Guest Blog: Tom Key

This is the second in our guest blog series.

This week Tom Key from DirectHeatingSupplies gives his recommendations for all you plumbers and heating specialists out there for choosing the right radiator for your customers.

Radical Radiator Efficiency Levels

With heating bills soaring and more awareness being raised about the environmental impact of energy wastage, it is easy to see why more homeowners are placing greater importance on finding an efficient heating solution for their property

Although factors such as insulation and usage obviously pay a big part, ultimately it is the products installed within the property that end up having the biggest impact on the efficiency levels in the property.

So for example, it may be worth recommending that customers who haven’t done so already move to a new condensing boiler model. This can pass a £300 heating bill saving over the homeowner.

Heating controls are also a fantastic way to ensure homeowners are able to control the temperature of their home, ensuring they can reach premium efficiency levels if they so wish. With a decrease of around 1 degree offering savings between 1-3% from an annual heating bill, it is certainly something a lot of property owners are now looking at.

Away from your boiler, the quality of the radiators installed across your home can also play an enormous part in the levels of heating efficiency in the property.

A lot of radiators lose valuable heat energy through the wall that faces the back of the radiator. Stelrad’s new Radical range of radiators looks to combat this. It is able to produce more than 50% more radiant heat than other radiator ranges by pushing it into the room via the front radiator panels rather than losing it to the outside wall.

The Radical range therefore has energy saving built into the very fabric its design. There are 132 radiators in the range in total and they vary depending on:

• Size: heights of 300 – 600mm & widths between 400mm-2000mm,
• Style: K1 and K2 rads both available) and
• Pipework connection: angled and straight H block connections available in both 10mm and 15mm sizes.

All 132 radiators in the Radical series fix up to the central connection located at the bottom of the radiator. This can be beneficial for those installers looking to lay pipework prior to purchasing the radiators (or them being delivered) as it removes the need to know the exact radiator size in advance.

The radiator comes with a Thermostatic Radiator Valve that can be utilised on the left or right side of the radiator, removing the requirement to change the flow of water or return pipework. These TRVs allow the homeowner to dictate how much water can flow into the radiator, allowing them to run the radiator at a level that looks to maintain strong energy efficiency levels.

Your customers will be happy too as the Radical Radiators come with a 10 year manufacturer warranty in the event that they stop working as expected.

Stelrad genuinely believe this is a radical step in the right direction (hence the name) so if you have a customers who is adamant that they want an economical, efficient central heating solution, you may not need to look much further than the latest range of Stelrad radiators.

About the writer: Tom Key works for Direct Heating Supplies, retailers of cheap radiators and new boilers nationwide.

Remember if you’d like to guest blog for us then just drop an email to emma@yourtradebase.com . It can be anything from tips and anecdotes from working with customers to trade regulations you think fellow tradesmen need to know about.

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