Rad reflections

Rad reflections

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Rad reflections

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Rad reflections

Reflect your radiator

Radiators are great. They keep us warm during the winter months, making those long, cold days a bit more bearable. Unfortunately, they are also energy black holes, pushing up our bills while wasting a lot of valuable heat on an empty wall.

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution. Reflective foil (although it may not sound it) is really rather cool. Slip some behind your radiator and it acts like a heat mirror, reflecting warmth back into your radiator, which then goes into the air (where it's really needed). And there we have it - a warmer home at almost no extra cost.

Why

Here are a few reasons to take action.

Click for more info or scroll to read them all.

Financial

A single reflective foil behind one of your radiators can knock off up to 83 kWh per year.1 That adds up to a saving of about £5 per radiator per year, depending on which type of heating system you have. If you’re thinking of buying specially-made reflective foil for your radiators, the money you save off your heating bill will usually pay for them within a year.1 Not bad eh?

Environmental

Reducing your energy demand reduces your carbon footprint.

When a radiator is positioned against a wall, as much as 40% of the heat released will be directed towards the wall.1 Radiator foil placed between the radiator and the wall will reduce the amount of heat being wasted in heating the wall by reflecting at least 95% of that heat back into the room.1

More heat into your room, means you can turn your heating down, reducing your energy consumption, and carbon footprint.

Global Goals

In September 2017, an historic agreement was signed by UN member nations agreeing to work towards 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030, otherwise known as the SDGs.

Achieving these ambitious goals will require action from governments, businesses, NGOs, and individuals alike. We can - and must - all play our part.

By making the 'Rad reflections' pledge, you are contributing in your own small way to the following SDG targets:

12.8: By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature

13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

How

Sold on the idea of Rad Reflections? Great. You have a couple of options for making it happen.

  1. Regular aluminium foil usually gets the job done. Just slip a sheet behind your radiators (shiny side facing the radiator) and stick em’ on the wall with a bit of masking tape. Just note, you might have to replace them once a year and sometimes fitting them can be a tad tricky.
  2. Your other option is to get a reflective foil that’s been specially designed for such a task. This will cost you a bit more than a roll of foil, but it’ll probably be a fair bit easier to fit.
  3. Watch this video on how to install radiator foil.

And that’s it! Now all’s left to do is sit back and relax in the warm glow of a cosier home, with a cheaper energy bill and smaller carbon footprint.

Success Stories

427

Pledges
in total

50,288kg

CO2
pledged

“

Such a good idea and so simple to do. You can feel the extra heat being reflected into the room. Going to work on a neater v2 for the rest of the rads.

“

I am pleased to confirm that I nailed the Rad reflections pledge and will continue to do so.

“

Need to finish installing them throughout the flat...but the living room is now much toastier!

“

This was an easy one, getting the reflectors and then putting behind the radiator, Just need to remember to take them out and give them a clean every couple of months.

“

Did most external-wall radiators (4 of them). Still got 2 to do. Really noticed a difference in comfort level.

“

Now that we have the foil panels, they don't really require any maintenance. This is a really easy pledge to continue.

References

  1. radflek.com
  2. Guardian