Is a hallway radiator necessary?

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askman

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I live in a two bed mid terrace house and am currently undertaking quite substantial renovation works, and am thinking about scrapping the radiator in my hallway (sits on the party wall). The hallway is quite small - front door opens to doorway to living room and stairs only, and upstairs only opens up to three doors, so not a huge amount of floor space.

The underlying reason for thinking of getting rid of it is because the pipework is currently boxed in the corner and I am not a fan of this. I was thinking about chasing the pipework back into the wall, but that got me thinking of whether the radiator is even necessary in the first place, so instead of going through the trouble of doing this, could I just get rid of it?
 
There are so many variables such as the design and construction of your property, if the hallway is north facing, how long you heat your home for, and what temperature is comfortable for you personally, to state definitively. Try leaving the radiator turned off for a couple of days and see how you get on.

If you have a room thermostat in the hallway, and you remove the radiator it will effect the operation of the heating.
 
stem said:
There are so many variables such as the design and construction of your property, if the hallway is north facing, how long you heat your home for, and what temperature is comfortable for you personally, to state definitively. Try leaving the radiator turned off for a couple of days and see how you get on.

If you have a room thermostat in the hallway, and you remove the radiator it will effect the operation of the heating.
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Unfortunately the boiler is not functional at the moment (lying on the living room floor) so I have no heat anywhere. The house is a little cold, but that's everywhere and as you'd expect with no heating.

The house faces east and has a layout similar to the floorplan on this one - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-pr...l?prop=43048389&sale=88959768&country=england

Generally I set the heating to come on in the morning for an hour or so and preheat for when I get home in the evening. I live alone and am pretty resistant to cold but want the house to be "future proofed" for prospective buyers in the years to come.

The new stat (nest) will be going in the living room.
 
Then you maybe OK. In your favour is being a mid terrace and so don't have large areas of external wall or a landing window to loose heat through. Unless you leave the living room door open though, you will still notice the bottom section of the stairs will be cooler, but that is probably not an issue if you aren't lingering there and just passing through.

Having said that, don't forget though that the hallway radiator also has to heat the stairs which cover two floors, and the upstairs landing too, and although it can appear small, when the volume of the whole area is calculated, it can sometimes be more than some of the habitable rooms.

Perhaps you could check with some of your neighbours with similar properties. Maybe some of them don't have radiators and can advise.
 
I live in a Victorian semi and when I re-did the central heating didn't include hall or landing rads. Haven't regretted it once. Heat travels out of the two reception rooms into the hall and goes up the stairs so they are arguably the warmest parts of the house.
 
If you don't mind the hallway being chilly it seems reasonable. Of course, you will have to start keeping your doors closed unless by design you want to let your heated rooms 'overflow' into the hallway and provide limited heating.
 
Another option if you want the wall space is a kitchen style plinth heater in the bottom step. Gives some nice heat by the front door to dry your coats and shoes without taking any wall space.
Does cost 150 quid plus fitting and needs electricity. Also makes a small noise. But it's a useful option. We've just put one in the bathroom to supplement a shiny towel rail and it's a godsend.
 
stem said:
That won't really help the OP.
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I saw that but still thought it might be an alternative that would work for the OP, or helpful to others.
Edited for style!
 
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Thanks all. I'll have a think about it.

John D v2.0 said:
Another option if you want the wall space is a kitchen style plinth heater in the bottom step. Gives some nice heat by the front door to dry your coats and shoes without taking any wall space.
Does cost 150 quid plus fitting and needs electricity. Also makes a small noise. But it's a useful option. We've just put one in the bathroom to supplement a shiny towel rail and it's a godsend.
Click to expand...

John - nice idea but I'm not sure I like how it'd look. Plus it'd be prone to getting booted through by my clumsy hooves.
 
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