Do cast iron radiators take longer to warm up than standard radiators?
Yes, however, because there is a lot of mass with cast iron, the radiators have the advantage of staying warm long after the central heating has been turned off. This means that the changes in temperature in a room heated with radiators made of cast iron are more gentle than those in a room heated with regular radiators. Most people tend to run their central heating twice per day, once in the morning and then again at night, if a third short period is added into the middle of these two times then the warm up time is greatly reduced and the house will remain warm all day and night. When mixing standard radiators with cast iron we find that if the central heating thermostat is sited near a standard radiator the heating may close down before the cast iron radiators sited elsewhere have reached full temperature. The solution is to slow down the standard radiator influencing the thermostat by part closing the lockshield valve on that radiator (the usually covered end valve opposite the temp
Yes, but on the plus side they take a lot longer to cool down, staying warm long after the central heating has gone off. This is due to the density and great mass of cast iron, which serves as a good heat store, providing gentle undulating heating rather than the rapid on/off heat given by radiators made from other materials.
