Safe to touch heating – an important part of the radiator offering

Low surface temperature radiators – LSTs - are key where there is a need to meet NHS Guidance for ‘Safe Hot Water and surface temperature’ – in hospitals, care and nursing homes, as well as sheltered housing, schools, nurseries and other educational establishments and in an increasing amount of general needs housing that may be used by vulnerable people during that home’s lifetime.

Leading radiator manufacturer Stelrad Radiators has developed the largest selection of LST radiators in its impressive portfolio – offering more sizes and outputs than any other company in the sector. They have also added different styles and even different colours to the range to give the widest choice on the UK and Irish markets.

And the popularity of LST radiators shows little sign of diminishing with sales from the Stelrad range on the rise and clearly meeting the requirements of specifiers and contractors across the board.

When asking whether LST radiators are needed, you only need to consider the risk of in particular, older, younger and vulnerable people falling and injuring themselves on a radiator along with the potential dangers from those with a visual impairment bumping into or brushing against radiators. Some people have a reduced sensitivity to high temperatures and others simply cannot react quickly enough to prevent injury from hot surfaces if they inadvertently touch and come into contact with a conventional radiator, where surface temperatures may be as high as 75°C. Older people and those suffering injuries have an increased susceptibility to losing their balance and falling, and the possibility of these people falling and becoming trapped against a conventional radiator brings the need for LST radiators sharply into focus. And of course, the injuries that are possible to the very young are too horrific to contemplate, so it’s clear that serious burns can be caused very quickly at these temperatures and that LST radiators are the obvious response to the dangers.

LST radiators need to be designed to ensure they offer as much protection as possible to those for whom they are designed to provide heating – to include ensuring rounded corners and edges to the design to avoid damage from sharp edges. Remembering that LST radiators are in the main installed in buildings to offer protection to older people, additional benefits such as safety grilles, easy to operate heating controls and even arthritic adaptors for people who are unable to grip controls easily, can be incorporated to provide a user friendly ‘package’ for those they seek to help.

Radiators are still responsible for sharing the heat in more than 90% of homes across the UK and a surprisingly high percentage of commercial properties as well, so the age of the radiator is still very much with us. Companies like Stelrad are going the extra mile to ensure that radiators continue to be an aesthetic choice as well as a common sense one, with a wide range of designs, an easy to install philosophy and the widest range of sizes to ensure that there is a radiator for pretty much every application that can be imagined. It’s a trend that specifiers – including those working in the social housing arena, and heating and plumbing merchants like and are embracing, knowing that the majority of Stelrad’s radiators – including some of their coloured radiators – are available for delivery within three days of order.

Stelrad has invested hugely in its National Distribution Centre at its premises in Mexborough in South Yorkshire and its delivery systems to ensure that its radiators are in the merchants’ hands as quickly as possible. The statistics are staggering. This widening of the range of radiators available from stock increases the number of different radiators and sizes in stock in Stelrad’s National Distribution Centre to a staggering 3,200 – with a total of more than 360,000 radiators in stock at any one time to be called off by merchants across the country for delivery within 72 hours of order.

To see the huge range of styles and options available from Stelrad, head for the Stelrad website at www.stelrad.com/trade.  You can call for brochures and information or email marketing@stelrad.com. Alternatively, you can also see regular updates from Stelrad on Twitter @Stelrad and Facebook @StelradRadiators.