Maisha Frost
HOT PROSPECT 70-somethings Gary Webster and Barry Whichello have applied a century of combined experience in the heating and ventilation industry to launch Radbooster, a nifty energy-saving device designed to make more of the heat in homes.
The inventors ditched retirement to launch their new business Stanton Resources (SR) a few months ago and say this is just the start of a new product pipeline. Radbooster, its first flagship product, is a low noise, plug and play fan that works with most household radiators, sitting below them and taking the warmth output then distributing it more effectively.
A thermostat inside a magnetic caddy also attaches to a radiator controlling the fan so it works in line with the system and doesn’t run unnecessarily.
Capable of heating rooms 60 per cent quicker than a standard system, tests show the Radbooster (which comes in two sizes from £75 each) could save the average household £160 in annual energy bills.
“Homes with our unit don’t need to have the heating on for as long, reducing consumption and their carbon footprint too,” says SR co-founder director Gary, 72.
“The latest condensing boilers are more efficient, but also have lower water temperatures and need bigger radiators to get the full effect. To compensate, people turn up the temperature and it all gets a bit counter-productive. We saw room in the market for a new product that was straightforward, easy to fit and use, and made of steel so it is robust and long-lasting.”
Competitor products do exist, but Radbooster “has a tangential fan that runs throughout the unit,” says Gary, “that enables air to be blown evenly across the length of the appliance increasing its efficiency”.
Retirement was not for the fabrication expert and after two months he decided with Barry, a fellow industry insider already retired and a mate for 50 years, working life another shot.
“We had a broad skills mix, Gary manufacturing and myself with sales and marketing, excellent contacts and the time and space to get it right, reinvest profits and do everything our way,” explains Barry, 75.
Bringing a product from concept to market themselves was part of the joy of a new start.
It took £50,000 of their own investment, with £40,000 spent on injection mould tooling to make the product, which went through six prototypes in total.
Three years of research and development were followed by months of field testing, patents registration and website building.
The company now employs 10 at its outsourced British manufacturing partner and expects a turnover of £500,000 this year growing to £4.5million by 2022.
“Picking and choosing ourselves”, as the pair put it, led to their decision to market Radbooster directly to consumers via their website at first.
“We didn’t want to dance to any third party’s tune,” says Barry, although teaming up with Amazon as they grow is now likely.
Sales are split 50/50 for the product’s two sizes, with demand, originally all UK, now coming from France, Germany, Ireland and North America as well.
As new product development goes, they agree this was a soft landing, with digital marketing and their website the only really new things they had to master. As for the future it is onwards and upwards.
“We’re lucky,” reckon the pair. “Our brains are working well, this isn’t like work and we’ve loads more ideas for energy-saving consumer products. We’ve only just begun.”
radbooster.com to give