Rad in loft

[Deansplit]

I live in a Victorian 3 story house on the sea front in N Ireland. I want to make the loft a usable space for making a trainset. The loft is already insulated in the rafters and plaster boarded. I have a pressurised system do a high rad is no prob, but I was intending to have a master gate valve in the room below so I can easily turn on and off, as well as a TRV on the rad. But someone mentioned to do away with the gate valve dn just keep the TRV as in winter, if the gate valve is closed and the loft is not used, it may risk freezing. My worry is, with a TRV, in winter, with the East wind blowing on shore, it'll be on all the time even at the lowest setting. We have a rear wing loft which used to contain the rad header tank, and it had no rafter insulation - there was never a problem with freezing pipes.

Any advice - is there a norm - I'd basically be creating an attic conversion but without windows, I can't see it being a problem??

 

[Agile]

You are saying opposing things. You say it never freezes and you worry about keeping the rad on all the time.

The reality is that interest in the train set may not extend to all year round use and in any case an electric fan heater would be an easy and cheap solution.

A rad with TRV would just use a small amount of heat to keep it from freezing. However, I would ask if wasting a small a mount of heat all the winter is worth the bother compared with a fan heater which does not freeze.

Tony

 

[Deansplit]

Mmm, know what you're saying.Part of me is concerned that an elec fan heater means I have to consciously be aware that it's been switched off when hatch is closed and kids have finished playing - big fire risk! Unless I have a master switch on the electrics - that's possible as the cabling is surface mounted so I can intercept it!??

 

[Agile]

Sorry, I did not realise it was for the kids!

In that case their attention span will wane before the rad gets fitted!

There is only one place for a train set as far as a kid is concerned and thats on the living room floor.

My father bought mine in bits from the states on his business visits. Could not have been cheap either but it was very good with two electric points, one crossover, lights in the carriages, kaboose etc. Also an electric crane to lift off the cargo!

I did not sell mine until I was about 37 and got about £130 for it but it was a US "O" gauge and the steam loco puffed out real smoke! It was also solid die-cast, none of this plastic stuff. The buyer came about 150 miles to buy it and seemed very pleased! To the right collector it was probably worth more like £1300.

Tony

 

[Deansplit]

Brilliant!! I'm talking about a full on permanent scenic railway though, just like a model railway magazine! Used to have one in the loft myself as a kid - maybe I'm just doing this secretly for myself!!

 

[seco services]

get yourself a fat controller that'll keep you warm.

 

[Agile]

In that case add 50mm Kingspan insulation and fit the rad!

Are you sure the kind will appreciate it though?

Mine gave me and my friends hours, days, years of fun. But then it was an engineers design.

One of the highlights of my train fun was to create train crashes and derailments! Maybe that was just me though.

Tony

 

[Deansplit]

50mm KS... to where? the rafter void is already fully insulated as if a living space already (previous owner did 90% of the work, just didn't allow for heat!)

 

[ianniann]

If the pitched roof is insulated then it isn't going to freeze. Assuming you aren't walking on 10" of fibreglass

 

[Deansplit]

That's what I thought! No, all totally floored and carpeted!

 

[big-all]

i have built several layouts but not for several years now last but one dismantled 5 years ago
biggest was my own at 34ft long by 12ft wide with 4ft in the middle for most off the length dismantled unfortunatley late 80s
my present 6ftx4ft layout lays mainly unused since my son now aged 18 lost interests7 years ago

so if you need any advice please ask
may i suggest you find a fan heater you can mount above there heads or even at the back off the layout just above the track so no easy to reach for little hands

 

[Deansplit]

You see, thing is (why I'm all up for what appears to be a more costly option), the house is in bits for major restoration anyway, system drained, so it's minimal work for me to tee off our clothes room rad (below the loft) and surface plumb 2x 15mm pipes straight through the ceiling, bingo (being only a clothes rm I'm not too fussed about the pipes showing). I already have the rad from the kitchen (making this under floor heating) so there's absolutely zero cost and will, what, a 3-4hr job? The hardest part is getting the rad 'up' there!

So, does that change any views/suggestions or was all the advice here irrelevant of cost?

 

[daneski88]

how about something like this

Thermostat on rad, controller downstairs - best of both worlds!

 

[mysteryman]

No, just put in a radiator with a thermostatic valve; leave it on 1 or frost protection when its not in use up there. Simple and cheap to run plus frost protection.