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STELRAD LAUNCHES NEW RADIATOR SIZING AND HEAT LOSS CALCULATOR AND GETS RIBA CPD ACCREDITATION FOR SERIAL FEED RADIATOR SEMINAR
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Stelrad Radiators, the leading UK radiator manufacturer, has released the latest updated version of its popular ‘STARS Heatloss calculator’. It contains much more than you would expect and more than previous versions that have been used for years by dedicated heating system designers and heating engineers. The latest version offers an even simpler way to get sizing of radiators right, first time. And what’s even better, it’s free! Simply click on to the Stelrad web site at www.stelrad.com, click on ‘STARS’, register – and you’re away.
It’s essential that radiators used in a home are the right size for the room and for the building construction. This ensures that homeowners are not paying over the odds for a radiator that’s too big for the job and it means they won’t be paying higher energy bills than they should be, either.
To ensure that the maximum energy efficiency level is obtained from a heating system – and by definition, that emissions are lowered and energy costs are reduced for the householder – it’s vital that the radiators on that system are correctly sized, to reflect the size and shape of the room they’re in and to take into account the materials used in that room’s construction, in particular taking into consideration the levels of insulation that have been incorporated.
Too many homes are still suffering from oversized or in fewer cases, undersized radiators, meaning the rooms are too hot or too cold, or more likely, the radiators selected are never working to their true capacity. It’s far easier to pop your head around a door in a room and say ‘it’s about an ‘x’ sized radiator’, than it is to do the calculation. But to do a professional job, it clearly makes sense to use the right components and to make a few relatively quick calculations to ensure that what you recommend, delivers exactly what the customer needs in his or her home.
Stelrad Radiators – the UKs leading radiator manufacturer – has for a long time provided a special tool for installers and specifiers called STARS –the Stelrad Technical Advanced Radiator System. STARS has been used on PCs around the UK for several years to help people to work out just this – the right sized radiators to heat a home.
To update and improve the information available, Stelrad has released a new and improved version of STARS as a free download from www.stelrad.com.It will shortly be launching a new App version for installers and system designers to use on their smart phones.
Stelrad Product Manager Chris Harvey is the man behind the new version of STARS: “STARS is an online application built by Stelrad for anyone who needs to calculate heat loss for a room so they can choose the correct heating requirements and select the right components for a system.
“It enables instantaneous heat loss calculations using the unique room planner, where you can literally drag the walls of the room using your computer mouse, and the output figure is calculated in real time."
“With the STARS application being online, you can log in from anywhere if you have web access, and use your account immediately. As a major bonus, your account will remember all your previous projects, so you can easily duplicate similar projects to save time and hassle.”
STARS emphasis is on energy efficiency, increasing insulation levels and strict Building Regulations, all of which create additional difficulties when striving to achieve accurate Heatloss and U value calculations. The advanced domestic heatloss design service and BTU calculator incorporated in STARS are designed to help specify a room’s heatloss by incorporating all the CIBSE standard U values.
The new HeatLoss Calculator has been devised to improve the sizing of radiators with far greater accuracy, and this is where STARS provides the perfect solution. STARS now allows the user to draw a much wider range of room shapes and a visual check on room shape is achievable through an on screen floor plan.
The new U Value Calculator incorporates all THE CURRENT BUILDING REGULATION REQUIREMENTS ALONG WITH THE CIBSE standard U values. Unknown U values can be calculated accurately as STARS is able to cope with different materials, whilst other construction materials can be added when required.
It is an excellent tool for anyone needing to accurately size radiators for a heating system. It’s aimed at all Stelrad users, from one off self-builders and home renovators, to architects and specifiers, and housing developers.
It’s available as a download only – simply click on www.stelrad.com – click on STARS, and follow the instructions. For those who have used STARS before, it’s a very similar tool, just updated for the modern world in which we live. Details of the wide range of Stelrad products can be found at www.stelrad.com and copies of the recently launched ‘Radiator Book’ – an essential guide for all specifiers and installers -can be requested by calling on 0870 849 8058.
…..AND STELRAD GETS RIBA CPD ACCREDITATION
And further great news – Stelrad – has received accreditation by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as a CPD seminar provider.
The initial CPD seminar on offer to architects is based on explaining the technical differences between serial and parallel feed radiators and highlights how new serial feed technology helps reduce fuel costs and a property’s carbon footprint. The seminar takes attendees through the basics of radiator technology, explaining the mix of radiant and convection heat generated by them and highlighting the basis on which current radiators operate, using parallel feed technology which sees both front and back panels of a radiator heating up at the same time.
The seminar progresses into the concept of serial feed technology that is used in the new Stelrad Radical radiator range, launched at Ecobuild in 2012. This highlights how the Radical radiator sees the front panel heat up first and quickest and through the inclusion of factory fitted thermostatic valve controls, the heated water is allowed into the back panel only when a pre-determined temperature has been reached.
The seminar explains how vitally, the serial feed radiator has a measurably positive effect on the boiler as well. Because the water leaving the radiator is cooler than from a traditional parallel feed radiator, a condensing boiler will actually condense more efficiently, ensuring the maximum energy efficiency from the boiler as well.
The overall measureable effects of using a serial feed radiator has been independently assessed by KIWA as a 10.5% energy saving which is impressive by any standards.
Stelrad’s Product Manager is Chris Harvey: “We’re delighted to have received accreditation from RIBA to become a provider of regular CPD seminars for its members. It’s an important step forward for us and we’re looking forward to meeting RIBA members around the country in the months ahead and to adding additional seminars to this first accredited one, to raise levels of understanding in the heating sector amongst architects up and down the country.”
