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Default 2 Radiators in series?

I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway
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Default 2 Radiators in series?

In article , PeterC
writes
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?


No bigee, just treat them as one when balancing ie maintain the drop
across the pair rather than each in turn. Technically you will get a
better result if you join both top and bottom with pipes but I don't
have figures on the difference (I'd expect it to be small).
--
fred
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Default 2 Radiators in series?

On Aug 6, 9:39*pm, PeterC wrote:
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?


No. If carried to extreme, eg having all the house's rads in series,
the last rad gets lukewarm water and has to be correspondingly huge.


NT
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Default 2 Radiators in series?


"PeterC" wrote in message
...
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to
get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway


One drawback is that if one rad develops a fault you will not be able to
isolate it, and moving the rads as a pair might be fiddly and require care
not to get black goo everywhere if you have to loosen the joiner pipe.
Minor details but worth thinking about if you have nice carpets. [ Yes
folks, I'm stingy, and prefer to empty one rad at a time if I can, rather
than keep forking out for expensive inhibitors etc after draining the whole
system.]

S


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Default 2 Radiators in series?

On Sat, 7 Aug 2010 02:33:15 +0100, Spamlet wrote:

"PeterC" wrote in message
...
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to
get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway


One drawback is that if one rad develops a fault you will not be able to
isolate it, and moving the rads as a pair might be fiddly and require care
not to get black goo everywhere if you have to loosen the joiner pipe.
Minor details but worth thinking about if you have nice carpets. [ Yes
folks, I'm stingy, and prefer to empty one rad at a time if I can, rather
than keep forking out for expensive inhibitors etc after draining the whole
system.]

S


Thanks for the replies - I'll pipe them in series.

Good point, Spamlet, I've changed the compression tails to in-line valves.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway


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Default 2 Radiators in series?


"PeterC" wrote in message
...
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to
get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?


If the radiators are largish, I would avoid putting 2 in series. The second
one would be cooler and less efficient. I also can't see how you could fit
thermastic valves which would work for both rooms.

If you were hell beint on fitting them both in series I would consider
fitting a top pipe as well. Then both rads would have similar top to bottom
temperature gradients.

You ought be able to get right angle lockshield valves within 10cm.


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Default 2 Radiators in series?

In article , Fredxx
writes

"PeterC" wrote in message
.. .
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to
get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?


If the radiators are largish, I would avoid putting 2 in series. The second
one would be cooler and less efficient. I also can't see how you could fit
thermastic valves which would work for both rooms.

Two 2m radiators in series with pipes joined top and bottom are no less
efficient than a single 4m radiator when the temperature drop across the
pair is the same as the drop across the single long one.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********
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Default 2 Radiators in series?

PeterC wrote:

Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?


I have three towel rails connected in series in my bathroom. I just
treat them as one big radiator. Works fine.

Pete
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Default 2 Radiators in series?

On Sat, 7 Aug 2010 14:36:40 +0100, Fredxx wrote:

"PeterC" wrote in message
...
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to
get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?


If the radiators are largish, I would avoid putting 2 in series. The second
one would be cooler and less efficient. I also can't see how you could fit
thermastic valves which would work for both rooms.

They're 1200mm and within 10cm of each other in the same room. No TRVs as
they'd argue with the 'stat.

If you were hell beint on fitting them both in series I would consider
fitting a top pipe as well. Then both rads would have similar top to bottom
temperature gradients.

That's easy to do as a retrofit.

You ought be able to get right angle lockshield valves within 10cm.



--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway
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Default 2 Radiators in series?

On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:02:59 +0100, Pete Verdon wrote:

PeterC wrote:

Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major drawback
to this method?


I have three towel rails connected in series in my bathroom. I just
treat them as one big radiator. Works fine.

Pete


I've done the same sort of thing: needed a 2m single, curver rad. for a
bay. It would have been expensive and several weeks to arrive. Use 3-off
600x500 in series and yes, there was drop across them but that's what rads.
are for! The drop was about the same as a 1600mm in the same room.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway


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Default 2 Radiators in series?


"PeterC" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 7 Aug 2010 14:36:40 +0100, Fredxx wrote:

"PeterC" wrote in message
...
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to
get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major
drawback
to this method?


If the radiators are largish, I would avoid putting 2 in series. The
second
one would be cooler and less efficient. I also can't see how you could
fit
thermastic valves which would work for both rooms.

They're 1200mm and within 10cm of each other in the same room. No TRVs as
they'd argue with the 'stat.

If you were hell beint on fitting them both in series I would consider
fitting a top pipe as well. Then both rads would have similar top to
bottom
temperature gradients.

That's easy to do as a retrofit.

You ought be able to get right angle lockshield valves within 10cm.



I misread some aspects of your post. As you say 10cm is not enough room to
put 2 lots of lockshield.

I would plumb in the top pipe as a matter of course. It'll then perform as
good as a single rad of the same length.



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Default 2 Radiators in series?

On Sun, 8 Aug 2010 11:08:01 +0100, Fredxx wrote:

"PeterC" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 7 Aug 2010 14:36:40 +0100, Fredxx wrote:

"PeterC" wrote in message
...
I'm adding another radiator to a room; it'll be on the outside wall the
same as the present one. The gap will be only about 10cm or so, room to
get
valves in.
Instead of fitting valves to both rads., I was wondering about just
connecting them in series with a bit of pipe. Is there any major
drawback
to this method?

If the radiators are largish, I would avoid putting 2 in series. The
second
one would be cooler and less efficient. I also can't see how you could
fit
thermastic valves which would work for both rooms.

They're 1200mm and within 10cm of each other in the same room. No TRVs as
they'd argue with the 'stat.

If you were hell beint on fitting them both in series I would consider
fitting a top pipe as well. Then both rads would have similar top to
bottom
temperature gradients.

That's easy to do as a retrofit.

You ought be able to get right angle lockshield valves within 10cm.



I misread some aspects of your post. As you say 10cm is not enough room to
put 2 lots of lockshield.

I would plumb in the top pipe as a matter of course. It'll then perform as
good as a single rad of the same length.


Done it: increased the distance to ~12cm, 2 angle valves and a 'U' of
copper at the bottom.
Couldn't join the tops as the rads. have no top unions, only bleed.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway
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Default 2 Radiators in series?

In article , PeterC
writes

Done it: increased the distance to ~12cm, 2 angle valves and a 'U' of
copper at the bottom.
Couldn't join the tops as the rads. have no top unions, only bleed.


Well done, balance across the pair and the difference in heat output
will be next to bugger all.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********
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Default 2 Radiators in series?

On Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:43:43 +0100, fred wrote:

In article , PeterC
writes

Done it: increased the distance to ~12cm, 2 angle valves and a 'U' of
copper at the bottom.
Couldn't join the tops as the rads. have no top unions, only bleed.


Well done, balance across the pair and the difference in heat output
will be next to bugger all.


That's what I've found, Fred: fully open vlves (well, half a turn in)
between the rads and the other 2 open the right amount and lots of heat! -
but why was I doing this when the temperature in the house was 22C?!!

Added some gunk and filled the system, heated it up a couple of times to
get it all mixed in, now leave it for a week, drain down, wash through and
refill with a drop more gunk in it - that, I hope, will do it for a few
years.

Awkward job getting the additive in as only 1 rad. with top unions. Used a
right-angle of pipe on a service valve and a 60ml syringe. Made the mistake
of filling the system intending to drain down a bit and add upstairs, then
found that I couldn't seal into a bleed hole. Had to turn off all valves
except the new one and bow some water out of that to get access.

By the time it needs doing again I'll have forgotten how I did it.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway
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