Last Updated on November 3, 2021 by Kravelv
We all have that one room or space at home which always seemingly has a chill in the air. It could be a cupboard under the stairs or the box bedroom no one uses. It could even be your bathroom or bedroom that has trouble getting (and staying) warm.
Whenever a smaller room at home is having a heating issue, it can be incredibly annoying. After all, how can such a teeny tiny space be the one area that won’t get warm when heating is on? A lot of the time, it can be down to the type of radiator you have and what it’s doing every time you turn it on.
Thanks to the experts at Trade Radiators, who know more than a thing or two about home heating, here is how you can figure out why a radiator might not be working for small problem spaces.
The Radiator Position
People tend to think that radiators give off heat the same way heat comes off a campfire. We’ve all been guilty of standing right in front of one whenever we need to heat ourselves up. And yes, while you can stand there all day long and instantly get heat, and there’s no better feeling than popping some socks on for a few minutes, you need to remind yourself what it is a radiator has to do to help a smaller room get warm.
It needs to draw air in from the bottom, pull it up to heat, and push it out. It needs to do so for air to circulate around a room and keep that flow going. Whenever you put something in the way, you are limiting how productive a radiator can be. I see this happening all the time in smaller rooms, especially amongst people who would be working from home nowadays and have converted a small space into a home office and positioned a desk to inhibit airflow.
You might have something draped over the radiator or blocking the bottom. If there’s any sort of impediment, you’re placing the radiator at a disadvantage. Keep it clear and let it work its magic. The only time you’d never need to worry about this is if you have an infrared radiator in a small room. They emit heat in a single direction but are quite expensive pieces of kit to have.
The Room Size
Small rooms place us at a major disadvantage. It is often the case that the room size doesn’t match the heating requirements or the radiator. Some people will stick a radiator in and think everything will work out fine. You need to look online for heating calculators, measure your room, and get to know what British Thermal Unit rating your small room has.
You can’t just rely on square footage, especially if your small room has awkward angles, little nooks, and windows in odd locations. Get to know the true size of a room, and you’ll be able to figure out heating requirements from there.
The Radiator Location
When you have a small room, the radiator you have will always look and feel big, especially if it gets in the way. Ever had a room behind a door, and you hit the door off it? Or what about having to push a bed against a radiator, only to roll over and almost burn your arm or leg?
Location, unlike position, can also become an issue in smaller spaces. You might be left wondering what the ideal location for a radiator is? It will always be the coldest spot in a room. That is typically an exterior wall with a window. It is where cold air is attracted to (remember, radiators need and love cold air to work efficiently). So, if your radiator is located on the “warm” side of a room, it might be worth changing the location.
I hope this has helped you get a rough idea of what causes heating problems in small rooms and how small changes for your radiator can help.
