Do Radiator Fans Work? WE TEST THE CLAIMS!

Do radiator fans work? We test the claims! Get yours on Amazon 👇

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[plumberparts]

Bit of background - I fitted these at Emily's Mum house and she LOVES them. Also I saw Kiri over Christmas and she's blown away by them (and my good looks!) I have them at home and love them too.

[DelticEngine]

I'm going to build my own version. I've already determined, from previous projects, a lot of 12V computer fans run very happily and for a long time running at 5V from a USB power bank or power adapter. Thermostatic switches are available with switching temperatures starting at 30C all the way up to 200C for just a couple of quid online. I'm not sure a thermostat is always necessary as the air movement keeps circulating the air making the environment nicer to be in. An alternative could be a time switch set to only allow the fans to run during daytime or hours of occupancy and save the cost of the power adapter energy. When set up correctly a 12V computer fan running at 5V is practically silent which is certainly unobtrusive and take a miniscule amount of power so might as well be left running. Add wiring, cable ties and job done. All for a fraction of the price! Going DIY also allows you to build something as simple or as complex as you like. It's possible to build something far more advanced for a fraction of the cost with a little ingenuity, such as providing air across the whole width of a radiator with just one or maybe two fans making the fan running cost negligible! It's worth noting that the fans featured only switch the low voltage side with the thermostat leaving the power adaptor running all the time which will shorten the product lifespan if left powered all year round. I you build your own you will also know how and be able to repair it and if you power it from a USB adapter with more than one USB port, like I do, you also gain a charging point.

[MeteorMark]

We've got Heatfans here in our living room, 5x5 at the front 280x45cm double radiator and 1x5 at the rear upright design radiator.
Got them mainly because the sofa is in front of the front radiator, and the windowsill directly over it, blocking circulation.
Bought them with the "smart" modulating controller so you can adjust the flow a bit, and you barely hear them.
I could even lower the input temperature, and have a higher ∆T (two simple external / internal temperature and humidity displays, external probes on input and output of radiator)
They really do make a difference!
What also works well is a ceiling fan in "winter" mode, reverses the roration and will circulate the warm air at the ceiling. 😉

[kevinricketts]

Have learned a lot from this channel and rebuilt my wet central heating with it's help. But Screwfix and others have sold 2kW fan-assisted radiators in the past for about £25-£30 which do a similar job to this technology. Interestingly, in a smallish room and on the 1Kw setting the unit will only turn on for a total if 15 minutes per hour to maintain about 20C. Very cost effective. It's the air distribution that makes the difference and it also warms up very quickly.

[mda]

They will always warm the room quicker but with cooler air blowing in from the bottom doesn't that mean the boiler will have to work that little bit harder to start with?

[loafersheffield]

My mother in law likes battery powered appliances too. Father in law agrees. She's very hard to please.

[giggity]

Am just thinking will it not up the energy cost as the fans are blowing cooler air on the rad to move the heat faster will the rad struggle to hit the thermal limit set by the thermostat on the rad and in turn the boiler will keep running to keep trying to get it to the temp it set at or am i just a idot.

[MAMDAVEM]

It might help some of your commenters better understand why/how this works if were to understand the physics/thermodynamics . The rate of heat transfer from a hot radiator to a cold room by a radiator is primarilly by convection, the radiator heats up the air immediately surrounding the radiator and this, are having less density that the surrounding cooler air, rises and is replaced by cooller air and the process continues until the room air temperature gets to the room thermostat or the radiator themrostatic valve setpoint temperature and the heating or radiator switches off. The rate at which the radiator can heat up the surrounding air is determined my the difference in temperature between the surface temperature of the radiator and the temperature of the air in contact with the radiator (boundary layer). The fan removes this heated air by forced convection replacing it with cooler air. A good analogy is the cooling fan on your computer, on top of the computers' CPU is a heat sink ("radiator") but this is not enough to cool the cpu, it needs to also have a fan to take away this heat by forced convection.

[Drew-mrtr]

At those prices you're having a laugh. 3 computer fans in a fancy case. £72 plus £9 delivery. Just fit a couple of extra rads.

[johnadams]

Definitely not convinced it's cost effective. Also irritating if no plug socket and also noise from fans. Had to check it's not April 1st. Looks like something I'd expect temu to try and flog me!!

[terrynaidu]

great video mate! because i saw your video, I've just bought two duo sets to try, I believe you when you say they work. Cant wait to try them, though Im going to clean the rads first. Thank you for your informative vids.

[lovesword]

Can you get fans that work from the heat off the rad? Like the fans on top of wood burners. (If so) are they any good/better?

[michelleramsay]

My house is cold that's with the radiators on high. Wow gonna order hopefully they work

[WJCarpenter]

I couldn't tell from the video ... how much noise do the fans make when they are running?

[geoffreyrobert]

In my view, It may work well on a small insulated room like the one you have built with a low total surface area (of the insulated boards) but on a large room, the heat loss of the room's bigger walls and ceiling increased surface area would overcome the slightly extra fan heat output. However, it may make the convection effect of the fan's output circulate heat more evenly further away from the radiator.

[Craigst]

James, what’s your thoughts on the super foil insulation placed behind radiators to reflect heat usually lost into the wall? I was unsure, but for a cheap install curiosity got the better of me and to my surprise I was amazed at the results. I could immediately feel increased heat from the rads. Be interesting to see if you could do a similar video on this product to show any findings. 👍🏼♨️

[ashleeiveson]

It would be interesting to know the cost saving vs cost of running the fans

[RobTheSquire]

I use my watercooled pc to heat my room, i've had my radiator in my room turned off for 3 years. We do have some rooms that struggle to heat up so I might think about getting these for next winter.

[mitchybooooy]

Why do I get the feeling he’s got a vested interest that this does well! He’s literally the only plumber I’ve ever heard talking about these.. either he’s sponsored or he’s got money in tbe company I reckon. Lol

[VladChristian]

Heat goes naturally up. Why not mount the ventilators on top, to force-push the air to the floor, from where anyway it will raise naturally, with an added comfort of heat at your toes ?