Best place to buy period radiators

[truenorth]

Morning all,

I'm looking at replacing a whole house of nasty, modern white radiators. I'm looking for period style rads, all sorts of different sizes, nothing too ornate, possibly similar to these:
http://www.discountedheating.co.uk/shop/acatalog/AEL_Victoriana_Cast_Iron_Radiators.html

As they're very expensive, can anyone recommend anywhere to buy them?

Thanks TN

 

[Feltwell]

Hello TN,

I'm not sure there is a cheap place to buy that style of radiator! You could go for reclaimed, but then getting a matching set in the sizes you want will be very hard - and quality can be variable, they can corrode and develop "pin-holes" which, unless they've been pressure tested, you won't spot until your nice new radiator leaks.

There are steel copies available from some of the DIY sheds, I got mine from B&Q. They are quite not as nice as the "real thing" but are much nicer than a standard flat panel rad, and worked out a lot less than the price of "genuine" cast iron. Acova was the brand:-

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.j...efview=lister&ts=1263212280236&isSearch=false

If you look the look of them I'd suggest you hang on until B&Q do a 15% off offer - they come up quite regularly - it's the end of their financial year at the end of Jan, they tend to do a sales push in the last week of Jan to get the numbers in.

 

[MattW]

There are steel copies available from some of the DIY sheds

Not sure what your budget is, but you get what you pay for - the approximate copies sold by B&Q are only in the style of the originals, up from there there are cast iron copies taken from originals by chinese manufacturers sold by people like http://www.ukcastironradiators.com/ which are OK, but the detailing is so so and there are questions on the quality of the seals. Then the very best are the originals that have been refurbished.

You could go for reclaimed, but then getting a matching set in the sizes you want will be very hard - and quality can be variable, they can corrode and develop "pin-holes" which, unless they've been pressure tested, you won't spot until your nice new radiator leaks.

I've just bought 16 original radiators that had been refurbished - getting matching ones isn't difficult at all as all reputable suppliers break the old radiators down into segments prior to cleaning. So you just specify how many segments you need in a particular place using a BTU calculator and they rebuild them to order. Many styles such as Duchess or Princess styles came in 3 or 4 height sizes also, so I had no problem in getting them to fit under windows etc. The radiators should definitely be pressure tested prior to shipping to at least 10 bar. here is a pic of one of mine, still in its plastic wrap to protect against paint spills:



I bought mine from John Bodrell at Perfect Irony http://www.perfect-irony.com/ - he was great to deal with and would definitely recommend him. However I also spoke to The Old Radiator Company, who were also very helpful. I got quotes how ever from at least 5 firms, and found that they were all willing to give significant discounts for 10+ radiators.

Final thought - budget properly for the valves - to get ones that look good with the old radiators is not necessarily cheap!

 

[Feltwell]

Good post Matt. I wouldn't argue for a second that the DIY shed copies are as good as the "real thing" - they're not - but they are a lot cheaper, if that's all your budget will stretch to. Still a lot more expensive than modern panel rads though!

I hadn't thought about the suppliers of original ones breaking them down into sections to rebuild to an exact size, obvious really!

As you say pressure testing is a must, a friend got 15 rads from the offices of a soon-to-be-demolished factory but found on fitting the first 5 that 2 of them leaked. He then stopped and got the rest pressure tested and found that a further 3 leaked. Luckily he only needed 9 overall.

 

[benmc]

I asked the same thing a few months ago

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10256

I ended up going with http://salvagedoctor.com/ Good guy and knowledgeable

The original rads are wonderful and very very heavy. Also be aware that they are not cheap once you add the nice authentic valves. As I an idea my 6 rads inc valves cost £3175 but worth every penny.

Regards
Ben