Put a Fan in Your Radiator

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It is well known that underfloor heating is an effective way to create a basic temperature in your home. Unfortunately, underfloor heating reacts slowly. In mid-season or during a cold summer evening it is not advisable to turn on the underfloor heating for a quick adjustment. For this reason, additional radiators are usually installed and used separately to increase the room temperature without reliance on the much slower-reacting underfloor heating. A recent development is to use electrical ventilators placed inside the radiator to speed up the heat distribution in the room, while also saving energy.

Convection

A traditional radiator works according to the convection principle. Hot water is sent through the radiator, heating cold air surrounding the bottom of the radiator. The heated air rises through the radiator into the room, circulating the warm air throughout the room and moving the remaining cold air to the bottom of the radiator to be heated. This natural process is relatively slow, especially for heating systems employing low water temperatures.

A Fan in your Radiator

To speed up the heating process, it is possible to equip low water temperature radiators with fan modules. You can choose to boost the heating process via the service module on the radiator. It requires only an additional wall plug to feed the fan modules. The system comes with a sensor module that is built in into the radiator to measure the hot water temperature as well as the room temperature.

Two fan modules are connected to this opened-up radiator.

Such a fan system also greatly reduces the risk of overheating the room. Should the room temperature suddenly increase―for instance due to solar heat―the fan system will react accordingly by dispersing less heat in the room.

Saving Energy and Investing

Such systems require a bigger investment than traditional radiators. This is however offset by improved temperature control and a shorter time frame to heat up the room, increasing radiator efficiency by up to 30%. This immediately leads to considerable energy savings and a lower subsequent energy bill. In addition, CO₂ emissions are reduced, to the benefit of us all. Such ventilation systems have an estimated lifetime of 30 years, while the investment is earned back much faster.

What About Existing Radiators?

In addition to the above-mentioned built-in systems, stand-alone units can be used on existing radiators. They are installed on top of the radiator and have their own control panel.