cast iron radiators, should I, shouldn't I ????

[simonh]

Hi, I live in a Victorian house which has a worcester combi boiler and ordinary panel radiators. I am toying with getting some cast iron radiators for that nice period look. What I would like to know is : can these be fitted straight into the system? (the current radiators are fed by 10/8mm microbore type copper piping which comes off 15mm pipe), if I go for reclaimed/restored radiators how do I calculate the output and so make sure I have the right size for each room? (I have been told that they can kick out quite alot of heat in comparison to panel radiators), and finally is this just a bad idea and should I just stick to the modern stuff. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Mr. Tickle]

I have no idea on the technical side - but if you have a victorian house fitted with these kind of features, (including door knobs, hearths, roses etc.) you can usually add 10K onto the price of your house easily.

If you have working, well looked after sash windows with all the above - you could be rolling in a lot of cash.

If it can be done technically and would fit into your decor, i would highly recommend it.

Mr. Tickle.

 

[oilman]

Don't be silly, people in Victorian times were too poor to have radiators, most of them were too poor to have even a cooker (or shoes in some cases). However, you can get radiators of loads of sizes here .You don't get much heat down 10mm, so changing to 15mm would be useful. You can get some really smart TRVs in bronze for a mere £280 each to go with your rads.

 

[felix]

There's no technical reason why you shouldn't use cast iron instead of pressed steel. If anything the reverse is true. There's also no harm in having an oversized radiator because you can always fit a TRV or throttle it back with the lockshield valve. On the other hand, those old radiators came with large diameter IRON pipes. Your microbore copper is going to stick out like a very sore thumb. Even swapping it for 15mm, though worth doing for better water flow, might not look right. If you use 28mm for all visible pipework and paint it to match the radiators you might just get away with it.

 

[kevplumb]

22 looks ok but the valves are a tad expensive if you want it to look the part

 

[doitall]

We fit new and old cast iron rads most of the time, including valves at £1000 a pair, but any valve will fit or can be bushed down to 1/2".

Pipe tails a minimum of 15mm is ok

 

[simonh]

Thanks to everyone for their input, much appreciated. I shall go off and see if I can find some nice radiators now. Cheers