How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Panel Rads are the best for heating a room or underfloor heating. Designer rads usually dont perform as well!

Thanks both , yep had the conversation about the location too .
Will keep looking for something that passes the aesthetic criteria .

Had no issues with our triple column rads keeping us toasty but I specced them to the same BTU’s as the ugly panel rads they replaced but at delta50 and then I insulated and fitted new glazing.
If you choose the correct rating for the room I don’t see why there should be a problem not using panel rads.

Thanks
We are looking at these in various different sizes.
https://www.plumbworld.co.uk/park-lane-traditional-vertical-colosseum-double-bar-column-radiator-white-1600-x-380mm-1036-1269274
Our gas chap was quite dismissive about this style. We have an older house, not super insulated , so will surely have to size up . Think I am losing the argument , and we go this route , so good to have some validation on this style .

It’s your home not his!
If the output calculation is correct then surely any radiator of the same rating will do the job.
If fancy rads didn’t work people would not fit them, ours take up a bit more space but they look much nicer.

Thanks fella, he is making a good case for the convection rads being better than the radiating Collums, but as you say it is our place and my other half has her heart set on the column style..

If fancy rads didn’t work people would not fit them,

Ha. I have fancy rads and they do not work. (Although I assume that's because they are massively underspecced)

What do you make a bath panel out of if you don’t want a plastic one and don’t want to spend £150+ on one? Marine ply?

I need a bath panel and was looking at some nice ones in Wickes . Plastic wrapped Mdf I think

I mean we have a fancy vertical rad that's speced right, but not excessively(sp?) so and it's not great. Could be that it's not correctly balanced.

However, our ugly one hidden behind a sofa fucking belts the heat out.

That’s what we did

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I’m sure someone on here said that tall column radiators are less efficient at converting always - it sounded logical to me at the time

Liking that a lot ..

This. We've got some decent panel radiators and some vertical column ones that are over rated for the size of the room and because that's all that would fit in the spaces. The panel ones don't feel as hot to the touch but they noticeably warm the place up better.

Vertical column rads are a waste of money. BTU output ratings are only one part of the equation: rads rely on convection to work effectively, and the wider the better.

The nice-looking column style rads, even triple-column, are significantly worse at delivering heat energy, as their surface area is much, much lower than a standard K2-type double-panel double-convector rad of an equivalent size, and the tubular bars are a poor design for promoting convection, unlike the corrugated fins in between normal panel rads that are oriented suitably to generate convection currents. Vertical ones are even worse.

People fit fancy column style rads not because they work, but because all radiators are horrific eyesores and the column ones look less bad.

I wanted fancy rads, but ended up using bog-standard Stelrad K2 panel units in our refurb. This saved over £2K on the radiator bill over column units, means I can run the ASHP at a lower flow temp, and they’ll mostly be obscured by furniture and shit anyway.

I hear you loud and clear, and I would be fitting stelrad all day long, but alas the aesthetics is of concern to my better half . Hmm.

My partner seemed to be instantly swayed the second I demonstrated the £2K cost difference…

For some strange reason anthracite rads do not work to the same as a panel rad but also a lot of it is down to the design too.

You get the soft line stelrads, with the curved grills they look nice or break the bank and get some new old cast ones, but the prices of them are eye watering!

Thanks! This is more or less exactly what I had in mind. What did you treat it with?

Thanks all . I will look for a cost calculator on column vs convection. Liking those Stelrads a lot.

Just get the biggest column rads you can fit in, they'll still preform better than gunked up old ones.

And you'll only be running them for 5 months of the year, but looking at them for 12.

We have anthracite and one bronze vertical all triple column, whatever performance gains for a white panel rad I don’t think they would look the part despite the missing skirting…

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I think I am losing this one, hoping to win the electric vs gas fire argument for the lounge. We have no chimney /no gas line to lounge and are having a fitted wall unit, so gas will be very expensive .

Top pic looks perfect.