Heat Loss Calcs - Stairwell

[machineage]

Hi all - am new here 🙂

I just wondered what the consensus of opinion would be for calculating the heat loss from a hall up a stairwell - and the subsequent heat gain on the landing. Both areas are quite large - the landing is 15m x 1.7m

Have had some responses but want to check to be sure.

Thanks

:smilewinkgrin:

 

[doitmyself]

Unless you are intending to maintain a different temperature upstairs from that downstairs, it's not worth bothering about.

Calculate heatloss for the hall and landing assuming they are both at the same temperature, so no flow between them. Then either provide two rads (upstairs and downstairs) or one larger rad (downstairs).

 

[AWheating]

treat them as one area.

 

[machineage]

Hi

If I treat them as one area - the heatloss calc will be ginormous requiring three rads at least in the hall.
Using Stelrad Stars - if a room above has a greater temperature (bathroom) than the room below - it calculates a heatloss down through the ceiling into the room below. That would suggest it would do the same if there were a specific U value for no fabric between the upper & lower floor... Is Stelrad Stars incorrect in that respect?
I had thought of oversizing the hall rad by 50% and undersizing the landing rads by 25%?

 

[doitmyself]

If I treat them as one area - the heatloss calc will be ginormous requiring three rads at least in the hall.

But on another forum you say that you already have two rads upstairs and one down stairs.

Using Stelrad Stars - if a room above has a greater temperature (bathroom) than the room below - it calculates a heatloss down through the ceiling into the room below. That would suggest it would do the same if there were a specific U value for no fabric between the upper & lower floor... Is Stelrad Stars incorrect in that respect?

Heat will always travel from the higher temperature to the lower. If there is no fabric between the upper area and the lower the transfer will be by convection.

I had thought of oversizing the hall rad by 50% and undersizing the landing rads by 25%?

But if you do that you are almost guaranteed to have convection draughts as the rads upstairs will not be sufficient to provide the required temperature. Size them correctly and put TRVs on the upstairs Rads.

 

[machineage]

Heat will always travel from the higher temperature to the lower. If there is no fabric between the upper area and the lower the transfer will be by convection.


But if you do that you are almost guaranteed to have convection draughts as the rads upstairs will not be sufficient to provide the required temperature. Size them correctly and put TRVs on the upstairs Rads.

Thanks - that seems to be the most sensible solution :wink: