Best heating radiator 2021 - Rifar, Global or Royal Thermo?

Heat transfer is one of the most important parameters that you need to look at first. It determines how much energy the battery gives to the room. There is a simplified calculation scheme that can be used at the initial stage. According to it, 100 watts of power is required per 1 cubic meter of area. But the scheme is conditional. Only works under ideal circumstances. They are spelled out in the European standard EN-442. According to it, the coolant at the inlet should have a temperature of 75⁰, at the outlet - 65⁰, and in the room it should already be 20⁰.

Simply put, any deviation in one direction or another will change the required heat transfer parameter, so experts recommend taking it with a margin and then compensating it with the help of regulators. As for our nominees, the model from the Global brand has the greatest value - 180 watts per section. Stout's bimetal heatsink puts out 10 watts less. Royal Thermo loses another 10 watts, and Rifar has the lowest result, only 136 watts. In fact, any of these radiators can be installed indoors, but the battery from Global will be a couple of sections shorter, and, accordingly, the whole structure will be cheaper.

The working pressure parameter shows how much load the radiator can withstand without compromising the design. It is important to understand here that the pressure in the systems differs depending on the type of building. There are certain standards:

All radiators included in our comparison have a margin for this indicator. It is necessary, since very often emergency situations arise when the pressure in the pipes exceeds the indicator established by GOST. It should be noted here that with a short-term increase in pressure, the radiator will cope with the load. We are talking about a working indicator, that is, one that is constantly present in the system.

The record holders in this nomination are models from Global and Stout. Their indicator is 35 atmospheres. Royal Thermo has 5 units less. And at rradiator from Rifar pressure is 20 atmospheres. At the same time, it cannot be said that the battery from Global is the best compared to Rifar, it can simply be used in multi-storey buildings, and the second is undesirable. If you have a private house, then the radiator from Global will have a very large and, in fact, unnecessary power reserve. Your boiler and pump will never reach this value.

The value of the maximum pressure shows how much the battery can withstand in an emergency. The parameter is very complex, since it does not determine how long the radiator will work, and when it will fail. And this is not an indicator of burst pressure. That is, if the system has reached a certain value, the battery will not break. It will continue to work, but after some time it will fail. Simply put, it is a certain buffer. Stock you can count on. As a rule, 10-15 atmospheres are simply added to the working pressure.

So, for example, for Global and Stout this parameter is 52.5 atmospheres, for Royal Thermo it is 45 atm, and for Rifar it is 30 atm. That is, the battery from Rifar has the smallest margin of safety: it has only 10 atmospheres above the norm, while the winners of the nomination have 17.5. Of course, you should not take this value as the main argument when choosing, but, as they say, the pocket does not pull the stock, and the larger it is, the better, because situations are different. And if you have an apartment in a high-rise building, then you can’t influence them at all.

From the school curriculum, we know that water boils at 100⁰C. But this is true only in the absence of pressure.So, in a closed system, which is heating, at 7-8 atmospheres of pressure, boiling will occur only at a temperature of 160-170⁰С. That is, the water in the pipes can be heated above 100 degrees, although this is unacceptable by the regulations. According to GOST, the temperature in the pipes should not be hotter than 95⁰С for a two-pipe system or not higher than 105⁰С for a single-pipe system. All heat suppliers adhere to these standards, but emergency situations sometimes happen and overheating of the coolant is quite likely. It is important that your radiator can withstand it.

If you have a private house, then the pressure in the pipes will be about 3 atmospheres, or even less, respectively, you simply cannot heat the water above 110⁰С, it will boil. Therefore, the stock is needed less. Almost all the nominees included in our comparison have the same maximum coolant temperature - 110⁰С. With this value, the radiator will operate normally. And the leader in the nomination is Rifar, which has a margin of as much as 135 degrees. For a multi-storey building, this is the best option.

The size of the radiator partially affects its other characteristics. Particularly for heat dissipation. The smaller the working area, that is, the more compact the battery, the less heat it can give off. This is clearly seen on the Rifar Base model. Its heat dissipation is only 136 watts, and this is explained by the fact that the height of the section is 415 millimeters. Simply put, the narrower and shorter the section, the less heat it will give off and the more modules will need to be installed in the radiator design. At the same time, if you have large windows, and there is little space under the windowsill, then the most powerful models of Global and Stout will have to be abandoned, since the height of their sections is 575 millimeters. The radiator from Royal Thermo is 11 millimeters smaller, but it also loses 10 watts.

In addition to the height, the section thickness parameter is also important. It can vary from 80 to 95 millimeters, and this allows you to partially offset the correlation with the heat transfer parameter. That is, the section can be low, but at the same time thick. The winner in the nomination for heat transfer was the radiator from Global, and at the same time it loses in terms of compactness. The thickness of its section is 95 millimeters, and the height is 575 mm. This is the bulkiest battery of all the nominees.

If you have a private house built from experimental materials, then the weight of the radiator will be very important to you. Some walls may simply not withstand a high load, or you will have to do something with the fastening. For concrete or brick structures, this parameter does not matter so much, but manufacturers are trying their best to lighten their models. Royal Thermo did it best. One section of it weighs only 1.7 kilograms.Yes, Rifar is even lighter, 1.36 kg, but the section size is also smaller there.

And the heaviest is the section from Global. She weighs almost 2 kilograms. Stout wins a little, but is also very heavy, 1.85 kg. There is a certain misconception here that needs to be dispelled. Often, buyers believe that the weight of the battery is reflected in its quality. That is, it uses thicker metal, which means it is stronger and more reliable. This is not true. Modern technologies and materials allow to reduce the weight of the structure without compromising its quality.

Replacing heating radiators is a costly thing both in terms of time and financially. It is important that the system last as long as possible, and manufacturers are doing their best to increase this parameter. Of course, you can write anything on the packaging, but it's not a fact that it will be true. So, for example, some Chinese brands claim that their product will work for 50 years, but in reality this is just a beautiful figure. In our comparison, only top brands that value their reputation and do not deceive consumers. As an additional proof of their words, they put up a guarantee on the goods. That is, if during the warranty period something happens to the radiator through no fault of yours, the company will fully compensate for the damage caused.

When choosing the best radiator, you should look at both the overall service life and the manufacturer's warranty. In our case, the ratio will look like this:

The most attractive is the bimetallic radiator from Royal Thermo, which has a 15-year warranty, and the recommended service life is 25 years. The battery from Global should last 5 years longer, but the warranty is only 10 years, like the rest of the nominees. But Stout and Rifar, according to the manufacturers, will serve less without complaints, only 20 years, but the guarantee is valid for half the service life.

There is such a thing as water hammer. This is a short-term increase in pressure in the system, at which the number of atmospheres can exceed the declared threshold several times. Water hammer most often occurs at the time of pressure testing of the system or after pushing through the air plug. The appearance of traffic jams is relevant for individual heating systems, so if you have a private house, and not an apartment, it is better to have a margin of safety.

In the case of radiators, this parameter shows at what pressure the battery will burst.In contrast to the maximum pressure that the radiator can withstand for a short time, burst pressure is guaranteed to break the integrity. The leader in this nomination is Royal Thermo Revolution Bimetall. This bimetallic radiator will fail only at 200 atmospheres. Moreover, the nominee is two times ahead of the nearest competitor. At Rifar, the value was set at around 100 atmospheres. And Stout and Global lose significantly, there are only 62 units. But in fairness, it should be noted that this parameter is rather a convention and an advertising step. Under no circumstances will you be able to reach 200 atmospheres in the system. And the value of 62 units already has a huge margin.

All radiators included in our comparison are of high quality and reliable. These are the best representatives on the market, so their prices bite. The most expensive is Global, whose price for one section is about 1600 rubles. This is due to the foreign origin of the company. Onam manufactures its products in Italy, which leaves a certain imprint on pricing. Russian models, which are the other three nominees, are cheaper. Royal Thermo and Stout - about 1200-1300 rubles per section, and the cheapest model - Rifar, only 1100 rubles.

Throughout the comparison, the nominees went, as they say, head to head, and according to the results, the places were distributed as follows:

Summing up, we can conclude that the best bimetallic radiator in terms of technical characteristics is Global Style Plus. Him:

1. The highest heat transfer.
2. Maximum values ​​of working and excessive pressure.

But at the same time it is the most expensive, bulky and heavy radiator.

At the same time, the Royal Thermo Revolution Bimetall model, which became the winner in terms of the average score, looks the most attractive, as it took second place in most nominations. According to the main indicators, this battery is only slightly inferior to Global, but it costs less and has a huge margin of safety in case of water hammer and an accidental increase in pressure in the system.

But the Rifar Base and Stout Style models cannot be discounted. They also have attractive technical characteristics and a long service life. Besides, they are cheaper.