Missing Trim from Radiators? Can you Identify Manufacturer/Model?

[Jamesbeat]

Hi everyone,

My Mum just had all of her radiators replaced.
She noticed that there are large holes in the sides of the radiators where the valves are.

She's concerned about my neice (toddler) dropping toys/food etc into the interior of the radiators, or possibly injuring herself if she puts her hand inside.

She asked the guy who installed the radiators about the holes, and he pretty much shrugged his shoulders.

I live in America now, so I can't examine the radiators directly, but I did get my Mum to snap a couple of photos.

She said that it looks as though there should there should be some kind of cover or trim piece over the holes, and after seeing the photos I agree with her.

The radiators themselves have no markings on them whatsoever, so there is no way of knowing who manufactured them etc.

My conspiracy-theorist uncle believes that the covers had the manufacturer's logo on them, and that installer left the caps off to conceal the manufacturer of the radiators from her, which is possible, though perhaps a little paranoid 😀

I'm hoping someone can let me know whether there should be some kind of plastic cover or trim over the holes, and perhaps even identify the brand and model of the radiators?

I know the photos aren't very good, but I imagine you guys see these things every day and might be able to identify them...

Thanks 🙂

 

[gassafe]

Sometimes there's a sticker on the back of the rad, or indented into the rad on the bottom

 

[Toggles]

It's a "Stelrad"

The plastic finishing covers come with the rad so guy who installed them should have clipped them in.
Your Mum could try popping into local plumbers merchants, they may have a few spare that she could have, or sell them.

 

[Jamesbeat]

Fantastic! Thanks 🙂

I knew you guys would know it straight away.
I work in the flooring business, and I could probably identify the manufacturer of a vinyl tile just by the way it smells 😀

Ok, putting my tin-foil hat on for a moment, can you think of a reason why the installer would have neglected to install the finishing covers?

It wasn't a simple case of forgetfulness, because he left them off all six of the radiators, and my Mum asked him directly about the holes.

 

[Chalked]

Hi.
Stelrad does not have the cut away under the air tap.
It's a Barlow radiator, these do not come with full blank covers.

 

[Jamesbeat]

Yes, that looks like the one.
Bit of a poor design if you ask me.

Thanks for your help everyone 🙂

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Yes, that looks like the one.
Bit of a poor design if you ask me.

Thanks for your help everyone 🙂

good design its so you can take the top of to clean, slip each side up and slide outwards, and slot top one way and clean away 🙂

 

[Jamesbeat]

Ah I see!
That's actually pretty clever then.
A removable trim piece wouldn't prevent you from doing that though, although I guess it would add a couple of extra steps.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Ah I see!
That's actually pretty clever then.
A removable trim piece wouldn't prevent you from doing that though, although I guess it would add a couple of extra steps.

plastic come brittle with heat and sunlight so maybe 2 or 3 times off something would snap and it would been binned so what the point in adding a little piece of plastic if its going to get binned?

 

[Jamesbeat]

Yes that's true. In fact, I remember that the old radiators had a plastic knob/thermostat thing that wasn't part of the radiator but was near it.
They started to look crazed and began to crumble after a while, presumably because they were near enough to the radiator to be deteriorated by the heat.