Does your home feel warm and cosy in the winter? When you come home and the heating’s on, does a friendly warm atmosphere greet you? Or are your windows streaming with condensation because it’s too hot in the house, or iced up because it’s not hot enough to deal with the sub-zero temperatures outside? Does your home feel warm and cosy in the winter? When you come home and the heating’s on, does a friendly warm atmosphere greet you? Or are your windows streaming with condensation because it’s too hot in the house, or iced up because it’s not hot enough to deal with the sub-zero temperatures outside? If your home feels comfortably warm despite the low temperatures outside, then your radiators are probably producing the right amount of BTU. If, on the other hand, your house is either on the low or high side of comfortable, then your BTU output may not be right for the size of your home. If this is the case you need to use a radiator calculator to ensure that you have the right number of radiators at the right size for each room in your property.

BTU, or British Thermal Units as they are also known, are used to measure heat loss. A professional such as an engineer or plumber should be able to do this for you. It’s not enough for them only to calculate one room however and use that as the average standard for the entire house. Different rooms have different ideal temperatures, and they also have different variables (some rooms may have double glazing and others not for example) so in order to get the most accurate BTU you must have each room in the house calculated separately.

There are a number of factors that influence the BTU in your home, the most obvious of these being the size of the room. But there others such as the floor level that the room is situated on, whether or not there is wall insulation and even the number of external walls the house has. All of these, plus other variables need to be considered when calculating the BTU and that’s where a radiator calculator comes in handy.

Failure to have the right BTU doesn’t just make your living conditions less than perfect during a cold spell, it also lowers your energy efficiency. If you are excessively heating your home, you are paying for heat that isn’t needed. Either way you are not making the best use of your resources, and although the radiator calculator procedure may seem complicated, a professional can quickly make the calculations for you and tell you what you need to change.

Don’t pay for heating that’s being wasted, and don’t wake up to a freezing cold room. It’s not necessary. Have a radiator calculator assess what your home needs in terms of heat and start coming home to a house that’s exactly the right temperature whatever the weather is like outside.