Hudson Reed USA

Full review
I purchased the Earl radiator/towel warmer to be the main source of heat for my small bathroom, since it ties directly into a hot-water heating system. I was very excited about it because it was just the right size and the right style for my Victorian-style bathroom - it is similar to radiator/towel warmers from Wesaunard and Myson, but half the size and less than half the price. Now I know why it's so inexpensive.

One positive thing I can say is that the initial unit was delivered quickly by FedEx from the UK, just a few days.

The radiator does look good from several feet away, but the porcelain coating on the center section is uneven and ripply looking, and the brushed nickel finish is two different colors on different parts of the frame. The mounting plates for the wall and floor also do not quite match.

My plumber said the radiator was an absolute bear to install - the rough-ins according to the installation instructions ended up being off, so I have some ugly holes in my tile floor to patch. The radiator leaked steadily at the join between the valve and the radiator itself, even after multiple expensive visits from the plumber to fiddle and adjust it. I contacted H-R to ask for more suggestions for repairs. It took them several days to respond, at which time they offered to send me a new radiator. (While that's nice, it doesn't seem to be sensible business practice to just ship out a new $800 radiator right off the bat. And yet this seems to be standard practice.) Radiator #2 arrived in a little over two weeks - even though it was promised in three or four days - with the same visual inconsistencies as the first, and was installed to the tune of another couple of hundred bucks to the plumber. Guess what - it leaks too! The design of the valve-radiator joint is very poor, it's difficult to get it to fit together tightly enough to avoid leakage. (Oh, by the way, not installing the unit exactly as instructed voids the warranty, too, so our use of dope instead of teflon tape could have sunk us.) I had another plumber check it out - whoops, there goes another hundred bucks - to see if it was just installer error, but he agreed that it was just a poor design.

I'm out hundreds of dollars trying to salvage this darn thing. I can't afford to spend any more so I figure I'll try one of the heavy-duty sealants like "JB Weld" or a high-temperature silicone just to stop it from leaking even though it'll negatively affect the appearance. Maybe I can sell the extra radiator at an extremely steep discount and recoup at least a little bit of what I've blown on this, because I feel seriously ripped off. I will never ever shop with Hudson-Reed again and I try to discourage others from doing so.