How Many Radiators Do You Have?

How many radiators do you have?

Clearly, getting a boiler with enough power to heat your radiators properly is a pretty important decision to get right.  The calculation is not an exact science, however, so some approximations are involved.

For example, when calculating the numbers above, we are talking about ‘average’ sized radiators – so if you have a small towel rail, you may want to consider this as half a radiator.

In general, as long as you have adequate power supply from your consumer unit, it is better to err on the side of overestimating your requirement rather than underestimating. The reason for this is that having a higher-powered boiler than necessary will (contrary to popular opinion) NOT result in using more electrical power, because the boiler will be operating for a shorter period of time. On the plus side, it will be able to bring the rooms up to temperature more quickly.

Under-powered boilers, on the other hand, will cause the radiators to get hot more slowly, and mean that the boiler stays on more much longer and work much harder than otherwise, which will shorten their life.

Some of our favourite flow boilers for central heating:

This page is part of the 'helpmechoosemy...' series which helps you choose exactly the right product, by answering a small number of simple questions. Using these pages will lead you to an appropriate selection of hand dryers, water heaters, or boiling water products so you can make your final choice. Along the way, you will find links to our Advice Centre articles which will give you more information about each of the choices you are making, and a lot of information about each of the questions.

Of course if you need any other help or have very specific requirements, our experts are always on hand to get you the right answer, and to suggest different brands which may represent better value for money. So don't be shy about giving them a call or selecting the option on the bottom left of the screen to get us to call you back.

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