no thermodynamics expert, I'm completely guessing here! anyone know if this would work?

mattyprice4004 · 13 Feb 2012 at 00:37

clocka said:
a few slow 60mm fans attached underneath blowing hot air upwards??

this may, possibly work i think. it may make the room warmer my taking more heat out of the radiator, which the hot water then warms back up, which means the water is colder when it gets back to the boiler so the boiler warms it back up. PS. I'm no thermodynamics expert, I'm completely guessing here! anyone know if this would work?

Was thinking the same thing, yes it should.

MrBlobby · 13 Feb 2012 at 08:36

clocka said:
a few slow 60mm fans attached underneath blowing hot air upwards??

this may, possibly work i think. it may make the room warmer my taking more heat out of the radiator, which the hot water then warms back up, which means the water is colder when it gets back to the boiler so the boiler warms it back up. PS. I'm no thermodynamics expert, I'm completely guessing here! anyone know if this would work?

Great Idea I didn't think of that one, thanks

MrBlobby · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:10

What would the best way to rig up the fans ? PC PSUs are designed to be in a case hmm.

londonbairn · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:12

you could use an old PSU, short the motherboard 20/24pins to turn it on and run off 12V, or get a 12V DC transformer and wire them up.

Reaper 392 · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:28

rafster said:
you could use an old PSU, short the motherboard 20/24pins to turn it on and run off 12V, or get a 12V DC transformer and wire them up.

or, if you hate electronics, get the cheapest motherboard you can possibly find and plug it in

(yay laziness)

Maccapacca · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:34

You say flat yet refer to radiator as singular, is it a bedsit type?

Is the communal space heated?

Is the flat entrance door draughty?

Use a desk fan on slowest speed blowing cooler air over the radiator.

Tin foil behind the radiator.

Make sure the curtains are tucked behind, it's useless if the heat is just getting cooled by the window.

Is the rad fully hot, is there any air in it?

Wind the valves right up and down a few times to clear any deposits and open them fully.

Apart from that it would be a newer / better / bigger radiator.

mattyfez · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:37

What about the electricity? I used to live in a bedsit with the same issue, but the electric was also inclusive, so I used to turn the oven on and leave the oven door open

Street · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:47

clocka said:
a few slow 60mm fans attached underneath blowing hot air upwards??

this may, possibly work i think. it may make the room warmer my taking more heat out of the radiator, which the hot water then warms back up, which means the water is colder when it gets back to the boiler so the boiler warms it back up. PS. I'm no thermodynamics expert, I'm completely guessing here! anyone know if this would work?

You can buy actual radiator fans that clip on to the top and plug into the mains to circulate the air better!

Radiator Booster!

If the radiator isn't big enough for the room, you might be able to persuade the landlord to swap it out for a larger one. Its a 30 minute job to do and not overly expensive. I did it on a few of my rads in my new house as they were woefully undersized for my house!

Radiator problem

Tea Drinker