solo radiators

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poppy1

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144
Hi

just wondering does anyone have any opinion on these, ie advantages and disadvantages, thanks
 
I have fitted 4 but as yet cant turn them on, still more work to be done and as they have a fan it would draw dust into them. Advantages, really neat, one = 2 normal rads, look good. Smaller than normal rads.

Disadvantages, they use a fan so not suitable for bedrooms, it can be switched off.

noah
 
We have recently had 4 of these installed. So far, I am not impressed. They are loud, look worse than regular radiators - and we have not found a way of covering them (eg regluar radiator cabinets) due to the fan. We have had the plumber out 5 times to fix one of them. I tried to contact the company regarding covering them, but was unable to contact them. Had a Cork number.
 
I cant test them yet as they are switched off until all the dust has gone!! may be never, I got the discrete ones with the pipes hidden and I got a kicker that goes in kitchen. They look really neat but my workers are destroying everything so will not look new very soon.

Will report back when fittted. I have them in areas where I hop noise will not intrude.

noah
 
Hi Noah,
Will soon be ready to install my Solo Rads, and see you put them in last year, so I hope you don't mind if I pick your brains.
Are you pleased with them, do they work as well and as efficiently as we are told, and is the noise from the fan an issue?
When I did my original research, I found a website ( Low Energy Solutions, I think ) that had pictures, installation guides, and plenty of information. I cannot find it now, and before I order them I need to check a few things
Many Thanks,
Bluebells.
 
hi, I have moved in now and got plenty experience of the solo rads, would I have them again? not on your life, are they noisy yes, do they work,? up to a point. I have the large ones and the small ones and a kicker. Dont have them in a bedrooom.

Here are the drawbacks.

1. Mine are fitted on the same circuit as barlow round tops, solo recommends you dont do that, my plumber says it does not matter. It does.

2. You have to set the temperature manually on each individually by pushing a very flimsy switch, you have to hold it in and then you have 4 settings, low, medium, hgh, very high BUT is does not actually give a temperature readout so its guesswork. It has a handy function where you can get a blast of air for about 10-15 mins.

3. When room is hot and u turn off CH, the solo rads will continue to call for heat if left on a high setting so now you get cold air.

The best thing is the small amount of space they take up.

Highly overated.

ask back if you want anymore detail

noah
 
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Thanks for reply, Noah.
I had thought that they were the ideal thing for my heating system. Regular rads - are they the "barlow roundtops" you refer to? - are not very efficient with geothermal, and I would need a bigger heatpump for UFH upstairs. This would mean 3 phase electricity.

To be honest I've had a bellyful of new-fangled heating at this stage, I'm nearly sorry I didn't go for tried and tested OFCH !

However thefisherman, in another post said he rarely needs his radiators on atall. Maybe noise won't be such a problem if they are only on now and again. Will probably have to go with them as I can't find an alternative at this stage.

BTW, Congratulations on getting moved in. I wish you much happiness in your new house.
 
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They sound good in theory but it is an item one would want to see actually working. And if you are moving to a well insualted house then you will find they will heat up fast.

Thanks for good wishes and the same to yourskelf. I still have to get outside done and of course sell the other palce. Oh well keeps me active

noah
 
Hey Noah

We also have 4 fitted and are living with them for the past 3 weeks, we have no probs with them (wood pellet heating).
We press the boost button to give us a boost of heating for 20 mins, thats when they get loud. We only have them in the halls, study and kitchen, none in the bedrooms due to noise) they kinda hum.....

But overall we find them fine!!
 
Hi Poppy1

I see that you have been using the solo radiators for a few weeks now, are they working well?

I am thinking of replacing a small hall radiator with a solo because the hall and stairs always seem to be freezing. I hoped the fan on the solo would help to distribute the heat better than a traditional radiator.
 
poppy1 said:
Hey Noah

We also have 4 fitted and are living with them for the past 3 weeks, we have no probs with them (wood pellet heating).
We press the boost button to give us a boost of heating for 20 mins, thats when they get loud. We only have them in the halls, study and kitchen, none in the bedrooms due to noise) they kinda hum.....

But overall we find them fine!!
Click to expand...
And how do you find the pellet heating? I'm thinking of investing in it, but have received very mixed reviews for it.
 
Hi
Further to my comments about the Heat king unit,we also have 4 Solo 03 radiators on the first floor.They are fine during the day but rather irritating in the early hours when the system kicks in.They can be quite noisy even on setting 1 . The bonus is they are quite small units so they do not dominate a room .
long term they may be a problem to maintain due to the moving parts and the poor control panel .This panel has to be pressed quite hard to change the setting and does not seem very strong
 
billyb

I've a wood burning boiler in my garage and i'm considering putting in solo rads as i've heard there very efficient i'm fitting them in bedrooms and am concerned that they my be noisy when the fan comes onor have they improved them recently
 
its advisable NOT to fit them in bedrooms, they have fans so by default will be noisy
 
Only install a few of them and not for all radiators. They have extremely low water content and most boilers will be sized to heat the volume of normal radiator system. If all rads are Solo's then the boiler will short cycle like mad and be much more expensive to run.

I generally only install them in rooms that are difficult to heat such as conservatories, which they are excellent at heating.
 
Thanks for the information i had'nt considered the effect it would have on my boiler i assumed the boiler would be running a lot less because it had so little water to heat. Im going to get onto solo rad and see if they have a show room where i can see them operating
 
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