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Excellent book and a thoroughly nice chap. He also name-checked my business as an example of a nice effective energy product at a DECC event a few years ago, wh

Excellent book and a thoroughly nice chap. He also name-checked my business as an example of a nice effective energy product at a DECC event a few years ago, which was flattering and unexpected (radfan.com for those interested). Update: I had no idea he had passed, such a loss.

detritus 10y ago
What an excellent idea, Simon - I've been quite annoyed at the idiot-level old radiators we have in our rented accomodation, ruefully watching them waste my cash each winter. I've bookmarked your page - I'll pay you a visit in Autumn!
- simonbarker87 10y ago
  Thanks, glad you like it. Great for rented since you can take it with you when you move.
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Thanks for sharing, and also for putting detailed information on the product page. I'm bookmarking this for the future for my home :).
- simonbarker87 10y ago
  No worries, we hate low info product pages so have always tried to put as much info as possible on our website.
OJFord 10y ago
Radfan looks great - I'd never heard of it, and I'm in the UK so very tempted to try it out. Does it turn off when the radiator's cold though? Seems senseless to have it running 24/7, and annoying to turn it on/off all the time.
- simonbarker87 10y ago
  Thanks, yep it's got a thermostat inside so it only runs when the radiator is hot, plug it in and forget about it. Best place to see reviews etc is Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radfan-Classic-Low-Power-Radiator/dp/B00GR0STTG/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radfan-Classic-Low-Power-Radiator/d...
mistermann 10y ago
You should build a little battery operated fan that you open your dishwasher door a little bit and set it in there to gently circulate some air to do the final evaporation that dishwashers cannot do, you would sell millions of them.
- vog 10y ago
  Why battery operated? Wouldn't this just increase electronic waste?
  - mistermann 10y ago
    A wire would just get in the way imho. Yes it would increase electronic waste, that's far from a deal breaker for most people.
    - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
      It could have a tiny turbine to charge from the internal water movement!
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  Couldn't manufacturers just add a low level fin/spoiler to the top of the rotating water outlet ["spray bar"/"spray arm"], run the rotation at low speed as a fan. Seems all the tech barring a slight raised area to catch the air a little is already built in; even just slowly rotating the "spray bar" unmodified probably would give enough air-flow? I can't imagine I'm the first person to think of that [too late to patent it!] bet you there's a company that has/had it as a feature?? One might even pump air down the spray bar using the systems already in place but with no water-flow; residual heat in the pipes might aid the process too? FWIW some dish-washers have a built in fan eg "TurboHeat Dry" on Kenmore.
  - mistermann 10y ago
    I paid like $500 extra for the auto-open feature on my Miele, but even getting that spendy, the fan only runs for ten minutes after the door opens, so some things still can be a bit damp. It infuriates me that they went to this complexity, but then don't let you lengthen the fan runtime. It's almost like they want to minimize your happiness per $.
pbhjpbhj 10y ago
Re radfan. I've been looking at radiator efficiency and last time I removed a radiator when decorating considered adding the foil backing to the wall but indications were that the cost of the foil in resources outweighed the benefit over something like a 10 year period, which surprised me. Radiators have always bothered me since high-school physics in that the rhetoric that radiators are placed under windows to increase convection and circulate hot air never seemed quite to fit for me. It always _seems_ to be sending heat out the window. In practice - referencing your https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0195/5444/t/45/assets/process.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0195/5444/t/45/assets/proc... image - what is supposed to happen is that the cold air is drawn in to the bottom of the radiator, rises over it, passes up and moves across the ceiling, falling as it cools and then being drawn back to the radiator. Do you have any independent corroboration that radfan improves heating efficiency, or when used increases apparent warmth for the same cost of heating? I see you don't claim efficiency gains on the page but only appear to claim for "better" distribution of the warm air .. warmer air still rises though, right. But in the video you say "warmer home or your money back" which suggests you've proven it makes efficiency gains?? Good idea, would like to see some scientific work on the efficacy though before I'd commit to buy.
- simonbarker87 10y ago
  Thanks for the comment, sorry for the slow reply. You're right that radiators should effectively circulate warm air on their own by drawing in cool air, accelerating it up with a chimney effect and then expelling the warmth out into the room via a warm buoyant plume and so set up a cyclic convection current in the room. This should cause a nice, even heat profile through the room with minimal thermal stratification. Back when we had single glazing there was an extra benefit as the radiator provided a thermal curtain/buffer from cold air falling in from the window and the cool air falling in, mixing with the warm air would divert the buoyant plume and help destratify the room (hence why radiators are typically under windows). Now that we have double glazing the latter doesn't happen and the circulating convection current that the former is supposed to set up never really materialises as most rooms have obstructions that stop the full circulation of warm air and simply cause the warm air to rise to the ceiling and stay there (we've seen 10degC floor to ceiling temperature differences but the typical is around 4/5 degC). The Radfan helps set up that warm air circulation/cyclic convection current by essentially giving the radiator a little top up to get the air moving. It also reduces heat loss through the window by about 35% by diverting the flow of air away from the window a bit. The testing we have done is twofold, field trials with 10 housing associations to see what the behavioral impact is but more importantly we have had controlled and independent testing carried out by the Salford University Energy House (http://www.salford.ac.uk/research/best/research-groups/applied-buildings-and-energy http://www.salford.ac.uk/research/best/research-groups/appli...) that corroborated our own in house testing that showed the Radfan acted as a destratifier (temperature at the ceiling decreased and the temperature at sofa height increased by the same amount), reduced the heat lost through the window, allowed the central heating to turn off sooner (providing a small energy saving that more than offsets the running cost) and most importantly didn't introduce any forced convection on the radiator so the central heating wasn't working harder as there was no extra energy being extracted from the radiator (just a redistribution of the thermal energy already in the room). The data shows that a Radfan will typically decrease the temperature at the ceiling by 1 to 2 degC and increase the temperature at the vertical mid point by a corresponding amount. It varies from home to home and in a very small percentage (less than 0.5%) it has minimal impact, hence we offer the warmer home guarantee so that if a home is in that small 0.5% (which we are unable to define as homes vary so much) then you can return for a full refund - we only want people living with a Radfan if they feel the benefit. This page summarises our independant test results: https://www.radfan.com/pages/energy-saving https://www.radfan.com/pages/energy-saving

detritus 10y ago

What an excellent idea, Simon - I've been quite annoyed at the idiot-level old radiators we have in our rented accomodation, ruefully watching them waste my cash each winter. I've bookmarked your page - I'll pay you a visit in Autumn!

simonbarker87 10y ago
Thanks, glad you like it. Great for rented since you can take it with you when you move.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Thanks for sharing, and also for putting detailed information on the product page. I'm bookmarking this for the future for my home :).

simonbarker87 10y ago
No worries, we hate low info product pages so have always tried to put as much info as possible on our website.

OJFord 10y ago

Radfan looks great - I'd never heard of it, and I'm in the UK so very tempted to try it out. Does it turn off when the radiator's cold though? Seems senseless to have it running 24/7, and annoying to turn it on/off all the time.

simonbarker87 10y ago
Thanks, yep it's got a thermostat inside so it only runs when the radiator is hot, plug it in and forget about it. Best place to see reviews etc is Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radfan-Classic-Low-Power-Radiator/dp/B00GR0STTG/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radfan-Classic-Low-Power-Radiator/d...

mistermann 10y ago

You should build a little battery operated fan that you open your dishwasher door a little bit and set it in there to gently circulate some air to do the final evaporation that dishwashers cannot do, you would sell millions of them.

vog 10y ago
Why battery operated? Wouldn't this just increase electronic waste?
- mistermann 10y ago
  A wire would just get in the way imho. Yes it would increase electronic waste, that's far from a deal breaker for most people.
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    It could have a tiny turbine to charge from the internal water movement!
pbhjpbhj 10y ago
Couldn't manufacturers just add a low level fin/spoiler to the top of the rotating water outlet ["spray bar"/"spray arm"], run the rotation at low speed as a fan. Seems all the tech barring a slight raised area to catch the air a little is already built in; even just slowly rotating the "spray bar" unmodified probably would give enough air-flow? I can't imagine I'm the first person to think of that [too late to patent it!] bet you there's a company that has/had it as a feature?? One might even pump air down the spray bar using the systems already in place but with no water-flow; residual heat in the pipes might aid the process too? FWIW some dish-washers have a built in fan eg "TurboHeat Dry" on Kenmore.
- mistermann 10y ago
  I paid like $500 extra for the auto-open feature on my Miele, but even getting that spendy, the fan only runs for ten minutes after the door opens, so some things still can be a bit damp. It infuriates me that they went to this complexity, but then don't let you lengthen the fan runtime. It's almost like they want to minimize your happiness per $.

pbhjpbhj 10y ago

Re radfan. I've been looking at radiator efficiency and last time I removed a radiator when decorating considered adding the foil backing to the wall but indications were that the cost of the foil in resources outweighed the benefit over something like a 10 year period, which surprised me. Radiators have always bothered me since high-school physics in that the rhetoric that radiators are placed under windows to increase convection and circulate hot air never seemed quite to fit for me. It always _seems_ to be sending heat out the window. In practice - referencing your https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0195/5444/t/45/assets/process.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0195/5444/t/45/assets/proc... image - what is supposed to happen is that the cold air is drawn in to the bottom of the radiator, rises over it, passes up and moves across the ceiling, falling as it cools and then being drawn back to the radiator. Do you have any independent corroboration that radfan improves heating efficiency, or when used increases apparent warmth for the same cost of heating? I see you don't claim efficiency gains on the page but only appear to claim for "better" distribution of the warm air .. warmer air still rises though, right. But in the video you say "warmer home or your money back" which suggests you've proven it makes efficiency gains?? Good idea, would like to see some scientific work on the efficacy though before I'd commit to buy.

simonbarker87 10y ago
Thanks for the comment, sorry for the slow reply. You're right that radiators should effectively circulate warm air on their own by drawing in cool air, accelerating it up with a chimney effect and then expelling the warmth out into the room via a warm buoyant plume and so set up a cyclic convection current in the room. This should cause a nice, even heat profile through the room with minimal thermal stratification. Back when we had single glazing there was an extra benefit as the radiator provided a thermal curtain/buffer from cold air falling in from the window and the cool air falling in, mixing with the warm air would divert the buoyant plume and help destratify the room (hence why radiators are typically under windows). Now that we have double glazing the latter doesn't happen and the circulating convection current that the former is supposed to set up never really materialises as most rooms have obstructions that stop the full circulation of warm air and simply cause the warm air to rise to the ceiling and stay there (we've seen 10degC floor to ceiling temperature differences but the typical is around 4/5 degC). The Radfan helps set up that warm air circulation/cyclic convection current by essentially giving the radiator a little top up to get the air moving. It also reduces heat loss through the window by about 35% by diverting the flow of air away from the window a bit. The testing we have done is twofold, field trials with 10 housing associations to see what the behavioral impact is but more importantly we have had controlled and independent testing carried out by the Salford University Energy House (http://www.salford.ac.uk/research/best/research-groups/applied-buildings-and-energy http://www.salford.ac.uk/research/best/research-groups/appli...) that corroborated our own in house testing that showed the Radfan acted as a destratifier (temperature at the ceiling decreased and the temperature at sofa height increased by the same amount), reduced the heat lost through the window, allowed the central heating to turn off sooner (providing a small energy saving that more than offsets the running cost) and most importantly didn't introduce any forced convection on the radiator so the central heating wasn't working harder as there was no extra energy being extracted from the radiator (just a redistribution of the thermal energy already in the room). The data shows that a Radfan will typically decrease the temperature at the ceiling by 1 to 2 degC and increase the temperature at the vertical mid point by a corresponding amount. It varies from home to home and in a very small percentage (less than 0.5%) it has minimal impact, hence we offer the warmer home guarantee so that if a home is in that small 0.5% (which we are unable to define as homes vary so much) then you can return for a full refund - we only want people living with a Radfan if they feel the benefit. This page summarises our independant test results: https://www.radfan.com/pages/energy-saving https://www.radfan.com/pages/energy-saving