Do Radiator Fans Work? WE TEST THE CLAIMS!
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- Опубликовано: 7 янв 2024
- Do radiator fans work? We test the claims! Get yours on Amazon 👇
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Bit of background - I fitted these at Emily's Mum house and she LOVES them. Also I saw Kiri over Christmas and she's blown away by them (and my good looks!) I have them at home and love them too.
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I would imagine just like the fans on a PC... they will suck up all the dust and become very noisy when months.
Did they pay you for this review?
@@Kr00zA rads get mad dusty anyway even with no fan. Take a chimney brush and shove it in your rads. I dare you.
I usually like your videos but this is well off. £80 for a mono £130 for a duo and £165 for a trio? This is like the biggest scam ever. Have some respect to your viewers and make a video making a DIY version for about £20 pc fans are around £10 for 4
@@luc1ferblack The average plumber would charge you way more, also you don't need more than a mono per radiator, and you don't really need to equip your entire house, you know.
@plumberparts
The one thing that is missing here is a declaration of whether the fans were supplied FoC by the company (in which case the video is effectively sponsored) or whether you paid for them yourself as an independent review. That makes a big difference.
If he makes money off amazon links then even if he bought first set himself he still would have a motive to "influence" us to purchase
This is a clever solution and I have no doubt they'd work well. The offputting thing is the excessive price - between £71 and £165 per radiator depending on whether you need one, two or three units. I'd honestly rather put this towards replacing any undersized rads because that is a tidier and more permanent solution. However, it might just be ideal for renters who can't do this.
Agree with your comment on price, however a quick Google search and you will find for between £50 and £112, still not cheap but better than Amazon.
Or just leave the heating on for longer. 70 quid buys a lot of electric or gas, doesn't require any fitting, doesn't make any noise, and won't go wrong as soon as the warranty runs out.
I use laptop external cooling fans they usually run quietly, just need to get a small transformer plug at the appropriate voltage, then just hot glue some magnets, the fans only run one way so you have to get them blowing in the correct direction. also you can use small fans from old microwaves etc.external cooling
@@cerij4242 I literally thought of doing exactly this as soon as I saw the video. Cheap scrap old small PC fans running off a 5v adapter. Even a small triple fan unit cheap from china would work. Huge respect to your comment and mentality.
Considering it's just an array of cheap chinese PC fans - it's a ridiculous price.
Since you will draw more thermal energy from the radiator, the energy consumption in the furnace will also be higher. If the user is connected to district heating, of course the bill will be higher, because in this way the difference between the delivered temperature and the returned temperature is greater. Of course, if we do not take into account that the radiator will turn off earlier, because it will warm the room earlier. In reality, this system only heats the room faster. That's basically all.
Smart thinking.
He is demonstrating with an electric radiator though. In his case he preheated the radiator to get a quick demo but in reality his statement is false. The radiator will not "put put more heat" as it's a fixed wattage electric heater. As you said it convects the heat around the rom faster and that's all.
It would be beneficial if the thermostat (on the radiator) is capable of reducing the output (power in watt) heat down to 25% or less on a sliding scale. @@1kreature
Cooling the heater will make the heater use more power to keep it hot.
making your power bill 3% more expensive to run.
spend your money on an 2000w Infrared Electric thermostat controlled Heater half the price to run than an oil filed heater and heats up the room 10x faster.
£63.74 on amazon UK cheaper than spending £139.99 + £10.20 postage on the Trio fan set Set.😕😕😕😕😕😕😕
Not quite the full story. If the radiator is undersized for the room this will enable the room to be heated to a higher temperature.
School level physics does not add up.
We are forcing heat out of the radiator by using electricity therefore the boiler will respond because the return pipe is cooler and burn more gas to keep up.
If they are to be used then they should be fitted on the top of the radiator & even above the radiator to force the air that has already left the radiator across the room a bit like those fans that are put on wood burners.
Doesnt make sense. If you maintain the same room temperature then you also lower the flow temp otherwise you will have a sauna instead. Lower flow temp means more condensing which meas less gas burnt
Correct there is no free energy
@@LiranKo condensing boiler efficiency increases when flow temp gets lower
Sure, but
#1 its about speed, not efficiency
#2 depending on what is the source of the heat, you might not have to pay the diff yourself (like with centralized hot water heating with fixed price)
I'm going to build my own version. I've already determined, from previous projects, a lot of 12V computer fans run very happily and for a long time running at 5V from a USB power bank or power adapter. Thermostatic switches are available with switching temperatures starting at 30C all the way up to 200C for just a couple of quid online. I'm not sure a thermostat is always necessary as the air movement keeps circulating the air making the environment nicer to be in. An alternative could be a time switch set to only allow the fans to run during daytime or hours of occupancy and save the cost of the power adapter energy. When set up correctly a 12V computer fan running at 5V is practically silent which is certainly unobtrusive and take a miniscule amount of power so might as well be left running. Add wiring, cable ties and job done. All for a fraction of the price! Going DIY also allows you to build something as simple or as complex as you like. It's possible to build something far more advanced for a fraction of the cost with a little ingenuity, such as providing air across the whole width of a radiator with just one or maybe two fans making the fan running cost negligible! It's worth noting that the fans featured only switch the low voltage side with the thermostat leaving the power adaptor running all the time which will shorten the product lifespan if left powered all year round. I you build your own you will also know how and be able to repair it and if you power it from a USB adapter with more than one USB port, like I do, you also gain a charging point.
Noctua fans.
If you get a couple of 12v peltiers, you can run a 5v fan directly off the heat given out by the rad, so it's self starting and self stopping.
@@Sithehandyguy-London I'd considered that, but the cool side would likely need a heatsink and airflow to maintain the temperature differential needed for operation. If I can get hold of peltier modules cheaply enough I may give it a go. It's possible the technology has improved since I last looked into peltier.
@@DelticEngine might be worth looking at 24v peltiers..
Not sure how accurate these are but they should produce 6v
@@Sithehandyguy-London It's not always the voltage that's the problem. You can have voltage and not enough current capability.
Have learned a lot from this channel and rebuilt my wet central heating with it's help. But Screwfix and others have sold 2kW fan-assisted radiators in the past for about £25-£30 which do a similar job to this technology. Interestingly, in a smallish room and on the 1Kw setting the unit will only turn on for a total if 15 minutes per hour to maintain about 20C. Very cost effective. It's the air distribution that makes the difference and it also warms up very quickly.
I have fitted fans into a normal convection heater before and basically turned it into a fan heater and surprisingly it worked really well.
I aimed a desktop fan (about 30cm/1ft diameter) at a radiator back in the 90's. When I checked the radiator after a while, it was stone cold. The fan took off the heat so fast that it couldn't maintain heat.
We've got Heatfans here in our living room, 5x5 at the front 280x45cm double radiator and 1x5 at the rear upright design radiator.
Got them mainly because the sofa is in front of the front radiator, and the windowsill directly over it, blocking circulation.
Bought them with the "smart" modulating controller so you can adjust the flow a bit, and you barely hear them.
I could even lower the input temperature, and have a higher ∆T (two simple external / internal temperature and humidity displays, external probes on input and output of radiator)
They really do make a difference!
What also works well is a ceiling fan in "winter" mode, reverses the roration and will circulate the warm air at the ceiling. 😉
I've got to, yes, they do work. I fitted some fans in a customers house in their lounge as it was cold. I watched your video and was impressed with it and so are they now 😊
My mother in law likes battery powered appliances too. Father in law agrees. She's very hard to please.
😂
Give that man a medal!
Wait up, are you from Sheffield?! Cos I am!
Nice catch with these is that water temperature through them is dropping faster and needs to be re-heated faster and more frequently by your boiler. Normal systems have water temperature regulation relative to the temperature coming back into the boiler or central heating system. It is optimized and some are very efficient that way, reducing overall water temperature to maintain the set room temperature. This (Turbo Air) way you're room temperature gets in the same way higher faster but needs more water-heating after colder water comes back to the boiler. It is a trade of. You do not get more heat for less, You get faster heat for more and only insulation helps to trap the heat loss. Paying almost a hundred pounds for three-blowing noisy fans isn't an option in my opinion and basically a scam. Just have good insulated (curtains) double or triple-layer glass. Ensure enough air can flow beneath your radiator and there are no obsticals like sofas or other blocking objects in front of them.
I tried these a year ago, one fan unit was broken and the other moved so little air that I didn't notice a difference within the room. I returned them and spent less money on a used K2 radiator instead (The old radiator was K1), installing it myself - That made a massive and very noticeable difference. I actually purchased two used radiators for the price of one set of fans.
its snake oil bro thats why
I do remember you fitting them at your mother in laws house .
She was well impressed with them .
Don't forget to clean out the radiator fins first 👍👍👍👍
Just ordered one, fingers crossed it makes the kitchen feel warmer. We previously tried radfan but wasn't blown away :-)
Fitted a duo and a mono last year to the living room radiators, works very well and silent, makes a big difference
They are pretty expensive. But they do pump out the heat quicker from your Rads.
I bought the tro set for my living room. Heated it up rapid! My kitchen felt cold compared to my living room. So i bought another trio set (6 in total). Along with additional plugs and temp switch.
I put 2 in my kitchen
2 in my livingroom
1 in hallway
1 in my bathroom
Didn't bother about my 2 bedrooms.
The other rooms heat up really lovely now! Especially my bathroom! It's roasty toasty. Which is what you want to reduce shower steam etc.
The fans will also make your boiler work more efficiently. As they draw the more heat from your rads into the room. Therfore it should lower your boiler return temperature. Allowing it to condense more
The radiator doesn't generate any more heat, the fan just dissipates the heat produced more quickly. There will be a corresponding increase in cost to heat the radiator as it replaces the lost heat. As others have posted - just turn the heater up. Unnecessary expense and faf. Spend the money on insulation - that will show a return👍
It may get a room warmer faster but it doesn't save energy or heating costs. A better test with that (electric) radiator would have been to monitor the energy coming out of the wall socket and heating the whole room to 20C (from 15C) and keep it at that temperature for an hour.
It saves heating costs by allowing the boiler to run at a lower temperature to achieve the same result.
If it takes 1KW to heat a room less energy will not heat it to the same temperature. A 1kW (water) radiator running at 70C flow temperature and 50C return temperature becomes an approx 0.6kW radiator with a 50C flow and 30C return. What the fans are doing is forcing extra air flow thus reducing the return temperature. With the fan the radiator gives up more energy and perhaps raises the output to 0.8kW BUT with a lower return a boiler will remain at full power much longer instead of modulating down to perhaps 1/3 or 1/4 power output .
The problem with the test shown in the video is that it is a very misleading. A more real world test would have been to monitor the energy taken to keep the room at 20C for an hour or two. Yes those fans may get the room hotter quicker if the radiator is the correct size for the heat loss of the room and it may also compensate for a radiator that is too small to meet the heat loss of the room because the flow temperature has been reduced. What it doesn't do is save heating costs because the boiler is working longer at full output.
@@alanmacleod9464 I see where you're coming from but you seem to have missed the point that the addition of fans transfers more of the thermal energy from the radiator into the room, effectively increasing the size of the radiator. The overall result is that the energy put into the radiator from the boiler is much more efficiently transferred. Because the whole system can run at a lower temperature, the boiler is run at a lower output which improves its thermal efficiency because thermal energy in a boiler that is not transferred to a radiator is sent straight outside through the flue pipe and is wasted energy.
All it does is increase the output of the emitter, this can increase efficiency of the emitter if it is not outputting what is required, and thus requiring less time being heated and desired heat not staying in the system and being released by the emitter.
The emitter is merely one component. I agree the electric radiator is a bad example for this product.
But overall system performance… as always, it depends…
But for the same money to provide fans for a couple of large radiators most people would achieve a MUCH bigger saving by installing weather compensation CH controls that directly control the flow temperature of the boiler.
They do work, but you need proper fans to get the necessary air flowrate. I built my own using an array of eight 12cm fans, 3d printed brackets, heat sensor and pwm speed controller.
Care to share the details for others to self build?
@@martinstorer50 Can do, I've still got the STL files for both the fan brackets and the wee box for the controller. More info to follow
I was thinking of trying to build some myself, 100mm PC fans happen to fit my radiators perfectly.
I'd love to know actual figures for heat transfer for natural convection vs forced with these.
I do think these units are a bit overpriced.
@@martinstorer50no one says please anymore these days 🤦🏻♂️ W⚓
@@gillo100 If you search for "Experimental investigation of the effects of add-on fan radiators on heat output and indoor air temperature", there's loads of info and links to other papers. I built mine last winter but it's very similar to the one described in the "Results and discussion" section. With the air flow rate I aimed for & my radiator temps, their IRL experiment suggests I"m probably getting 50% more heat output.
(I added a fudge factor assuming fan manufacturers to be exaggerating, and allowing for them to be throttled to run quieter whilst still giving the necessary flow rates). Very pleased at how quickly and evenly the rooms heat, so haven't had to put the radiator fans into "Chinook taking off" mode
Basic ingredients: big box of PC fans off eBay, w1209 12v digital thermostats, 5 Amp PWM controller boards, spare laptop power supply. Does require time, soldering & 3d printing so I can appreciate why people buy off the shelf units
I have the top fitting once on my radiators and had them awhile, they have helped to move the heat around the house especially downstairs with an open plan living room and dining room
Thanks for making this! I'd seen the old version years ago. Never tried them, but decided to put sockets next to every rad in our retrofit "just in case". Glad I did! 😁
£165 for a bunch of PC fans!
I did raise an eyebrow at the price. Think it would take a while to recover that cost per rad with the additional pennies on electric. Worth a shot for a bit more comfort if money is not a concern
I look forward to your photo of PC fans sellotaped to the underside of your radiators…with thermostatic control of course! 😉
To be fair those don't look much better cable tied to the bottom
@@thatman84 don’t forget the additional gas.
Since you’re forcing the heat out of the radiator, your boiler with have to make more heat.
@@plumberparts Of course no kickbacks for content creators for anything DIY. Plus of course people can get fans to fit the size of their radiator & can also have them run on wifi in addition to a thermistor. But why even bother when the whole concept of this doesn't work as convection radiators have the air rising & if fans were to be added they should be ABOVE the radiator to distribute the air across the room & not into the ceiling which will soak up the heat. Yey another product flogged to people that not only will break in a few years but will also get noisy & adds to fuel bills as well as the stupid cost. Stick to actual plumbing products & not gimmicks that look like they fell off Del Boys 3 wheeler.
Why cant they make the fans self powering from the radiator heat like the ones they sell for stove heaters?
Not enough ∆T to get sufficient voltage over the Seebeck effect generator.
Reversed it is the Peltier effect.
@@MeteorMark You could use a Stirling Engine but that would get rather expensive fast.
1 get 2 or 3 180mm fans with USB plugs. (1x£10)
2 Get a smart switch (2-3 to for £20 to 30). Can control hourly or remotely controlling
3 get a USB hub to power these even a USB (2.0 £5 to 10 for 2 to 3 ) hub should work cheaply.
Bigger fan will run slowly and push more air than these combined and let you change the fan speed depending on the nose.
So, I got these on a plan from my utility company, they also dialed in the radiators, living room where the first 2 of 6 radiators in the apartment. My main complain was the thermostat turn on at 18. Shut of at 19. And than the livingroom got to 21c. Livingroom worked amazing. Problem was the other half of the house never got to even 18c. Ice on the double glazed windows as we used curtains to keep some warmth in the room. They turned the boiler/hr++ down from an insane 85c to first 60. That solved it getting to hot in the livingroom, but did little to the other rooms. Then they turned it down to 45c, and now all the radiators get warm, like 40c at the top. And the silly fans help them spread the heat, making the hr++ really work. if return water to the boiler is to high it will not condensate and not be hr++. So, my gas usage went from 1000m3 to 300m3, and the temperature is way more stable. Last thing to improve it is the make the hallway radiator 4x as large. It is the smallest that exist and needs to heat 15m2 or 50m3. And is the last on the run so the least hot. The fan on that 1 we run constantly as it does not reach the 35c of the sensor to open it up.
It might help some of your commenters better understand why/how this works if were to understand the physics/thermodynamics . The rate of heat transfer from a hot radiator to a cold room by a radiator is primarilly by convection, the radiator heats up the air immediately surrounding the radiator and this, are having less density that the surrounding cooler air , rises and is replaced by cooller air and the process continues until the room air temperature gets to the room thermostat or the radiator themrostatic valve setpoint temperature and the heating or radiator switches off. The rate at which the radiator can heat up the surrounding air is determined my the difference in temperature between the surface temperature of the radiator and the temperature of the air in contact with the radiator (boundary layer). The fan removes this heated air by forced convection replacing it with cooler air. A good analogy is the cooling fan on your computer, on top of the computers' CPU is a heat sink ("radiator") but this is not enough to cool the cpu, it needs to also have a fan to take away this heat by forced convection.
Cheaper to change the rad
At those prices you're having a laugh. 3 computer fans in a fancy case. £72 plus £9 delivery. Just fit a couple of extra rads.
+ power supply + cables + connectors + a relay (to switch the fans on and off), + a thermostat (to trigger the relay when there is a demand for the fans to run) + warranty + part assembly + packaging + assembly instructions + certifications + marketing + margin + all other costs split per unit for identifying the market need, sourcing the parts, designing the final product, testing, contracting logistics capabilities, distribute the products to logistic centers, pay rent for in stock products. Now DIY and make it ready to deliver to customers, and tell us what the BOM was and how much it cost you in total in time and materials? Why does everyone oversimplify business models and then wonder why so many companies go bankrupt?
A couple of extra rads plus pipe work plus labour will cost you significantly more than £81. If not please give me the name of your plumber.
Thanks for the comments. But if you look at the other comments, most of them say that they are too expensive and not really a cost effective solution. Propper sized rads, move furniture from in front of the rads. Balance the system properly, turn up water temperature. All are less expensive solutions.
Cooling the heater will make the heater use more power to keep it hot.
making your power bill 3% more expensive to run.
spend your money on an 2000w Infrared Electric thermostat controlled Heater half the price to run than an oil filed heater and heats up the room 10x faster.
£63.74 on amazon UK cheaper than spending £139.99 + £10.20 postage on the Trio fan set Set.😕😕😕😕😕😕😕
Top product, awesome for our radiator wich has a sofa in front of it!
They will help with the dusting, and maybe not put a pc in front of a radiator:) thanks for all your vids and advice , your cool 😎
I would have not bothered with the fans and pinted the asre of the PC at the rad the fan in it would do the same haha
Efectivnes of radiator can't change also output (unless hot source is not limited by exchange rate) can't change, physics is physics ;).
What is changed is heat exchange rate (how fast is going to be warmer in room), so comfort or usability will increase.
Also maximum achivable temperature in whole setup(room) can increase, because increased heat exchange on warming side can overpass cooling speed.
Am just thinking will it not up the energy cost as the fans are blowing cooler air on the rad to move the heat faster will the rad struggle to hit the thermal limit set by the thermostat on the rad and in turn the boiler will keep running to keep trying to get it to the temp it set at or am i just a idot.
“So, how do they work?” It’s a fan. It works like a fan… Massively over priced too.
I just use a regular desk fan, which I bought for 12 quid.
Yes they work, fitted on a few years ago after seeing the video where you fitted one at the Emily’s mum’s house. It turned a coldish end of the living room warm:)
They will always warm the room quicker but with cooler air blowing in from the bottom doesn't that mean the boiler will have to work that little bit harder to start with?
Very true.
also electric use, and bloody expensive compared to gas!!!
They’d be lucky to pull more than a couple of watts per fan…
yep,. correct. The reason convection doesn't heat up fast is because the temperature transfer from the boiler/rad to the room is slow. This boosts that. So while the boiler would normally be "off" on overheat shutdown, the fan will cool the water faster, and the boiler will be on more often and for longer - hence, work harder.
i have them and they are great my living room is big open plan and it was always colder and i have 3 radiators and i use a mono a duo and a trio Speedcomfort Radiator Fans and they are brilliant i can now watch tv in my living room nice and cosy
Too pricey for what they are, but a neat idea nonetheless, might try something similar with some old case fans.
When fitting the magnetic sensor, I'm assuming you're putting it on the return feed side so the radiator is at max temp?
No, these fans increase the ∆T of the radiator.
If you put the sensor on the return line, the fans could stop running whilst heating.
doesn't really matter, you just need them to turn on a couple of mins after after the boiler
I have two of these on one radiator in the living room. But something I've noticed is that they are not entirely silent. I don't want to suggest that they are noisy, they do not disturb living room life and you'd need to be quite fussy to object to the sound level. However in a bedroom the humming could be a bit noisy if you are a light sleeper.
Secondly I think you need to make it clear that this is not free energy, your boiler, heat pump, or electric radiator will need to work harder as the radiator is cooled by the fan. Sure that's pretty obvious right, but some people may not realise that this is the case, they are not getting something for nothing.
Then you also did not talk about the amount of energy the power supply uses while the fans are idle and while they are running. That may be a small amount but again it is extra electricity that you might want to take into account in your experiment. I had hoped that you would have measured the power consumption of the electric radiator with and without the fans.
Now added to the complexity is the fact that if you fit these to the radiators in the room with the house thermostat, then the central boiler or heat pump will stop earlier. This may cause other radiators around the house to be switched off earlier meaning that those parts of the house are no longer as warm. Sure in your mates house you went to all rooms, but someone experimenting with this might not realise that the output of radiators in other rooms may need to be increased to keep the same comfort level.
The fans use next to no energy as they are very efficient.
@NickAskew these things are actually designed to lower the return temperature of your central heating system. Most modern (gas) boilers use the energy from the condensation in the boiler caused by the difference between the flow and return temperature in the system. In many houses pumps often run too fast to even have a noticable temperature difference or the flow temperature is set too high to get enough condensation. That is free energy going to waste. When a radiator has modern valves one could adjust them to get the perfect flow and return temperature. If not, then these fans help the radiator to cool quicker and radiate more of heat that reaches it and increase the difference between the flow and return temperature. This won't work for an old open flame gas boiler.
Buy a fan in summer and in winter just direct it the bottom of the rad 😊 cheap and works.
In all larger warehouses this system is installed.
We call them "kalorifer"...
Basically a big water heatet block with a big, fan.
Downside on them they push alot of heat, but also need a lot of energy to maintain level of temperature.
I ran a similar system, output is somewhere around 300 Watts enought to heat my appartment and has an Computer attached to it...
James, what’s your thoughts on the super foil insulation placed behind radiators to reflect heat usually lost into the wall? I was unsure, but for a cheap install curiosity got the better of me and to my surprise I was amazed at the results. I could immediately feel increased heat from the rads. Be interesting to see if you could do a similar video on this product to show any findings. 👍🏼♨️
I had thought the testing of that radiator foil suggested the difference was basically impossible to measure. My wife installed it a couple of winters ago and while I don't object to it, I don't think we've noticed any difference. Hard to tell without an IR camera.
I think he did it before in another video (I think the same one where he previously used these).
Just a couple of thoughts. Firstly, this is only needed on external walls as that is when heat is lost to the outside world. Secondly, perhaps it is less important in the case of convector heaters with fins as opposed to a traditional radiator, as they actually do relatively little 'radiating'.
If you way up the costs of buying the kit complete, and doing so for each radiator. It’ll cost a small fortune. Then it’s down to siting of the electrical source, sockets etc. then weather the setting itself is efficient/drought free, more of a Modern built house the an older type house. Ideally a draft free house would better suit this method. Great in theory but we don’t live in a room with celotex walls measuring 5ft x 5ft x 3ft?! Yes you proved they circulate heat but how long does it take to heat an entire room 16ft x 16ft x 7.5ft?? Just not practical in ALL properties.
One important thing to remember is that these fans only force faster heat exchange. If you have a room, where the radiator is too small - these will help. But generally the amount of energy does not change - so only difference might be that room will get warm faster. Putting these on all radiators does not make sense.
I use my watercooled pc to heat my room, i've had my radiator in my room turned off for 3 years. We do have some rooms that struggle to heat up so I might think about getting these for next winter.
You can't change the laws of physics! These may distribute the heat more quickly but they can't create more heat.
I didn’t say that. But they do create mini fan coil units (FCU’s) which help distribute heat around the room.
@@plumberparts It is literally the first thing you said....."if there is one thing you can do to make the output of your radiator greater..."....."to increase the output of your radiator..."
It does increase the effective output of the radiator. Just like if you installed a larger rad. You're forgetting that the boiler is a loop system, so gets water back from the rad, it's not an isolated resistive heater.
@@Swwils You obviously watched a different experiment, it looked exactly like an isolated heater to me.
I have a line of 12cm PC fans under my radiator with an old PSU. Works like a charm. Way more air flow as your commercial ones, that looked a bit flow restricted. The PC fans I have are actually overkill, there is no need for so much airflow. The input pipe and output pipe were previously kind of barely different in temperature. Now the output pipe is almost cold to the touch, they remove almost all heat.
I have mounted them on two aluminum corner pieces. Drilled 4 holes for each fan. One pair of wires along with soldered connectors for each fan. An hours work. The fans are 12V 3 wire, working at max RPM. A bit noise is there, yes.
fitted one on a rad for my mum behind a sofa,,, works for them,,, so they are happy they are not powerful but move the air and it works
Because of the magnets. Can they cause blockage? Like a magnetic filter?
I’ve nearly bought these a few times but wasn’t sure. I am now!
These radfans are expensive for what they are, which essentially three PC fans in a case along with 12 volt power supply, thermo-switch,
The only one I've been able to find is the Trio Set £139.99 + £10.20 postage,
I use top of the line noctua fans in my pc @ £30 a pop and ive got 7. When're we gonna get away from thinking pc fans are all cheap.
I’ve fitted these in several rooms in my house. They definitely work, no doubt about it. The rooms over shoot by a 1-2° degrees
Top stuff!
I have my doubts my boiler is on weather compensation and flow temp is currently 35C not sure fans would be that effective as the TRVs are fully maxed out anyway.
@@normanboyes4983flow temp is normally 67C on eco.
35 flow is FAR to low.
I've only ever seen flow temp like that on ground source heat pumps.
How exactly are you violating the laws of physics?
@@stuarttthomas7847 what do you mean?
I've made these myself, people were interested but when I costed them I thought too pricey but these speed comforts are much more then I costed, perhaps I should have continued.
In cold weather our conventional radiators cause heat stratification. The heat from the rads (under the windows) rises and sits near the ceiling, then the air drops down the wall opposite the rads as it cools, and a draught of cold air circulates across the floor back to the rad. It's this cold draught my partner hates.
So, i'm curious to know how well a fan like this would work if it was set up for counterflow, i.e. pulling the hot air DOWN, and (hopefully pushing a warmer draught across the floor.
Tiny little room with thermo walls, how easy it that to heat compared with a 15-foot by 12 foot room?!
With the extra transfer of heat does the boiler/radiator need to run longer to maintain a constant flow temp in the system?
How does this effect overall cost.
The boiler will still run the same unless these are on the rads near to the stat however the other rooms would likely be colder. They don't give you anything for free essentially just speed up the convection from the rad.
You can't get energy for nothing only transfer it in this case using electric powered fans, in the electric rad example yes it will get hotter more the rad will need to heat more to recoup the cooling effect
The boiler will modulate to a higher flame if the return is cooler
Of course. If you take more energy from the radiator, more energy needs to be put in by the furnace or heat pump or whatever you use as the source of heat. It doesn't really change the efficiency of the system, and if the radiators are sized properly, there is no need for this, it's just added complexity and price. But it can help if you have undersized radiator with poor airflow somewhere and you can't change it.
@@prawnk1ngif anything it could lower efficiency the higher flame may lower the chance of condensing.
Do they work on storage heaters?
Efficiency will not go up, only thing this does is increase the heat exchange.
you will consume the same amount of energy with or without the fans.
but no doubt this can help if you have an undersized radiator.
Totally irreverent with an electric radiator as the power output is fixed. These work with a CH radiator as they move the air faster through thus effectively giving an output equivalent to a larger radiator. Of course the boiler will be working harder to supply this increased heat output so the overall efficiency is similar. The opening comments stating that these fans save having to fit a larger radiator.
I did something like this over 20 years ago with PC fans. Thermal sensor and all. After one winter i've give up on them. Did not liked the way i felt the heat. Even if the thermostat was set the same, i didn't feel like warm enough. In the end, i've just got bigger radiators.
I bought some and they definitely work 👍
I wonder if there's a way to make some that you don't have to plug in.
The convection of the radiator driving the fans that then increase the airflow?
Electric radiator and CH radiator are quite different.
Electric is constant power. CH is variable power.
Fans are a great idea. But go DIY route. These are silly price.
How long is the power cable?
Out of interest, what make is the electric radiator? We live in a flat with no GCH, have looked at/used so many types of heater over the years.
Nice video. Remember it will use more power. The oven will stay on longer before the thermostat turns off, same if you heating with water
14:54 Tie Wrapping Product Meant to fit on all types of radiators 😂
Ngl when you said the computer fans, I did this 2 years ago 😂 arduino and 6 fans and a thermostat. Worked really effective. Did look at getting them fans you have but very pricey so didn’t bother. Though now we have a very modern ceiling fan which I have on the lowest setting in reverse, makes a massive difference downstairs
In my house all they would do is blow all the old fluff out of the bottom of the rad around the room 😂
I use small electrical radiator 1 meter away from the wall and a typical room "summer" ventilator pointing at it towards the center of the room. It heats the room in 1/10th it would without id and placed in the middle of the room.
would it not work better if they was on top pushing the heat down?
You should investigate power consumption, blowing air through the radiator cools the radiator down where in turn get the thermostat to activate the heating unit more. There is no free energy and efficiency is dependent, if faster heating is what you look for regardless of power consumption, cool this will work. Note that power consumption will go high. Also with water radiators the airflow will cool down the water more and will require more energy from the heating unit to keep the water hot.
Great idea. But would that attract sludge to the bottom of the rad. Through slight vibrations and sediment being suspended in the system. And also through magnetisation of ferrous metals. It’s just a thought please don’t take any offence. I recommend smiths radiators they have so many options and designs
Radiator fans are for when you have both radiant floor heating and radiators and you need to extract some extra comfort from your old radiators.
Heatpumps etc.
Where is everyone getting the price from?
Youre moving the heat around more quickly, convection is slower. You can think of a parallel with a fan oven, it moves the heat to all parts of the oven, vs the top of the oven being hotter.
In my view, It may work well on a small insulated room like the one you have built with a low total surface area (of the insulated boards) but on a large room, the heat loss of the room's bigger walls and ceiling increased surface area would overcome the slightly extra fan heat output. However, it may make the convection effect of the fan's output circulate heat more evenly further away from the radiator.
No, a fanned rad will output 3 times more heat size for size, this allows smaller lower water temp rads to be fitted with the same output once you lower the rads water temp, by doing this you can lower the output of the boiler to say 45 degs and heat the same room with the same size rads but with fans below them. As the condensing boiler is now running at a lower temp in means it will always be in condensing mode and your gas bill will drop plus with the boiler running in a milder state it will last longer.
@@derekclark7545
So instead of fitting bigger rads as is normal with lower water temperatures say on heat pumps you just fit these fans to existing radiators and the increased output supplies supplies loads more heat from existing rads.Cannot see it myself these fans are relatively poor on airflow.
@@geoffreyrobert4132 Just one found in 2 mins, Sunon PMD Series Axial Fan, 24 V dc, DC Operation, 83.3m³/h, 4.8W, 200mA Max, 70 x 70 x 25mm. but there are fanned radiators on the market that will be straight forward to fit. I actually have Dimplex fanned radiators in my bedrooms that turn on when warm water flows through them and turn off when it cools down, they are the same hight and width of what i took out but are a little deeper, the max water temp on that circuit is 46 degs and system is weather compensated so the water temp is variable up to 46 degs, that means the boiler has to work in full condensing mode all the time so using less gas.
We got a cheap top mounting fan that blew the heat out at a 90° and it worked a charm
Will they fit a single radiators.
So these leave the radiators coolder than they would otherwise be, while extracting more heat from the hot water supply. Wonder what that would do to your heat bill when you live in an appartment complex where radiator based heat cost allocators are used.
Can you get fans that work from the heat off the rad? Like the fans on top of wood burners. (If so) are they any good/better?
The heat from that rads is not hot enough for a system like that.
@@prawnk1ng Shame, Thanks for the reply.
@@prawnk1ng However it does beg the question that if you were to fit electric fans to a normal radiator that is where they would be placed as heat rises & you would simply be distributing heat that had left the top of the radiator to the rest of the room. And yet these are all fitted on the bottom to force air up which would increase hot air going up into the room & not where you actually need it.
I don't use these fans but I do put my cieling fan in winter mode which keeps the room warm while also keeping me cool at my PC.
lol i have this aircon unit standing right next to radiator and if you put just fan on it will spread that heat all over the place , so yeah this works like charm
The whole concept depends on where the rad is, and where you are, and where the thermostat is. All the fan does is transport heat from the wall that the heat rises up against and circulates it around the room. If you are in bed on the other side of the room, this will help you feel warmer.
How much money you spend on heating will depend on where the thermostat is, and if the heat is blown over it to make it cut out sooner or away from it so it's on for longer.
If, however, you are right next to the radiator then there will be little benefit as you want the heat to be localized rather than circulated, which will cost more heating the entire room.
Also, your wall insulation plays a part. If the wall that the heater is on is below a window or poorly insulated wall, for instance, in a mobile home... then the fan will likely work better as it blows the heat away from a heat loss source.
fans on rads are not a good idea.. boiler will not like the extra kicking in and out it'll have to do to fight against the cooling fans
@@nicotoscani1707 I was actually only thinking of electric convector heaters, but since you mention it, that's not true. Boilers usually have a thermostat which cuts out with a threshold of about 1 degree (0.5 either side of what you set it to at minimum), so it will cut out for a little while before firing back up as the room goes slightly above and then cools. Even with a tiny fan it will take a while for the thermostat to catch up. And even if it didn't, modern boilers are very robust and can take the load. They are designed to have a long life with very strong parts to withstand the kind of heat that most people will never turn it up to, especially in this economy. It's not like a compressor on a fridge, it's just a water pump, a gas valve and a spark.
@@ArcanePath360 true it is inefficient like that and has a central single thermostat in middle of the house, so the boiler will not engage until that middle spot gets cold enough, by which time the cooling fans on the rads will lhave done their job making the rads as icy as poss so that the boiler has to work harder to heat them up again...... and all th at whirring in every room that we're going to have to put up with, and the risk of leaks getting inside power ports on the fans, thats if they dont die from all the clogging of carpet dust and mites they are shooting up through the rads into our lungs.. nightmare high maintenance setup that'll save us about 2p per year on gas and cost us a limb to setup ... .... if ppl want fan propulsion on their heating, they should get air2air heat solution with the gadget high up on the wall with their own thermostats built into each room .. will end up costing about the same as kitting out all the rads with these pc fans... and those air2air setups are designed to have fans whirring away in an enclosed casing that doesn't attract amillion dust mites and carpet bugs
@@nicotoscani1707 You are so wrong it's hilarious. You are talking about thermal expansion now, which isn't an issue. Radiators in my house go from 10 degrees to boiling every day. Have you ever run a bath? It takes about half and hour with the boiler on constantly. It doesn't break the boiler does it? And then there's the false premise that the fan will make the radiator cold because the thermostat is in the middle of the house. If anything it helps what you are talking about because the fans will blow some of the heat towards the thermostat, keeping an even temperature throughout. But if you note my original post, I said it isn't for everyone, it depends on your setup, how big your house is, where everything is located, how many people are in a certain space at one time. Myself, I have a separate heating system in the bedroom because no one is in there until 10pm. You have to work out what's best for you. The whirring noise I am sure can be controlled as they don't need to spin fast like a PC fan. It's not trying to keep the radiator cool, it's just circulating air. Yes they might get dusty over the course of winter (they won't be on in summer) but you just run the hoover over them when you hoovering up. You seem to be filled with hate for this system for some reason and creating problems where there are none.
Cooling the heater will make the heater use more power to keep it hot.
making your power bill 3% more expensive to run.
spend your money on an 2000w Infrared Electric thermostat controlled Heater half the price to run than an oil filed heater and heats up the room 10x faster.
£63.74 on amazon UK cheaper than spending £139.99 + £10.20 postage on the Trio fan set Set.😕😕😕😕😕😕😕
How much that magnet collect rust on radiator?
Other Else good video and tested many times good 👍😊
Doesn't this alter the radiator balance, won't there be more than the 12-15 degree drop between in and out?
yep
This would 100% work .. but it would also increase the power consumption of your radiator if it is an electric radiator hence increasing your electricity bill... Those radiators have automatic power cut off switch when they reach a certain temperature (safety feature). And when you pump cold air from underneath you are basically cooling the radiator down transferring it's heat to the air that is being pushed through it. And when you are cooling your radiator down it will have a harder time reaching the cut off temperature and will be turning itself off a lot less often if ever.
Nice face in the background on the product shot 😂
Permanently-plugged-in power supplies tend to die quickly (as in, in 2-3 years, 5y max), as the electrolytic capacitors degrade (typically the caps connected to higher voltage - like the mains, go first). And of course you cannot connect an unlimited number of them in a series, since the power supply has a limited output.
made them myself from 3 or 4 old pc fans and two aluminium rods and a bunch of tyraps. 3 years now and works wonderfull.
Nice idea but frankly £80 for 3 fans and a power supply is a scam you can diy these for around £20-£30 with much more airflow. parts are.
Plug in timer £5 old power supply £0. pack of cable ties £5 pack of magnets £5 4x 12v fans £10 superglue £5 if you intend to cable tie them on then its £20.
Using thin cable ties cable tie each fan to the next ensuring the fan direction is all the same. run a live cable to all the red and a negative to all the black. solder to the power supply and plug the supply into the timer which you can set for when your heating turns on and off. glue the magnets to the fan case or cable tie the fans in place
quick cheap trick i have been using 5v triple pc fan with 3 speeds for about 5 years run with a power bank for £15 lasts about 1 week on 1 charge ( takes about 2 hours to charge) no need to use a plug socket all the time can do 7 radiators for under £100. you can buy a 3 fan unit for as little as a £5 and decent power bank for under £10
We got one big one... Whole house has air-heating. Blowing into a room and sucking back via the basement.
My brother in law has these, he has radiator heating. Buthas switched to a heat-pump system.
I was interested until i so the price.
PC from Amazon, 2 magnets, cheapy adapter, £10 all in! Lol
Take a drink every time he says “radiator”, go on I dare you. 😂
It would be interesting to know the cost saving vs cost of running the fans
The thing with these is you will have a more even temperature in your house. And you should make them draw the hot air down, towards the floor. You dont want the heat at the roof, it will end up there later anyway as hot air goes up.