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Posted: Friday, August 19, 2022
At Carron, we have a range of radiators to suit your home, which are available in over 50 different styles. To help you in your selection here’s some information about the BTU calculator. BTU stands for ‘British Thermal Unit’, which is a standardised unit of heat. The BTU Calculator is a tool that helps you to work out the amount and size of radiators that you will need to heat a room effectively. It’s the first step in choosing radiators, as you don't want to underheat a room or have a radiator that is of a size that isn't necessary. We hope the BTU calculator aids you in making the most of your buying experience with us.
In case you are new to Carron, we stock over 30 traditional Cast Iron Radiators which are available in 3 to over 30 sections, as well as Ready Made Cast Iron Radiators in a range of popular models and set lengths. All of our radiators are durable and skilfully assembled and finished by hand with contemporary standards in mind.
When deciding which radiators you’d like for your home, the aesthetic is of course of great importance. You’ll want radiators that enhance the room, by bringing classic elegance to your home. Once you’ve decided on the look you’d like, there are practical factors to consider too, such as choosing a radiator that’s the right size to fit a particular room or location in your home.
The most important practical factor to consider is making sure that the radiators you buy will heat the room, which is where the BTU calculator is particularly useful. It’s reassuring to know that our Cast Iron Radiators emit heat effectively when your boiler is on and retain heat once it’s been switched off. This is because Cast Iron has a high thermal mass, due to its density as a material. To make sure you get the best out of your radiators, you can use the BTU calculator during your selection process, which you can find on our website. By doing this, you can make sure that as well as your radiators looking good in your home, you also have the right size and number of radiators to heat your space.
The BTU Calculator is free to use. Simply enter the width, length and height of your room and it will give you an initial number of how many BTUs an hour you will need to heat that space. Aside from the dimensions of the room, there are other factors to take into consideration. For example, an upstairs room will need fewer BTUs as it benefits from being partially heated by the room below. So, if you click on ‘Bedroom’ as the type of room, the figure on the calculator will go down slightly.
There are some other additional factors to consider. For example, if your room is north-facing it won’t benefit from being heated by the sun so much, so if you select this option, the calculator figure will go up slightly.
Lastly, some words on air source and ground source pumps. These pumps absorb heat from the air and ground respectively and as a result, energy can be effectively delivered at a lower flow temperature. Our BTU Calculator can also factor in the lower flow rates that air and ground source pumps deliver.
Once you’ve got the calculation, you’ll be able to use this when viewing our column radiators to be able to work out the length of radiator you’ll need. Each of our radiators has a BTU figure by the column quantity, as do our ready-made radiators.
It’s important to highlight that Carron Radiators are tested by BSRIA (Building Services Research and Information Association) for the accuracy of the BTUs they provide, so you can be assured that your calculation will provide a sound basis for the amount and length of radiators you will need to heat each room.
We hope that’s given you an idea of the role of the BTU calculator when choosing the length and amount of radiators you’ll need to heat your home. If after using it you feel you still need some help, contact us and we will help match the radiator to the room size.
You can do this by filling out our online contact form, by calling us on 01400 263319 or emailing us at sales@carronheating.co.uk
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