Radiator internal baffle for narrow tall column rads?

[ggman]

I have 7 tall column rad fitted in my house, 3 of them were supplied with a flow diverter (baffle) that was part of the fitting kit, it was simply a metal diaphragm with a spring blocking the flow to the bottom elements diverting the water to the top, this arrangement make them to warm up quickly, but still if you don't have the baffle they can be connected TBOE like any radiator should be connected for max efficiency, in one bedroom i used 2 rads one on each side of a small bay window one of them is a 4 element 2 column 1800x180 connected at the bottom BOE and i can only noticed a marginal delay when warming up but still efficient when hot, I never had the flow higher than 60-62 C when outside was really freezy, and normally my flow is 55 C.
It is up to you, you can ran a pipe to the top behind the rad, it is difficult to find a baffle, i am trying to make one myself, or connect BOE and you will loose a marginal degree of efficiency.
I agree with Best column radiators have a much bigger "wet" surface consequently are more efficient especially regarding RADIANT heat.
Regards
ggman

 

[1justin]

Hi ggman,

Thank you for the comprehensive reply. It's nice to hear from someone who has used prettty much the same design as I have here and is also familiar with the baffles fitted to some. I am currently connecting BOE and would rather it remains that way to keep appearance nice and save burying more pipes in the wall.

I'll go with it then and see how I get on. We've had no boiler at all for the last 2 years, (house maintenance underway, - baby 4KW woodburner and the sun is the only heat in this 4 bedroom house).. so Mrs J will be pleased when I get this going.

Rgds

 

[stevetheplumber]

remember most outputs are calculated using top and bottom opposite ends ,using bottom opposite ends will reduce the output

 

[1justin]

Thanks Steve. Yes, my rads are variously 10-25% oversized based on U values plus air changes for each room at standard rates. The house also has supplementary woodburner(s), (in fact that's all it's had at all for the last 2 years), so I hope I'll be OK that way.

Rgds

 

[ggman]

Hi justin here the link of heatline fitting instructions, you can see there the spring loaded diverter
these are the rads that I fitted.
[DLMURL]http://www.heatline.co.uk/assets/products/radId4/Tubular%20Steel%20Instructions.pdf[/DLMURL]
Regards

 

[1justin]

Ah, that's good the first picture I've seen. So it's just a spring to turbulate the flow.

I'll investigate further if they don't work as well as I expect.

Thanks

 

[PlumbBobBob]

justin, if you look closely at the spring in the picture it looks like there is cap on the end of it, i suppose to seal the bottom channel and divert the hot water upwards.

 

[ggman]

Hi Justin
the pic may be a bit deceiving, at the end of the spring there is a stainless steel cup in order to block the flow to the next element horizontally, so the water has to go up to the top. When you fit them, the larger side of the spring is located to the radiator socket and will push the cup (diaphragm) against the second element.
Regards

 

[1justin]

Thanks, got it now.

Rgds

 

[1justin]

Update to anyone elsw who might look at this.

Rads appear to be performing just FINE, connected BOE with no baffle. Narrowest one is 180mm wide 4 column (x2) and 1800 tall.

Rgds