Showing posts with label cast iron radiators. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cast iron radiators. Show all posts

Monday, 7 October 2019

Why should I buy from Feature Radiators?



Choice can be a gift and a curse, the more we have to choose from the better? Or too much to choose from and how do you differentiate?

The designer radiator market is now full of choice, many different products and many different retailers to choose from. Feature Radiators is a pioneer in this market with 19 years’ experience within the industry. We were ‘The’ original radiator retailer, only focusing on radiators, not bathrooms, not kitchens, we specialise in radiators!

Now in a diluted market we try to stand out by continuing our longstanding ethos of quality products and quality service. All of us here are self-professed radiator geeks with an eye for interior design.

For you the customer how do you possibly select the best company to go with? It would be easy enough for us to write, ‘just use us, simple’, but we think it’s best to justify that somewhat.

If Feature Radiators being the pioneer in the industry isn’t enough then consider the fact that we do evaluate literally every radiator that we sell. A strict process is undertaken when we look at a new radiator, we quite literally feel and touch the product. We obtain a sample in exactly the same way you would receive it, so we can make sure everything from packaging to labelling and how the brackets are sent are as we would expect.

Our range is second to none, just because a radiator exists doesn’t give it the privilege to adorn our website and brochures, we scrutinise quality, style, heat output, size variants, price, to name a few. What you see on our website are the best radiators, selected by people with an extensive overview of the market and in combined years, over 95 years’ experience. The people here have lived through the start of this designer radiator movement when there was literally a handful of models available to the now saturated market with copycat models and inferior models available from one pop up radiator site to the next.

We actually exist! Seems odd we need to let you know that we live and breath and we have an office, 10 humans and the UKs largest radiator showroom, in the online age this is oh so relevant, we champion those points!

Due to the fact we are humans we want to know you, not necessarily down to the knee complaint from tennis but certainly your next room décor ideas or any mood board ideas, we work with you sending emails back and forth, giving you a quick call to check the finer details, we like to communicate, we don’t disappear into the online abyss at the drop of a hat.

We’re not competitor bashers, as we are confident in what we do. That said, something we do want you to know is that a good amount of the first pagers on Google are what we deem as ‘pop up’ retailers, short life span, set up by larger e commerce companies who in the background sell anything from light bulbs to online payment systems, they are far from specialist, stacked high sold cheap. They imitate and we innovate.

01274 567789
Instagram: @featureradiators

Tuesday, 28 May 2019

12 Steps for Joining a Cast Iron Radiator



Once cast iron radiators get over a certain length, usually around 1.2m, they are too long to be put on a pallet for transportation and become difficult to move around within a property. Therefore most cast iron radiator suppliers deliver radiators that are longer than this in more than one part for joining on site. This step-by-step guide explains the process of making the final join, which is easy and straightforward to complete. 

1.       Lay the radiator sections down: Place the radiator sections that need to be joined, laying down on a clean flat surface, making sure the machined faces and internal threads are clean.

2.       Check the direction of the threads: Make sure that you are coupling the right threads together; each radiator section has a right-handed thread connection at one end and a left-handed thread connection at the other. Similarly, each connection nipple has a left-hand thread on one end and a right-hand thread on the other end.

3.       Make sure you have the right parts: Each join requires one connection nipple and one gasket and there is a join required at both the top of the radiator and at the bottom of each section.  A “joining tool” comprising of a nipple key and tommy bar are required to rotate and then tighten each join and they are specific to the model of radiator you have. These are only available from the supplier, not from stores or merchants.

4.       Screw the nipples into the first section: You will need to identify which radiator assembly has the right handed thread connection and which has the left handed thread connection, then gently screw in the matching connection nipples.  Do not use force.  Only screw in by one single rotation.  Do not screw in fully. 

5.       Add a gasket at each join: Place a gasket over each connection nipple, approximately at the mid-point of the nipple. There is normally a space cut out for this.

6.       DO NOT use a sealant: Do not apply any jointing paste or tape (e.g. Boss White, PTFE, hemp, etc) to the gasket, threads of the connection nipples, or the radiator. This will not improve the seal, but will instead prevent a seal.

7.       Line up the next section: Gently position the section of radiator to be joined next to the host section, ensuring the connection assembly points of the joining section are lined up with the nipples of the host section, and also take care to ensure the correct thread orientations are in place.  You may need to turn the adjoining sections over or upside down to utilise the right or left threaded connections as appropriate.

8.       Insert the nipple key part of the joining tool: To work out how far to insert the nipple key - lay the nipple key over the top of the radiator so that the head is in line with the relevant section.  Make a mark on the key to indicate the how far it needs to be inserted (ie. where the head of the key engages inside the relevant nipple). Slide the key in from the open end of the top waterway until it engages into the nipple that is to be tightened. Check that the end of the key engages in the internal lugs inside the top nipple.

9.       Turn the nipple key using the tommy bar: Turn the nipple key to rotate the nipple so that it pulls the top 2 matching radiator assembly points together.  At this stage only rotate the nipple by one turn.

10.   Do the same with the bottom join: Repeat this operation with the remaining 2 matching assembly points at the bottom of the sections.

11.   Repeat this process to pull the sections together: Repeat both of these operations in turn, gradually pulling the top assembly points together and then the bottom assembly points together, ensuring they are kept parallel.

12.   Tighten the joins: Finally, tighten the joints to compress the gaskets.  Ideally a tightening torque of 200 Nm (20 kgf-m, 150 lbf-ft) should be applied.

If you need further advice on joining one of our cast iron radiators, then please call our technical team on 01274 567789 or email contact@featureradiators.co.uk