Swopping two single rads for a double?

joejoem · 11-07-2006 10:27am #1

I am having trouble in the bedroom (chortle), I have a 7'6" bed which takes up a fair chunk of the room. If I remove one of the two single rads in the room, it will fit in nicely and leave good room for the wardrobe and bedside table along side it. My question is, will I get as much heat from a double rad as I will from two singles?

delly · 11-07-2006 10:42am

Its possible, but it comes down to the BTU rating in the end. If you know the manufactuerer, you should be able to find data on there website relating to the BTU of a particuler model. This is a simple measure of how many heat units the radiator will produce, therefore you can match up to get the right level.

joejoem · 11-07-2006 11:27am

Right, more complicated than I thought. I was going to go buy one second hand and paint it. Would you (or anyone) know what price I can expect to pay, and what I should look out for?

The room is about 5 m x 3m(at its widest)

Thanks

delly · 11-07-2006 11:47am

Go to Heat merchants website and do a search for radiators to get a list of rads and prices. The type I used was Myson and they have a really good site where you can download pdf files of all the rads with sizes and btu's.

If you are doubling up on an existing rad, then the width should be the same, but the pipes will have to be bent forward a bit. Anything wider is going to take a bit of work and will look a bit crazy imho.

11-07-2006 12:13pm

A double radiator is not twice the heat output of a single radiator with the same dimension.
If you have a 36 double radiator the single equivelant would be a 55-60 or so.

There is high output radiators available ,which are mostly myson ,roll top .
A high output double radiator would have more of a chance of doing what you need.

11-07-2006 12:19pm

joejoem wrote:

Right, more complicated than I thought. I was going to go buy one second hand and paint it. Would you (or anyone) know what price I can expect to pay, and what I should look out for?

The room is about 5 m x 3m(at its widest)

Thanks

Whats most important when sizing a rad is the walls ,how many of the walls are outside walls .How high are the ceilings ?? ,are the walls dry lined ??? ,cavity or solid walls??

I can do a caculation here for you and it will tell you exactly how many btu's you need and then you can pick a radiator.
I also have all the radiator charts for all companies in ireland.

joejoem · 11-07-2006 12:26pm

Whats most important when sizing a rad is the walls ,how many of the walls are outside walls

.

Two

How high are the ceilings ??

about 8 foot

,are the walls dry lined ???

Yes, I would say about 10 years ago though

,cavity or solid walls??

Council built in the 50's so I would assume cavity

I can do a caculation here for you and it will tell you exactly how many btu's you need and then you can pick a radiator.
I also have all the radiator charts for all companies in ireland

Thanks a million!

joejoem · 11-07-2006 4:50pm

Did you have any joy with that Brian?

delly · 11-07-2006 4:54pm

There is a DIY version here http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/templates/content_lookup.jsp?content=/bq_advice/planning_tools/btu_calculator.jsp

joejoem · 11-07-2006 5:04pm

delly wrote:

There is a DIY version here http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/templates/content_lookup.jsp?content=/bq_advice/planning_tools/btu_calculator.jsp

Thanks! So it works out at 6408 BTU per hour. Would this radiator be enough?

11-07-2006 5:45pm

Joe sorry I hadn't got back to you ,my old man has the calculator.
I wouldn't say it would make much difference in a room upstairs if you under or oversize the radiator ,but the B&Q site doesn't ask how many outside walls ,which is ridiculous if you were buying more than one radiator.

You'd be amazed the diference an outside wall makes when sizing radiators.

delly · 12-07-2006 8:51am

What Brian says about it making a difference is true all right, but if you do a quick google you might be able to find a calculator that takes this into account.

As regards that rad, I can't see a btu rating so I have no idead how it will perform.

joejoem · 12-07-2006 9:36am

Thanks,

That Rad I selected has an output of 1990 W @ 60 degrees. To convert that to BTU

Btu = Watt x 3.414

BTU = 1990 x 3.414 = 6794 BTU.

I think this should be enough, but I would really appreciate it if you can get me a calculation Brian.

Thanks

14-07-2006 8:24pm

I'm truly sorry for taking so long ,my dad had the wheel all week and I'm only getting my hands on it.
For a bedroom with two outside walls ,9ft wide by 15ft and with solid walls .
It's working out at 5700 btus ,and with dry lining you could take off I suppose 500.

If the walls are cavaties ,which is highly doubtful its 5000
And if the room had one outside wall and cavity it would be 4000.

Trust me ,if it's a ex council the walls are solid ,very solid to be honest:D
If you are stuck for space ,try and get a roll top High output radiator ,you'll get the heat from less space.

joejoem · 21-07-2006 10:14am

_Brian_ wrote:

I'm truly sorry for taking so long ,my dad had the wheel all week and I'm only getting my hands on it.
For a bedroom with two outside walls ,9ft wide by 15ft and with solid walls .
It's working out at 5700 btus ,and with dry lining you could take off I suppose 500.

If the walls are cavaties ,which is highly doubtful its 5000
And if the room had one outside wall and cavity it would be 4000.

Trust me ,if it's a ex council the walls are solid ,very solid to be honest:D
If you are stuck for space ,try and get a roll top High output radiator ,you'll get the heat from less space.

Thanks for that buddy. i have ordered one with an output of about 6700 btu. I got it of www.rvr.ie which seems to be really affordable!

Thanks again for all your help, the room is really taking shape.

Swopping two single rads for a double?

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