On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 10:32:21 +0000 (UTC), Charles Middleton
wrote:

Andy Hall wrote:

It should be OK unless you have a very high output one (although I
have never seen a towel radiator with high output).

As a rule of thumb, with 8mm tube over typical lengths in a house of
say 4-5m from the manifold or other connection to the main flow and
return, you can get about 1.5kW worth of water flow.
With 10mm, it's about 2.5kW.

So unless you have really long runs, you should be OK. You may have
to play with the lockshield valve.

Don't forget the inhibitor :-)



Sorry to appear stupid :-) but whats the lock shield valve and whats an
inhibitor? Feel free to refer to the relevant plumbing for dummies web site!

The lockshield valve is the one which you don't use to turn the
radiator on and off or isn't the TRV. It has a cap removable by a
screw. You adjust it to regulate the flow and hence the temperature
drop and heat output of the radiators. The idea is to have the
temperature drop the same on all radiators so that they heat evenly
and give the design output. There is info. on doing this in the FAQ.
If you change a radiator's rating by altering type and size then the
flow may need to be adjusted. If it is working OK after fitting
then there may be no need to bother.

Corrosion Inhibitor is a liquid or gel system additive which
dramatically reduces or prevents system corrosion. It costs around
£15-20 for a good one like Fernox MB-1 or Superconcentrate and lasts
typically around three years. In comparison with the cost of new
radiators it is a cheap insurance policy.



Also, Id be interested in installing an electic heater onto the rail. I
understand that you should have a mains outlet in a bathroom for good
reason. The room adjacent to my bathroom is my landing and this has a
plug socket on the wall - very close to where the rail will be in the
bathroom.

Is it acceptable for me to take a spur from that socket to a switch and
then wire from the switch to the rail? This would be on the upstairs
ring circuit which already has one spur on it running a double 13amp
plug socket.

There are two aspects to this.

The first is the spur. This is OK, as long as the socket is not
already a spur and that you have a fused connection unit with 13A (or
less) fuse somewhere before the heater, but see note on position
below.)

The second is location of outlets and switches in a bathroom.
Nowadays this is all defined by distance zones relative to baths and
showers.

There is a reference to it in the Wiring Regulations. This is an
extract from one of the popular guides to them.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/7.2.2A.htm

The key is location, and whether you are in Zone 2 or 3 or beyond.

A towel rail is a fixed appliance for these purposes, so you need to
look at requirements for the outlet and switch.

If you are able, by dint of the rules to have a switch, then it should
be a switch with fuse, or the fused connection unit should precede it.


..andy

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