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How do you decorate behind radiators? Perhaps the simplest way is to ensure that the walls are emulsioned before the radiators are hung. But it’s rarely ideal to start applying paint so early in the building process and is likely to require touching up before occupation. Another technique is to use a radiator brush complete with angled head, designed specifically to reach down into the awkward space between the wall and the radiator. But, in some cases, you simply can’t get them into the space because of overhanging cills.

Neither solution is ideal when it comes to redecoration - and what if the homebuyer wants wallpaper? For this you need to be able to remove the radiator which is no simple task when it involves draining down the whole system in order to disconnect the radiator. So the holy grail in this field has been the radiator that can be swung away from the wall without having to disconnect it from the pipework. In fact this is one of the unsung benefits of the plastic plumbing systems like Hep2O. There is enough flexibility in the pipework to allow you to a) ease the radiator up off its brackets and b) lay it down propped up off the floor. In fact, if you design the system so that the connection is done with 90° elbows, you can pivot the radiator through more than 90° as these elbows remain watertight when the pipe twists around inside the fitting, a characteristic of all push-fit plumbing systems. The downside is that you have to manoeuvre a heavy unwieldy radiator and that it lays on the floor.

Step forward Paul Davidson and his Macclesfield-based innovation business called Movers and Shapers. They have developed a push-fit valve called the Oyster Converter and a further development of this valve allows it to act as a one-piece flow-and-return connection for domestic radiators. With this valve it is even possible to connect radiators using just one pipe. Coupled with the ability of this valve to swivel, suddenly you have a radiator which can be opened away from the wall on a vertical access, just like a door.

The idea of a radiator that opens away from the wall like a door is not new but both early and recent attempts to do this have been dogged by technical problems. This time there is confidence that the solution is effective. Barlo UK, one of our largest radiator manufacturers, is fully committed to GateRad - as the system is called - and expect it to be available throughout the country this year at an expected cost of about £30 per radiator.

“The beauty of the system,” said David Kerr, commercial director of Barlo, “is that it will work with any radiator that provides top and bottom tappings on at least one side. If it takes off as we anticipate we will consider incorporating the downpipeas part of the radiator but for the time being you can use it with a wide variety of standard radiators.”

The system includes a little foot stand so that the opening end of the radiator is supported when free from the wall bracket. This folds up neatly behind when the radiator is fixed back on the wall.