Childproofing Radiators

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Young children are always accident prone with home radiators. also, with stairs, kitchen appliances and plug sockets, you already have your hands full when it comes to ensuring your children’s safety. In this blog, we will discuss how childproofing radiators is a great option.

If that’s not enough, radiators can be a hazard as well. With sharp edges, hard surfaces and a lot of heat, your children can suffer burns and bumps at the hands of your home radiators. That being said, so can adults if you’re not careful. There are a range of options for childproofing radiators, and installing child friendly low temperature radiators to reduce accidents. Below you can find a few ways you can decrease the chance of harm from home heating.

What are the statistics?

Every year, just under 300 children are taken to accident and emergency rooms for burn treatment every month. This is a figure which can be quelled with knowledge and vigilance. The average cost for a major burn to the NHS is around 168 thousand pounds, and the most common causes can be avoided. The most common burns come from boiling water in kettles and on stoves, as well as irons, hair straighteners and of course, radiators. These are usually suffered by children under the age of five. This is a huge reason as to why childproofing your home is essential. Thankfully this can be lowered by looking at low temperature radiators, these work just like normal radiators, heating up your rooms, but only reach a maximum of 50c in heat, reducing burns massively as they aren't as hot to the touch.

Home Radiators Education

With so many accidents that require emergency care being preventable, it is always a good idea to educate your children about the dangers of radiators from as early an age as possible. This will mean that your children can take it into their own hands to avoid burns where possible. The radiator can be a home comfort, but equally can lead to devastating home damage if you don’t warn children about their power.

Childproofing Radiators With Radiator Covers

Radiator covers are used not only for safety but for a range of other reasons. They may be aesthetic in choice, for instance a wooden radiator cover to cover a unit which doesn’t fit in with your interior décor. It could just as easily be for functionality. Having a radiator cover which has a hard top surface can also double up as a shelf. This is especially prevalent in homes which are low on space. Radiator covers often combine holes in the material used so as to allow heat to escape into the room whilst also lowering the surface heat of the unit itself. It is this element which makes them safe for children, the heat being used is diffused from the surface by the added layer of material.

Whilst some may worry that this will decrease the power, the same amount of heat is still diffused into the room, just without the dangers of hotter surface areas.

Hiding Piping

Naked pipes protruding from the radiator can cause injuries, not only through burns but through hard edges coming out of the floor near your radiator. This can be avoided through safe installation, placing them in a space which will allow for easy traversing. Try hiding the piping under a radiator or as far to the edge of the wall as possible so as to minimise damage potential.

Pipe Covers

If this isn’t possible, then you can always invest in radiator pipe sleeves, ensuring that they are less hot in the same way that radiator covers work. Sleeves for radiator piping can be found for many of the radiators in the UK, which are safe and aesthetically pleasing when matching your pipe sleeves to your radiator, they are also highly affordable.

Safe Home Radiator Examples

Child friendly radiators have also been introduced into the market. These have rounded edges and a low heat surface area, ensuring that your home radiators are safe for children to be around, some examples of these are low surface temperature radiators, As they run at lower surface temperatures you can reduce dangers of burning and reduce your stress levels a little. Low temperature radiators are suitable for children's bedrooms, though it's still recommended that you don’t place a bed or toys near the radiator.