When DiscreteHeat analysed years of their own heat-loss data, they found something surprising: “Over 80% of existing radiators were within about 30% of the required output for low-temperature systems,” Wadsworth told us. “Once we saw that, it became clear that full-scale radiator replacement is often unnecessary. We don’t need to tear out what’s there, we just need to supplement it.”

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In practice, 2-4 metres of discreet aluminium skirting typically supplies the missing wattage.

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It won’t remove the need for proper heat-loss calculations, nor does it eliminate the need for thoughtful system design. But it does offer something we believe is increasingly essential: a practical, efficient and homeowner-friendly pathway to low-temperature heating.

If it is combined with the BUS and they make it all good, it could be a way to replace tired skirting.. 

The dream would be if someone like Octopus would take care of it...

My guess is that the people that you had coming over are building the evidence pack, right? 😉 

Our property is a new build, but the cavity wall insulation is lacking. I had someone come over to check it, and they put a camera in different locations, I could see huge gaps. In addition, behind every covered surface, such as furniture etc, there are gaps where cold air is coming through when it is windy outside. Not only that, but cold air comes through the different extractor fans exhausts. So our house has so many cold air entry points, it is crazy, then add the window trickle vents and you have 0 air tightness.

I was quoted £4000 to remove the old insulation, and £5500 to add the new one.

The only way forward, is to actually build houses with Heat Pumps in mind, in the first place, including underfloor heating.

Your situation is unacceptable (imho) and your house doesn’t meet building regs. Have you told your builder you want it fixed on his snagging list or have they gone bust and can you get it fixed on the NFHB(?) guarantee?

Clearly you house hasn’t got the air-tightness barriers fitted well either!

It’s not a heat pump issue but a building industry one

Yes, I was just talking to a heatpump manufacturer, so much excitement about details on efficiency, buffer tanks, etc, multi zone. Even after explaining that we wanted as little disruption as poss., it took a couple of iterations to settle. 

We just want something simple. No probs to have a rad replaced for a larger one or double layer. Like that, there's less chance that anything breaking needs to be fixed. 

This Add2rad concept seems to be another example of a bit of lateral thinking to solve a problem by chopping it into smaller chunks. The recently-discussed Heat Geek "zero disrupt" approach alongside their standard approach is certainly an attempt to break the deadlock but the choice feels like a binary "ideal and expensive" vs "cheap with compromises" whereas the idea of supplementing the existing radiators looks at first glance as a combination of minimising both disruption and compromise.

Despite the very public criticising of heat pumps (legitimate and not), the technology is now mainstream in the public's eyes - even the public that choose to reject it. As a result, these innovations are now what I would regard as second generation and I'm quite excited to see what I'm sure will be a number of others following on.

Oh, and it seems to me that the Thermaskirt product could represent a relatively low cost way for homeowners who've been shafted by cowboys underspeccing radiators to get a practical fix.