INCREASE RADIATOR OUTPUT IN 2 STEPS - EASY!

[@plumberparts]

*GET YOUR RADIATOR FANS HERE* amzn.to/3uhhNHx This is a simple video to help the DIYer...not a qualified plumber. *_VIDS COMING UP:_* Next week we've got the Bosch Thermal Review, then a great video about S-plan systems and 2 port valves on the job (very 'Tomorrow's World') followed by installing a Unvented cylinder on the job, installing a secondary return hot water system, then beginning the series of videos on the bathrooms and downstairs toilet jobs. *_SO SUBSCRIBE!_* 🛠AMAZON TOOL STORE: www.amazon.co.uk/shop/plumberparts 🤗BECOME A PLUMBERPATRON: www.patreon.com/plumberparts 📺VLOG CHANNEL: kzbin.info

[@plumberparts]

Oh yeah and adding a radiator to an existing system video...so many reasons to hit that sub BIATCH!

[@michaelgreenhalgh8825]

would they work upside down, ie high ceiling room to get the heat lower into the room

[@korpa12]

Here’s a tip for you.... when I clean rad’s I use a camalbak water bladder cleaning kit. You can also get cheaper/similar cleaning kit online. Just google water bladder cleaning kits.

[@IJ_uk]

The heat in this room goes up behind the curtains when they are closed.

[@NTSCuser]

The colour of the ceiling is immaterial since heat is infra-red and not visible light. Silver foil will reflect heat back into the room provided it has an insulated backing.

[@gordon861]

The major problem you missed was the fact that the curtains sit directly above the radiator, so a large amount of the warm air will be going between the curtains and the window. So fit a deflector and you will notice a massive difference, at the same time add thicker curtains to help keep the heat in.

[@SCAM-BUSTER.777]

What is the full title of these kits on the package box? Please. Thank you.

[@johnw65uk]

Exactly , I put deflectors on all our outside wall radiators and it improved the heat flow and it was cheap to do, less than £20 for our house.

[@Cannon-Fodder]

You have just said what I was about to say. Good comment.

[@johnf3326]

I made a shelf from woodgrain effect 6" wide chipboard made to slot on to the top of the radiator so the curtains just sit on top. In the daytime it can be simply lifted off. Best place for radiators these days is on an interior wall.

[@Lwhosane]

@@johnw65uk what’s a deflector?

[@FlashPan73]

For cleaning the radiator you can use Christmas tinsel. Tie piece of string to tinsel then the other to an old key, nut etc. Drop it drown, slowly pull the tinsel through and the vacuum up afterwards, or you could even have the vacuum hose running and sat on the floor to pickup the dust bunnies as they are pulled through

[@chrisjones3901]

Brill

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

@@anthonystafford9612 petite?

[@Alexander_l322]

Compressed air can do it too id like to think. Not tried it myself

[@nhlazyarse]

Done pipefitting and plumbing for over 10 years. What I found most the time was the customer was running the heating system running under low pressure and didn't keep it topped up with water. The most efficient way you should be running you boiler is at one and a half bar of pressure or at least a bar. Half the time the heating circuit was not upto pressure and the radiators not full.

[@aftabahmad5733]

I used compressed air to clean the rads. Quick & efficient. Makes a huge difference in heat output.

[@MagicianMan]

Nice video. After vacuuming the radiators (which is free) you did forget that adding a reflective backing behind the radiator is probably the cheapest and easiest method of increasing the heat "into" the room. Foil-faced bubble wrap (as it is often referred to) reduces heating loss from the radiant heat from the rear of the radiator being absorbed into the walls and redirects it back into the room. You can pick up a Roll for around £2.50 per M2 - the roll (typically about £15 should be enough to do the whole of a typical size house). Just cut to size with scissors (better to be slightly under size so you can't see it poking out around the radiators). You will then need to cut some slits in it to allow the whole thing to slide behind the radiators where the radiator mounting brackets are located.

[@johnf3326]

Radiator foil has very minimal effect in my experience, but worth doing as its a cheap mod.

[@johnwatson8192]

Does this actually redirect heat back into the room making it warmer or simply reflect the heat back at the radiator thus keeping the radiator hot and therefore causing the thermostatic radiator valve to close down thus defeating the object?

[@johnf3326]

@@johnwatson8192 the thermostatic valve operates on the room air temperature not the radiator temperature.

[@ge2719]

@@johnwatson8192 it just keeps your system from pointlessly heating up the wall behind the radiator, thus the radiator won't cool down as much and so it will be putting more heat out Into the room.

[@bucklbr4]

I think most (like, 99%) of the heat from a radiator is convective rather than radiative so the silver reflective bit won't make much, if any, difference. If it has good insulation then it will probably be measurably better than the bare wall (perhaps something for James to try and post a vid?). I agree with the people commenting that a more likely better solution is to not place rads under a window, but on an internal wall, and put either heavy curtains or a thermal blind to block the cold air in front of windows.

[@souljacker4570]

I moved into this flat around 4 months ago.. being council and 60 years old I looked down the radiators and asked the previous tenant.. I actually know him and from what I could tell none of them had been cleaned in well over 15 years.. I used a vacuum on blow to clear every radiator and the difference in heat output is absolutely crazy! It went from a cold draughty flat to being a bloody oven.. goes to show what just a little cleaning can do for you!

[@m.i.5381]

Blimy I wish I look like you at 60 years old !

[@wallbags2516]

I've told the missus to put a jumper on. Money saved. Very lucky women my girl.

[@jimmcdonald6465]

Always tell mine to take her's off. Am also lucky!

[@megataurus7779]

I tell mine to jump in the sack and i will warm her up..

[@jimmcdonald6465]

Who said life is easy ...

[@malcolmkeen7756]

She's obviously not working hard enough. :)

[@CurvedSlightly]

That's funny, she always takes it off for me.

[@messier4033]

Great advice. I just used hairdryer on full power to blow out all the build up. Worked great and took seconds. If you had a leaf blower all the better 👍🏻

[@dazzyd1964]

Bought one because of your review and it has REALLY helped spread the heat through our living room, and especially reduced a cold spot by a bay window - thank you 10/10:)

[@markchandler001]

Where did you buy them from and are you still happy with your purchase?

[@judedunlop5295]

I used a piece of thin wood with a bit of rag tied to the end, worked wonders, nice and toasty now. NOTE! Make sure the radiator is cold or the dust will fly around the room 😁

[@turtlezed]

Great product, it's on my radar now. As regards heating your house, a lot of people have timers to turn off their heating overnight and fires itself up again at a preprogrammed time they set.....the problem with that is your wholehousecoils down to a fridge like temperature and it takes longer to put heat back into the structure to get it all back up to temperature, more so in the winter. I've taken to leaving the boiler on the constant setting butcontrolledby the roomstat in the hall but now in the cold winter evenings I turn the stat down to around 15 deg C and go to bed.....when I get up and pass the stat, I turn it back up to 18.5 deg ( our 'sweet spot' temp for the hall) and the house warms back up from the reasonably cool 15 deg night setting back up to 19 Deg or so in a much shorter space of time. I'm usually fast asleep when and if the boiler kicks in to hit 15 Deg in the night. We aren't turning the stat up to 21 ( and higher) anymore to get the house warmer so I think it keeps a less fluctuating temperature in the house and translates to more comfortable rooms, it works for us......

[@neverman3398]

The same thing we do for the hot water.

[@shaneord7527]

For cleaning rads I recommend a dowel (or anything long and thin) and a baby wipe. Put the wipe on top and poke it down through each aperture, shake off bits n repeat. Use a fresh wipe if it gets too manky.

[@TheEulerID]

The way to measure the proportionate change in heat output is (assuming the water flow rate is unchanged) is to measure the change in temperature differential between the input and the output. So, if there was a previous temperature differential of (say) 5C between input and output, and after you install these fans (which should not be called ventilators by the way - they aren't ventilating anything) that doubles to 10C then there will be twice the heat output as the amount of heat loss to the water is proportional to the temperature change (to repeat, for equal flow rates). Any plumbers who claim there is a fixed number of BTUs in a radiator are simply wrong. If there is more airflow (up to a limit), then there will be more BTUs emitted as more heat energy will be transferred to the air (it's why we have fans on car radiators). This is an interesting product. nb. the name radiator itself is a misnomer, whether in cars or on house walls; they are heat exchangers which use convection, and when air is forced through, by forced convection.

[@ncooty]

They also lose energy through radiation, hence "radiator". It's part of the reason many are made with large radiant faces versus fins. I agree that "heat exchangers" would be a better name.

[@danoneill8751]

True about the measurement technique. The 'radiator' name bit, well actually they do also radiate. The proportion of convected heat to radiated heat is high in old fashioned 60-80 degree gas boiler driven systems, so you'd be right for those (95% of uk admittedly!), but for heat pumps where the water is 35-55 (and preferable nearer the former), then actually infrared starts to dominate over convected heat. So yeah, 'convectors' would be a better name at the moment, but they will be radiators again in the future as we all convert. Back to your excellent point about measuring, I did exactly this, but not to measure efficacy (although I did that too), but to determin when fans should be on, I build an entrely custom pair of wooden covers for a a pair of rads (convs?) in a living room whre the owner didn't want the heat pump > lower temps > bigger rads to ruin the elegant look. So snazzy covers it was, however covers were going to take the wattage of the rads from about 2kw each at T30, down to 0.3kw, even with lots of grills. See previous bit about radiation if you don't believe that, sadly there is far less convection at lower temps so the IR needs to get out and heat other bits of the room. So the 'solution' (or massive gamble, hense getting the money up front!) was to try with fans. Used 8 (expensive) 140mm modern 'silent' PC case fans, controlled with an arduino and PWM based on the temp delta on flow and return, if flow > 30 (demand must be on) and delta less than 5 then the fans turn on in a little PID loop to quickly home in on the right speed (later we fixed the speed as at steady state only a very low one needed to get huge air throughput). The guides on the inside of the covers (think big rectangular tube covering the rad with a pretty wooden shelf) worked out well, air in the bottom, directed about 80% through the middle, 20% round the sides, all out the front through wicker grill just under the shelf. At 30% fans (normal speed is about 15% and they are absolutely silent) we went from 1 degree delta (terrible and to be expected with teh covers) to 7 degrees. At 15% we get the 5 degrees needed to get the manufacturers rated 2kw for these rads at T30 (where that is 30 from the abient room at say 20 to 50 in the pipes) The carpentry was pricy as we did these entirely custom, but you could use off the shelf for about 200 with little tweaks with some 3mm ply to direct the air. The fans were £85 per rad, the arduino wa £5 with the powersupply. And software to controll all just point and click, we just connected them to his smart home server with some downloaded config from a website, and configured the smart home home with point and click setup for the loop. Anyway, just wanted to say that these fan setups absolutely are helpful. Oh and yeah, I laghed too at teh 'fixed number of BTUs', what do they think happens on a cold day!? does the boiler not work harder to heat the return to get it back up to the flow, and if so where do they theink that power is going other than to radiators that are putting out that increassd power!?!?

[@chrisuk1287]

Looks good, solid, sensible idea. As someone who is learning about DIY plumbing I love your videos and thanks for taking the time to make them :) Electronics however I do know a little something about, my only comment on that score is these are INCREDIBLY expensive for what you actually get, with a bit of knowledge you could home make a very similar unity for maybe 10 to 15 quid at most, they are basically 3 small "silent" fans in a housing with a few magnets and a temp sensor, probably an enjoyable project for a DIYer to try to be honest. Thanks again James great idea nicked :)

[@corazondevagabont86]

*Install was easy **fireplace.homes** good although I personally had some difficulty with the thermostat I had. Issue was mine though, not realizing that electric heaters couldn't use oil thermostats. Tip: If you are using an external thermostat, run the power to the thermostat, not the unit. Once that was squared away it worked great.*

[@acidlumin]

It doesn’t look nice but in old student places I used to put a sheet of cardboard behind the radiator but in front of the curtains, so that the heat came out in front of the curtains rather than behind them. Made a huge difference.

[@anthonylawrence60]

ive been doing this for 30 years with an old fan heater [with its heating element disconected ] positioned un der the radiator .It works a treat

[@mikejoseph425]

In my home office I have a radiator in a bay which is now at the back of draws and cupboards. I had a slot and grill fitted above the radiator in the worktop and the room was never really comfortable. Originally I was thinking of a plinth radiator with a fan cut in to the pipes at low level and the cost would be around £450 fitted. After seeing your video I bought a single Speed Comfort unit for £59 inc post thinking it was quite cheap and if it did not work I would progress to the plinth heater idea. Very easy to fit and brilliant design for various types of radiators and voila, it has the made a difference to the comfort n the room that I was looking for, excellent bit of kit Incidentally I looked for and purchased a purpose made radiator cleaning brush from B&Q for £6.99 which makes life a lot easier than your demonstrated method

[@bobarty]

Just watched your video never though of de dusting the fins I have sellotaped an old toothbrush to a thin garden cane and it does the job brilliantly thanks.

[@optimist3580]

“De dusting” seems to be a convoluted way to say “dusted”

[@stuarthossack7906]

Your MIL's face when you said her rads were dirty behind was a picture. I just checked ours and tell her they are worse!! Great vid, I'd never heard of these thngs.

[@peterwilliams5597]

I had a rad with a narrow worktop over it. Made one of these with 3 cheap eBay “quiet” fans, bit of free 2” sq trunking and an old 6v wall wart. (£8 in total) Worked great at pushing the heat into the room but the noise could be intrusive when the room is quiet. We used it just to boost the room heat then switched it off

[@affieuk]

Brilliant, how is this going a year later? When I saw the price I though it'd be cheaper using some computer fans.

[@Alexander_l322]

@@affieuk it will be cheaper and the same to re purpose some pc fans you’ve got lying around. Will be the same as those purpose made radiator fans.

[@antoniogalluccio4213]

I clean the radiator with a air compressor and vacum cleaner or there are vacum cleaners that work as a blower if you plug the hose to the opposite side and with two machine I avoid the dust and fluff to move.. One is blowing and the other one is hoovering at the same time. It is nice and just takes a few seconds to get rid of the waste. I've always done it for cleaning purposes only, but I did not know that such a dirt would hinder their functionality, thanks again for sharing. 😀

[@oaksho]

Cover a thin light board with kitchen aluminium foil make it a little smaller than the radiator. Cut slits for the radiator mounts to slide into and place it behind any radiator fitted to an outside wall. Cost about $2 a radiator and I had to turn my heating down a bit after due to the improved insulation effect.

[@michaelengland7228]

What a lovely guy and family. I have exactly this problem with my big cold room so plan to do this if my new boiler does not fix things due in 6 weeks. Thanks.

[@djhvideo]

Thank you for saying that the boiler has to work harder as the fans are pulling more heat from the water in the radiator so it will be returning to the boiler slightly cooler. The fans DO increase the BTU of the radiator. Some radiator fan companies imply that you get extra heat for no cost which is untrue.

[@poonchild]

I’m not sure it “increases BTU’s” rather, increase the speed in which the room temperature increases by spreading the hot air quicker. The fan has no properties that can increase the BTU’s in the rad. In my opinion.

[@shaneord7527]

@@poonchild it does increase btu/Watt/hour. The flow rate won't change but the return temperature will be lower. I manufacture trench heating, both natural and Fan Assisted units, there are clear increases in output as the fan speed increases.

[@johno6800]

@@shaneord7527 wont the return temp being lower then be beneficial to condensing boilers as they will be in condensing mode?

[@shaneord7527]

@@johno6800 I believe so.

[@graugaarddk]

I did the cleaning of the finns on my radiator, and that was enough to raise my temperature from 20 til 22. so thank you, British Bradley Cooper Plumber ;)

[@David-84-]

£50 is a bit steep for a cheap plastic fan, especially when we need several per radiator.

[@pjcamp1on]

that's some mark-up on what is essentially 3 cpu fans that cost about £5

[@charlesforeman9438]

WOW, I just priced these things up and was shocked at around £100 for 3 small ones. If I times that by all the rads in the house it would be well over £1000+. Don't think I will bother at this price, thanks for the tips though.

[@johno6800]

you can just buy a couple of cheap crappy USB desktop fans and have them either mounted underneath or just pointing behind the rads to blow the air out. No need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on them.

[@stephencostello8792]

I did the same calculations and came to the same conclusion. No way is it worthwhile. I would say to consider double pane radiators if you have single. I WILL be cleaning all of mine though they have only been up a year most of them. One thing to consider is the balancing of the radiators (load's of youtube vids about this) and making sure that your boilers return flow is at the optimum temperature if its a condensing boiler. One more thing :) with winter coming make sure that your condensate pipe is clear as if that gets blocked the boiler stops and it wont be cheap to get a plumber out to sort it. especially when everyone elses has done the same. It is easy peasy and again you can see how on youtube. Nice idea with the fans but they are just too expensive.

[@93jsaw]

I think alot of people are missing the point here. The idea is that the fans extract more heat from the radiator, which means you can run the boiler at a lower temperature and still achieve the same level of heating, LOWERING gas consumption. I have a set and they have reduced heating times by almost half which is another huge saving on gas as the boiler is not running at full pelt for hours on end. A set costs a similar amount to a new radiator, without either paying a plumber to fit it or the aggrovation of doing it yourself. Pretty convinced these will have paid for themselves within a year or two.

[@anjkovo2138]

I've been doing that for years with a couple of battery hand fans from poundland underneath my radiators

[@GWJUK]

Exactly the parts for that product cost very little, £45 is far too much

[@Synthematix]

I made a matrix of slow running 14cm 12v pc fans with meccano (frame) then hooked them on the radiator, this greatly improves heat output in winter and cold output in summer

[@HowieHaigh]

A steel tape measure might work to clear fluff out of the radiator fins

[@beckyzwhite]

OMG! This is so simple it’s brilliant. Amazon are delivering mine by 1pm tomorrow.

[@ggmtv1394]

Just looking at the video, 09:05 on). It looks like the curtains are a problem as they go over the top of the rad. A lot of heat will be lost up the folds which will warm the window and passing aircraft.

[@keeling212]

I just cleaned mine and used a bottle brush with sponge on the end (from pound shop) attached to strong string with a little weight on other end of string drop weight in gap then pull brush through worked a treat. Hope this helps.

[@paulhaines7551]

You’re presentation skills are excellent - should have a tv programme! 👍

[@aidandalton7404]

He presents The Chase...😄

[@chrissavill8713]

Cheers Mr Geezer! I just checked the radiators and did your strap trick and out pops the missus silver neck choker that's not been seen for ages! Big brownie points for me for that one!

[@stevebarnes1973]

Great idea. This will increase the BTU rating of the radiators, forced convection is much better than natural convection.

[@we-are-electric1445]

As an experiment it makes sense to clear all the dust then run the test without the fans to see how much the room temperature increases.. Then fit the fans and repeat the experiment. The manufacturer claims each three fan unit uses 0.55 Kw Hrs per year. If each unit is running 4 yours per day for 100 days per year each three fan units is consuming around 1.4 Watts or 0.45 Watts per fan. This is pretty impressive and a lot better than a computer fan, though it would be interesting to see it plugged into a power meter to see how much power it actually uses in practice.

[@neonutsack2999]

Genuinely feels warm in here... wait my jacket still on.

[@MrZeth760]

you may also find that if you angle the top of the radiator outwards by an inch and of course fit a reflective energy panel there is even more heat available coming from the back of the radiator...

[@4minutes59secondsorless5]

Enjoyed the video but if I knew that they were £45 each at the start of the video I would not have bothered watching it. Far, far too expensive.

[@paulfitzgerald7513]

Totally agree! Two or three on each radiator is soon going to cost more than a years worth of heating..

[@adz4u28]

It’s literally 3 fans and some housing, probably costs less than £5 to produce. Ridiculous to charge £45 I understand there are costs involved for outsourcing the manufacturing but that’s madness.

[@joebloggs416]

Haha joke

[@sukikahlon1]

There's some cheaper versions online as well, they were around first as well lol, I think they're priced about £15

[@domenico36840]

Cheap

[@Gixer750pilot]

Mother in law is tiny bless her !!! You look like a giant. “I see James is a t shirt, and I’m hot “ bow chikka wow wow 😮

[@plumberparts]

Yeah Emily always jokes about how she loves me...!

[@christopherboxall46]

@@plumberparts hello James do you fancy helping me get a new rad on the market I thought of it 30 years ago and it still hasn't been done I'm sure it's a good idea

[@tonypybus8003]

Great video - and very useful from a personal view as I moved in to new house a couple of years ago and whilst in the first year the heating was adequate it was a little wanting on very cold days. however this year the heating is abysmal this year mainly due to the new 7 meter by 3.5 meter extension added late last year and no heating fitted as yet in that area. the fan units may assist in getting the room a bit warmer. I would like to hear your thoughts on the efficiently of conventional radiators over under floor heating under porcelain tiles. I would also love to hear about electric boilers pros and cons.

[@roysammons2445]

I have seen these advertised and the reviews are mixed. Nice to meet the missus and the mother in law on this one 😁👍🏻

[@sukikahlon1]

I remember looking at some fans like these a couple years ago, but when I mentioned them everyone was like, they're rubbish, so I'm really happy these have worked well, I will be showing this video to them 🤣 Nice one 👍🏽

[@nunyabizness690]

And they'll tell you to fuck off when it gets to the bit where he says the price

[@hayleymiller1722]

Hi does help with condensation?

[@dtz1000]

Very eye opening video. I had no idea about this. Also good video for those with dustmite allergies. This should help with that too.

[@GIZALARF]

I've back the walls behind my rads with Aluminium rad foil which has helped. However, after watching your vid, I've also looked down the rads and wow....fluff city.....guess I'll be busy cleaning these out today. 👍

[@JH-fk8ow]

this could be done really cheap with some quality harware/pc fans on 3v-12v multi voltage wall adapter so you slow the fans down, maybe attach to timer if they dont need to run during day. Im sure the common pc/hardware fans are higher quality than those

[@bluechang08]

And far cheaper too - the system mentioned in the video is £95 for a twin pack of fans

[@dontuno]

Sitting next to a radiator whilst watching this video and I was gobsmacked when I tried to look through it and basically, I couldn't! I would blame it on the dog but we haven't got one so will be cleaning it later this morning!

[@termite2691]

Measure the temperature of the water going in and the temperature going out with and without the fans working. If they really work there should be an obvious increase in dT across the rad with the fans working meaning greater heat output.

[@Gaatech]

That may be to technical for him.

[@harryjohnson615]

@@Gaatech Piffle, there's nothing technical about *delta T*

[@uksupporter8867]

This rad is a type 22 one of the best output radiators, if it is failing to heat a room of that size then the system is not balanced, no fans needed diff at a cost of £45

[@angeltt4390]

The thing I have always struggled to understand (as an Aussie living in the UK) is why are majority of radiators in front of windows? I understand from a standpoint of there usually isnt furniture there, but in the winter with curtains shut the heat goes up the curtains to the window which then dissipates the heat. Wouldnt it be better to position rads in other places so the heat isnt lost out window vents and against cold glass? (I also tuck my curtains behind the rad to encourage the heat into the room rather than up the window) Another thing that I see people here do often is closing doors to rooms, meaning the build up of heat is lost when the door is open to a colder part of the house, isnt leaving doors open and having heat throughout the house better and keeps the place warmer longer than just heating (and then heat loss in) one room

[@manlu_gaming]

old houses in the UK tend to have poor insulation, therefore the radiators are placed at windows as they are the coldest part of the room. modern houses tend to be small, sothere has to be a compromise for space and that unfortunately usually means rads go under windows.

[@neverman3398]

As a 48 year old Brit, I’ve always wondered the same thing. It’s not a logical thing to do.

[@TheConsciousTrader]

Informative video, thank you…. I have a question, please - I have curtains that hang all the way down to the floor and of course the radiators are in front of the window, (should I tuck the curtains behind the radiator or let them drop in front) of the radiator? to maximise heat in the room 🤔

[@fontybits]

Putting material behind your radiator is not good. The material will ABSORB heat and reduce heat going into the room. Easy tip to improve the radiators: sheets of cardboard with slits to fit over brackets, double-sided tape, and aluminium tin-foil. Cut cardboard to size to fit & hide behind radiator, then cover one side with tin-foil. Will redirect & prevent walls absorbing heat.

[@neverman3398]

Get shorter curtains. lol

[@TheConsciousTrader]

@@neverman3398 what a fantastic idea, why didn’t I think of that…Thanks so much 👍🤣

[@neverman3398]

@@TheConsciousTrader 😂

[@neverman3398]

I don’t know why you would have such long curtains in front of the radiator. Those are for doors or full length windows. 😂✂️

[@ukcharlie1]

Thanks for the banter. The lesson was cool too.

[@petersmith6974]

Yeah. U.K. is still stuck in 1960. Left in 81 for 34 yrs in Canada. Returned to England and shocked at how it is. Left in the 70s in worse shape than when I left. Can’t believe things are still the way they are here. Nothing beats a forced air furnace for consistency and even temps everywhere.

[@Bushcraft-xz6xd]

Seems a good idea? Ordered some 80mm 12 volt fans for £2.79 each on amazon. Gonna have a go at making a diy version as I’m not spending nearly £50 on ONE of these!

[@rayletaxi]

How did it go?

[@Bushcraft-xz6xd]

@@rayletaxi I didn’t bother in the end. Instead I got a couple of those £30 long upright fans from Amazon. These fit under the rads in the lounge perfectly. Set on low speed they push warm air up and out the rads warming the room substantially quicker. I also bought a couple of £19 thermocouple temperature controllers that the fans plug into. When the rad gets to a certain temperature it turns the fan on and when cools turns it off automatically. It all worked very well and I think it made a positive difference but then summer arrived so I didn’t give it a good test run. I did notice the room warmed up quick and the other side of the room from the rads was warmer. Will be reinstalling them soon as I took the fans out for summer and used them for cooling.

[@salazarreach1636]

Hmm, I made similar stuff by myself few years ago, using bunch of old PCs fans with speed control. I would say the main profit is a speed factor. Room is getting warmer REALLY faster, for sure.

[@cunningiain5594]

Add a shelf a few inches above the radiator and slightly longer than the radiator. Shorten the curtains so that they are just above the radiator shelf. Now any heat from the radiator does not go up behind the curtains.

[@pauls826]

One of my old mates is an air con engineer he asked me once why don’t they put fans on the bottom of rads I said I dunno he said you can get 12v barrel fans be a good idea this was atleast 10 yrs ago should of jumped on the idea haha

[@johnnunn8688]

I was sat waiting for the room to warm up. Had a thought, heat rises, so put a desk fan to one side, pointing up. Within 15 mins, the temp at floor level,was up by 3C.

[@tommyhill5100]

I bought one for my bedroom radiator, didn’t make a blind bit of difference.

[@MichaelFlatman]

Did you balance the radiator after putting fan on?

[@tommyhill5100]

Michael HTT I ended up changing the radiator for a larger one (type 22, 600 wide) and my bedroom is now 3 degrees warmer. I tried the fan on the new radiator and measured the temp differences with and without the fan. The difference was barely noticeable. The new radiator was cheaper than the fan, cables and adapters so could have saved myself some money. I’m not saying they won’t work in certain scenarios but it didn’t work for me.

[@MichaelFlatman]

@@tommyhill5100 yeah some of these fans look useless.. I've seen one online which looks like a towerfan on its side, doesn't have a sensor and is ~£20.. 2 speed settings apparently high is noisy, but lots of airflow like a towerfan means a very warm room! The trouble with these quiet fans is they probably don't move hardly any air at all.. Even the thermal camera shot was bad

[@tommyhill5100]

Michael HTT i have an update. Since it’s got colder over the last few days i’ve measured the temperature with and without the fans running. I’ve got to say that there is a considerable increase in temperature in the region of 2-2.5 degrees. You can feel the heat as you walk in the room as well as it being warmer in the morning when it’s time to get up. I would now say they are a worthwhile upgrade.

[@yasilasheraz3216]

Try putting shiny foil on the wall at the back of radiator reflects heat forward ...old fashion tip

[@hallga007]

These units transformed the comfort of a cold and under radded lounge. Much cheaper and easier than an additional rad!

[@uksupporter8867]

On another point why did you not do a before, then after cleaning , and then also after fitting the fans so you can tell the diff between simple cleaning and after adding the fans

[@techhelp4254]

Dazza b adding the fans doesn’t increase the temperature - instead it assists with circulating the heat around the room

[@Gadgetdad007]

It was nice of your mum to get involved in your video. 😉

[@pemj7360]

I've had this idea for years and it does work well done mate 👏

[@bluedwarf8858]

House is always cold 🤔....quick get out could be ghosts. Brilliant video and great ideas you have in this one

[@dilligaf2386]

A friend of mine got those fans for his rads ended up taking them out it was costing to much to have them on. He removed all the rads and put a reflective foil on the wall he said it's mean much better.

[@djhvideo]

They only use a few watts of electricity so I don't know what his problem was.

[@jamief6507]

The video is a pile of trash, just flogging random products to make money. Your house won't be heated better because there is a fan blowing the air upwards, energy doesn't work like that. You don't gain energy(heat) by blowing it upwards. The reflective foil worked because the energy/heat was being released into the wall instead of into the room. You could make the argument that the fans are blowing the heat away from the wall but that isn't nearly as efficient or cost effective as a sheet of reflective foil.

[@djhvideo]

@@jamief6507 Wrong. The fans increase the output of the radiator at a particular water temperature. Thus heating the room faster but the boiler will run with higher output in order to supply the heat. Much cheaper than changing the radiator for a larger one or fitting an extra one. The foil behind the radiator actually reduces its output slightly whilst also reducing heat lost to the wall so only applicable when radiator is fitted to an outside wall.

[@jamief6507]

@@djhvideo What are you even on about? You're saying the best way to increase your room temprature is to blow the hot air out, making the boiler do more work? Like I said before, that is not cost efficient or efficient in itself. If it's not gaining energy, the boiler is having to create that energy. Applying a sheet of reflective material doesn't reduce its output, not to any measurable extent and the heat will stay in the room, hence making the room heat faster. Where are you getting only applicable when put on a "outside wall" from? As said by many people in this comment section already, it does work. If what you are saying was actually true/good then all radiators would have this "technology" in them. But they don't, because of the very fact that it's a load of shite.

[@djhvideo]

@@jamief6507 If you increase the output of a heater in a room then obviously it will heat up faster.

[@wardope]

i usually just take my air compressor blast it up to 20 bar and blow everything out the hoover the stuff off the floor. clean a new in minutes.

[@myaccountagain]

It feels warmer in here...but this time I have my coat on 😂😂😂😂😂

[@plumberparts]

Haha! Yeah I did think that!

[@murphy1138]

Fans blowing cool air on metal will cool the radiator, if you have built a PC or driven a car it’s how the regulate the temperature. If these have a low CMF and just gently blow it might make a slight difference. But they are £140 quid, might as well spend that turning the stat up and putting the curtains into the window sill to stop the heat going into the windows.

[@stevep7950]

The main problem I can see with this is that you are in danger of screwing up the balance of the radiators in the house. If you increase the output of one radiator you will reduce the rest making other parts of the house colder. After cleaning the radiators, I would have experimented with increasing the water temperature in the heating system before messing around with fans. If the system water temperature is too low, then the radiators are below efficient and they won't convect enough heat into the room. With a hand held heat analyzer you should be able to tune the system without purchasing anything at all.

[@travellerseko]

Thanks for the detailed comment. On the other hand, I think he is not screwing the balance because he didn’t increase or decrease the heat through radiator valves. As I know if you change it through radiator valves, then you are right. But he only did put a fan to spread more efficient air flow to the room. If I am wrong, kindly correct me. I am on the process to make my ground floor flat more efficient as per heating.

[@AP-wn8nd]

I never bought the fans, but i did clear the fluffs from inside. My radiator was really hot to touch, but like you said on video, mine never got above 18.c or took hours on a cold day in scotland. I'll see how it goes.

[@hello2drt]

How did it go?

[@AcheForWake]

Electric builder - Yes please, as I’m in Oil currently and thinking of moving to another system to remove the inconveniences of oil

[@R08mky]

Have a look at infared heaters. Been getting used alot in stuff we've been doing recently. Comes in wall/ceiling panels or underfloor systems and can certainly heat things up

[@TheSocratesian]

Love the idea. Are there any comparable fans out there? These are no longer available and I haven't had any luck searching around.

[@funkypotamus]

James you have a great way of explaining and presenting. Very good videos. Thanks mate.

[@jameslewis8748]

Coolest mother in law and another amazing video! Keep it up!

[@gpcrawford8353]

One snag you need near by power socket .⚡️

[@jondonnelly3]

Adding fans has the effect of making a radiator act as if its a larger one. It will heat a room faster and more even but it's not magic the water must be still be heated as if a larger system. Turn off un used rooms to compensate and water thermostat up a few degrees.

[@vincentmcguire]

Good lad taking care of family 😉

[@plumberparts]

Only for the will!

[@smartchip]

Yeah fair play,

[@vilebrequin6923]

@@plumberparts we could see the love.... you can't fool us, James!😉👍 happy new year to you! Thanks for the videos.

[@justRijk]

To clean the radiator you could also use something that blows air. Using a Kärcher WD 3 P for that myself. Works like charm.

[@Dog1eg]

Please show the Electric boiler walkround vid.

[@nixonsmateruby1]

Best thing I ever done was buy some window film that reflects sun off the window but let's the heat into your home, and JANUARY, in the north of England, the sun hits my windows and they are 32°c. Made by parkside and sold in Lidl. Also stops people looking in your windows, but they don't look like mirrors. Fantastic.

[@amana1480]

Maybe the house would have got warmer just by cleaning out all the fluff inside the radiators. Maybe the fans aren't necessary.

[@yasilasheraz3216]

Yes that part I will definitely do .. I looked mine are clean I have a grill on top and I use hair dryer to blow dust downwards

[@arthurgarzon2475]

I wonder if you could give me advice on my hot water convector radiator inside the wall. I am in NY and my wife wanted to put in more windows in room but the old radiator was just under one window. Now we have3. Questions: A. How can I improve what I have now? B. Would it be better to replace this radiator with a longer base board radiator? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

[@Wallstrcrash2012]

Checking your humidity is not a bad thing to do. A decent humidifier can dry the air in your home and your home should hest up quicker.

[@Alexander_l322]

Humidifier raises humidity. A dehumidifier lowers humidity

[@rimmerd9908]

Seems like a decent idea. Three on that radiator I thought okay.. Looked at the one in my office and thought that's about right. Clicked the link. £60 EACH!!! Man that's £180 per radiator. We've got eight radiators in our house and two of them would ideally have four. So the solution for our house is over a £1000 worth of them. I wish you had have mentioned that at the beginning...

[@RomeoKGT]

Great video don't know why but you remind me of Bradley Walsh.

[@plumberparts]

Not Bradley Cooper?!?!

[@taurus1127]

Thanks mate..got a large cinema room and not having enough heat and for sure I will fit those fans..many thanks again for your valuable tip..👍🏼🤙🏻

[@Aut0five]

why didnt you show the thermal camera results 2 weeks later?

[@GarethJefferson]

Aut0five >>> Because he knew that his endorsement of this bullshit product might lead his viewers to buy from his bullshit Amazon store.

[@blueblurrthing]

Hi James, thankyou for this advice, Brill video. I'm an Housing surveyor who has a lot of investigations into damp and condensation issues. I'm going to look into your ideas when i propose what remedies to consider on my next surveys. Good work!

[@user-te1le7ck6b]

Nice idea but time you add the costs up , i suspect its better to bite bullet and upgrade rads as £50 a pop will soon add up , novel for those who cant do upgrade but grossly overpriced for what they are im afraid James , shame on the company , understand they need a profit margin but the RRP just cant be justified , hence its a niche product , if it had been sold in sets and for cheaper than perhaps they would be more succesful

[@_Area-51]

£50 a pop if you only have little radiators, otherwise your looking at £130 each! Then they charge and extra £5 on top for each type of clip 😕

[@drcl7429]

i just stick a normal summer fan in front of the radiators. Makes a really big difference to the max temp the room gets too and how quick it heats up.

[@deanmartin7593]

So if heat comes out the top, do radiator covers stop a room getting as hot as it would without the cover?

[@danielisaac3891]

Yes. Hot air rises so if you block or cover the radiator you'll be loosing energy.

[@deanmartin7593]

Daniel Isaac where are you losing it to?

[@danielisaac3891]

You loose heat through the cover. So say the radiator will be putting out 30 degrees and you cover it. By the time the heat energy has travelled through the cover it would be 25 degrees. Example not quotable

[@deanmartin7593]

Daniel Isaac but the radiator cover is still in the room.

[@Bushcraft-xz6xd]

Interesting question and no doubt there is a very technical answer. My thinking tells me the cover will suck up some of the heat so making the room take longer to heat? This the gets released into the room when the roads turn off? So we get the same heat into the room just takes longer? But there must be some losses along the way? Is heat the same as say light? Put a bulb in a room and block it and we lose some light for good?

[@SqueekyBums]

Your radiator has fins? *Luxury!* 😉🇬🇧

[@Goboholder]

Curtains directly over radiators is madness. Half the heat is lost up the back.

[@arniet1]

I wonder if this idea will work on the radiators fitted for air source heat pumps.....in an old house!! I shall try!

[@jambuzzbuzz55]

thermal camera would have been good on rad when rad was half cleaned, or is that just me

[@keithreeder]

Nope - because I can't see how fluff can prevent convection, either...

[@northbouy2625]

@@keithreeder the flow is already small through something like that. Any obstruction is Gona cause an inefficiency.