One of the key components of most heating systems in the UK are the radiators that share the heat around the home. Stelrad has been manufacturing radiators since 1936 and manufactures more than 2 million radiators a year. Over the years, radiators have developed and evolved, and that evolution has never stopped. The range of radiators and the thinking behind radiator design has grown and deepened over the years with major changes to radiator design taking place around the year 2000 that saw better designed water channels, and new ways of reducing the water content required to flow through radiators whilst increasing the amount of metal that came into contact with that heated water to share more heat, more effectively and more efficiently around the home.
On the radiator front, as well as developing aesthetically pleasing radiators that have become design features in a home, Stelrad has developed models that meet specific requirements, including a whole range of special application products that offer additional robustness in certain applications, or offer additional rust resistance in areas of high humidity. They have developed the largest and most popular range of low surface temperature – LST – radiators that are ‘safe to touch’ and improve safety for elderly, young and vulnerable people in their homes.
But it’s in the area of renewable heating systems – low temperature heating generated by environmentally friendly heating options such as heat pumps that arguably, Stelrad has achieved most. It has developed and enlarged its series of K3 radiators – three panels and three fins on a radiator footprint that is scarcely larger than a traditional K2 design – but which offers an additional 50% metal surface area over a K2 to share more heat from a similar area. This range has recently seen three more of its most popular designs released in K3 format to offer additional options for heating system designers and installers.
It has added larger radiators to most of its ranges to allow the radiators everyone has grown used to, to be relevant to lower temperature systems and to operate comfortably with air source heat pumps in particular, which will have a major role to play as the heating system horizon changes to accept these renewable options over the next few years.
Stelrad has developed a wider range of vertical radiators too, adding a huge number of new designs and sizes to the range helping to provide the larger radiators needed by the renewable heating options, but vertical radiators with a much reduced horizontal footprint to slot into smaller wall areas in a room, to provide the levels of heat required without taking up large wall areas that can cause confrontation with furniture in the rooms.
Much thought has gone into the latest radiator developments and it’s all to ensure that the radiators available from Stelrad are ‘fit for the future’ – able to continue providing the levels of heat required in homes in the UK to keep everyone comfortable. Head for the Stelrad website to see more about the ‘Fit for the future’ campaign and prepare for the changes that are beginning to happen now. www.stelrad.com
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