For an aspirational Swedish-style show home on the outskirts of Durham, North East-based housebuilder Dunelm Homes has found that Dimplex SmartRad fan convectors strike just the right note with their combination of advanced performance, low temperature sustainable heating and striking designer looks.
Dunelm Homes is a housebuilder that prides itself on delivering the customer’s dream home, right up to personalised Grand Designs-style homes. Inspired by Scandinavian design, Dunelm has developed the Climät Hus concept for this top end of the market; a contemporary open-plan home featuring integrated renewable technology, efficient heating systems and Dimplex SmartRad heaters.
With heat generated by an air source heat pump, the Climät Hus homes have stylish white glass-fronted SmartRads in the bedrooms, so the occupants can have responsive warmth from the low temperature system, as and when it’s required.
Paul Armstrong, technical director at Dunelm Homes, says: “For us it was common sense to take control of the running costs for the Climät Hus. We’ve used A-rated appliances in the design, and have incorporated other energy efficiency technologies like MVHR. We knew that heat pumps were the way we wanted to go, and when we heard about Dimplex’s SmartRad radiators and how they give the responsiveness of conventional heating from a low temperature system, it was a natural for the bedrooms, which need heating only for part of the day.”
SmartRad fan convector radiators are designed for excellent performance at water temperatures as low as 40°C, making them ideal for use with heat pumps as part of a complete renewable energy heating system. The fan quickly gets heat into the room when it’s needed, while an accurate thermostat avoids wasteful temperature overshoot and drift. SmartRad heaters provide high levels of user comfort, yet allows heat pump CoP to be optimised to reduce running costs and CO2 emissions.
Paul Armstrong continues: “We wanted to make maximum use of renewable technologies in our Climät Hus homes. It’s what our customers are looking for, and of course for us, ‘eco’ is a great marketing tool.
“At the moment, we’re only using SmartRads in the Climät Hus bedrooms, with underfloor heating downstairs, but we have also priced to put SmartRads throughout. For us, one of SmartRad’s major advantages over underfloor is that SmartRads are a lot more accessible if any changes to the system need to be made, and this also has great customer appeal.”
Designed for modern domestic interiors, the SmartRad range is available in a stylish twist to the classic metal radiator design, plus elegant white or black glass finishes. The range is available in four sizes, with nominal outputs ranging from 0.8kW to 1.8kW. However, with the flexibility of significant output variations based on fan speed and water flow temperature, the range actually spans applications from 0.4kW to 5kW.
