Aluminum or steel radiators with air to water heat pump?

Clonback

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I plan to put in underfloor heating on the ground floor and radiators upstairs and would like to know whats the best radiator choice.
 
@Clonback
Just from my own perspective, it's aluminum radiators that I have in my home. UFH downstairs and the rads upstairs. The rads never get "hot" per se, just release the heat quickly into the room. It's A2 rated, and uses an air-to-water heating system.
 
Thanks Jazz.Why did you install aluminum?

We have air to water and our installer told us that they always use aluminium. Having a quick read of Google shows the following explanation

Aluminium radiators transfer the heat from the water to the air in the room faster than steel radiators. This means that they require less heated water from the boiler and will be faster to respond to changes in the room heat requirement, hence reducing any wasted heat.
 
Thanks Rover.I cant open that link. Some people say their house is too hot but surely they can be regulated.Did you get a good reduction in your heating bills?
 
Thanks Rover.I cant open that link. Some people say their house is too hot but surely they can be regulated.Did you get a good reduction in your heating bills?

Sorry about that link, seemed to work ok when I originally posted it. Hopefully it will work this time

We don't find the house too hot and it can be regulated by lowering the thermostat. I have heard people complaining about their bills being too high but one mistake that they were making was to leave all the windows open and still have the heating set on a high temperature. The system struggled to heat the house even though the windows were letting all the heat out. Our installer confirmed that it is very important to keep the doors shut in each room.

We have not really had it long enough to compare the bills and it was a house move in our case.
 
Thanks Jazz.Why did you install aluminum?
I didn't personally - it was a new house build and they were the standard at the time, for the reasons that @Up Rovers detailed above.

Some people say their house is too hot but surely they can be regulated.Did you get a good reduction in your heating bills?
I did find the house warm during the summer time, even though the heating was off.

There are multiple thermostats throughout the house and the rads upstairs would have temp controls valves on them to help manage the heat.

Comparing this to my old home, where I had oil heating - there are significant improvements, but still, the electric bills during the winter can be on the high side. I needed to remind myself that I was not paying for oil when those bills came in :)

The thing is with the air to water / underfloor heating is that the rise in temperature is not immediate, it will take a while for the house to come up to that temp - especially if there is a big change.
 
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