Angled Radiator Valves

Angled radiator valves are the ones you want when your pipes come up out of the floor and your towel rail or radiator takes the feed from the side. The valve body turns the flow through 90 degrees, so the pipework sits neat against the wall instead of wandering about in the open.

You are choosing on three things: manual or thermostatic, a finish that matches your rail, and the pipe size you are connecting to. The range includes chrome, brushed brass, matt black, brushed bronze and anthracite, with both manual and thermostatic sets. If your pipe already lines up with the radiator connection and there is no turn to make, look at the straight radiator valves, or browse the whole radiator valves and accessories range to compare.

What to look for in angled radiator valves

A radiator valve does two jobs. It lets you control the heat at one end of the radiator, and it balances the flow at the other. The angled part is only the shape of the body. Get three things right and you are sorted: the right shape for your pipe layout, manual or thermostatic, and a finish that matches your rail.

Angled, straight or corner: match the valve to your pipes. This is the bit people get wrong, so it is worth two minutes, because the shape has to suit how your pipes meet the radiator rather than how the valve looks on its own. Angled is the most common. Use it where the pipes come up out of the floor, or down from the ceiling, and connect into the side of the radiator or towel rail, because the valve takes that vertical pipe and turns it horizontally into the rail. The same turn works the other way round too, for a pipe coming out of the wall into a rail whose connections face down. Straight valves are for when the pipe already lines up with the radiator connection and there is no turn to make, and if that sounds like your setup, the straight radiator valves are the ones to look at. Corner valves handle pipes that come out of the wall and need to turn into the side of the rail, keeping the valve tucked in flat against the wall, and the corner radiator valves cover that layout.

The honest version: before you buy anything, look at where your pipes actually come from and which way the connections on the rail face, because between them they decide the shape, and thirty seconds spent looking under the rail saves a return.

Manual or thermostatic. Both control the heat. The difference is whether you set it and forget it. A manual valve is a simple open and close, like a tap, so you turn the heat up or down by hand, which is all you need on a towel rail you only ever want on or off. The Brushed Bronze Angled Radiator Valves at £17.99 and the chrome Modena Angled Radiator Valves at £19.99 are both manual pairs and the two lowest prices in this guide, while the Brushed Brass Angled Radiator Valves at £29.99 do the same manual job in a warm brass finish.

A thermostatic valve, usually shortened to TRV, holds the room at a set temperature and eases the flow back once it gets there, so you are not heating an empty bathroom on full all day. It earns its place on a radiator doing real room heating. The Anthracite Angled Thermostatic Radiator Valves at £25.99 are a thermostatic pair, and the Matt Black Angled Thermostatic Radiator Valve & Lockshield at £33.99 is a thermostatic valve and lockshield pair. Do not assume thermostatic always costs more, either. Finish moves the price as much as type does, and that anthracite thermostatic pair comes in under the brushed brass manual one.

One thing worth knowing before you commit: a TRV generally should not go on a radiator in the same room as your wall thermostat, because the two end up fighting each other. On a towel rail that is rarely an issue, but it is the reason plenty of people stay with manual valves.

You buy a pair, not two separate valves. A radiator needs a valve at each end, one to control the heat and a lockshield at the other end to balance the flow, which you set once on installation and then leave alone under its cap. Every set in this guide is supplied as a pair, so one set completes one radiator and you order one per radiator rather than two. If you have been searching for a radiator lock valve or a shield valve, the lockshield is the part you mean.

Pipe size and fitting. 15mm is the UK standard for domestic radiator pipework, so that is what most installs are working with. If you are on older 10mm microbore or 22mm pipe you will need an adaptor or a different valve, so check what actually comes out of your floor or wall and make sure the valve’s connection matches before you order. Fitting one is a plumbing job, not a clip-on: it means isolating or draining down the radiator, undoing the old union and making the new connection watertight. Comfortable with that and it is a quick swap. If not, it is a small job for a plumber, and a great deal cheaper than a leak.

Then match the finish to the rail, because a chrome valve under a brushed brass towel rail looks like an afterthought. The sets in this guide cover chrome, brushed brass, matt black, brushed bronze and anthracite, so you can match the valve to the rail and the rest of the fittings. If you are still choosing the rail itself, browse the heated towel radiators range, and you can shop valves by finish through the chrome radiator valves or brushed brass radiator valves pages.

Quick answers

What are angled radiator valves? Radiator valves with a body that turns the flow through 90 degrees. You use them where your pipes come up out of the floor, or down from the ceiling, and connect into the side of the radiator or towel rail, so the angle feeds the vertical pipe neatly into the rail.

Angled or straight radiator valves: which do I need? It comes down to how your pipes meet the radiator. Pipes coming up out of the floor and into the side of the rail want angled valves, and so do pipes coming out of the wall into a rail whose connections face down. If the pipe already lines up with the radiator connection and there is no turn to make, you want straight valves. Pipes coming out of the wall that need to turn into the side of the rail want corner valves. Have a proper look at where your pipes sit before you order.

Do I need a thermostatic or a manual valve? Manual if you just want the towel rail on or off. Thermostatic if the radiator heats the room and you want it to hold a set temperature and ease off once it gets there. Most people are happy with manual on a towel rail, but on a room radiator a TRV like the Matt Black Angled Thermostatic Radiator Valve & Lockshield at £33.99 saves you heating an empty room.

What is a lockshield, and do I need one as well? The lockshield is the second valve, the one with the plain cap you do not touch day to day. It balances the flow so the radiator heats evenly, and it is set once when it is fitted. Every radiator needs a valve at each end, and the sets in the guide above are supplied as pairs, so one set covers both ends of one radiator. That second valve is what people are after when they search for a radiator lock valve or a shield valve.

What size are radiator valves, and will they fit my pipes? 15mm is the UK standard for domestic radiator pipework, so that is what most installs are working with. If you have older 10mm microbore or 22mm pipe you will need an adaptor or a different valve. Check what comes out of your floor or wall first, then make sure the valve’s connection matches before you order.

Do angled radiator valves come in different finishes? Yes. The sets in the guide above cover chrome, brushed brass, matt black, brushed bronze and anthracite. The rule of thumb is to match the valve to the towel rail and the rest of the fittings so it looks deliberate rather than bolted on. You can also shop by colour, for example chrome radiator valves or black radiator valves.

Are these valves easy to fit? It is a proper plumbing job rather than a clip-on. You isolate or drain down the radiator, undo the old union and make the new connection watertight. If you are comfortable with basic plumbing it is a quick swap, and if not, it is a small job for a plumber. The angled shape itself does not make it any harder, it only sets the direction the pipe enters the rail.