DESIGNER RADIATOR- Radiator boosters and fans

One of the biggest drawbacks of conventional radiators is the fact that whilst they emit heat they do not actively distribute it around a room like a fan heater. This means that on a cool day you can get localised areas of warmth around the radiators with cold spots in other more distant parts of a room. This in turn can result in convection currents that make a room feel draughty. The colder the day, the more exaggerated this effect can be.

Modern convection radiators try to encourage the distribution of air by incorporating a design that uses fins at the rear of the radiator, or that uses a double radiator with a central void. This increases the heated surface area and encourages passive air movement, however it still remains an inactive approach to the problem.

The alternative

The alternative to relying on the room to naturally distribute and balance the heat from the radiators is to use some kind of fan in conjunction with the central heating system. These fans are often called heat distributors or radiator boosters.

Radiator boosters work by using a fan to draw (or suck) warm air from the finned void in the centre of a double convector radiator (the hottest part) and then blow it out across the room. This action is multiplied in its effectiveness by virtue of the fact that the warm air that is blown away has to be replaced by cooler air which is then sucked from around the radiator. This produces a highly effective convection heating system.

This means that radiator boosters combine the energy efficient heat generation of a central heating radiator based system with the distribution efficiency of a fan heater.

The result is that the heat produced by the radiators is spread evenly across the room which in turn heats the room up more quickly, more efficiently and more cheaply. Ultimately this can lead to a boiler burning less fuel and cutting fuel bills.

These radiator boosters can usually be plugged into a mains electricity socket and their energy consumption is low. Various claims are made as to their energy savings, but in a typical home they can make a significant saving in annual fuel bills and greenhouse gas emissions.