Electric Heater Element Open Spring Coil

[andrew1210]

Hi, long shot but wonder of anyone can point me in the right direction.

A voluntary group I'm involved in recently acquired an old (unused for 10 plus years) shop unit to use as a workshop.

The unit is heated by a 30Kw forced air ducting system which we've tried to bring back into commission. The unit is actually in good condition and some new filters and a clean later, it's working (ish!)

The heat output was poor, and a peek inside reveals the issue - the unit has multiple broken open-coil elements.
It looks like a fairly easy fix, bit we're having trouble locating compatible spares, or anything close really. The manufacturer appears to be long gone with no trace on the internet

I've posted some pictures below, and wonder if anyone could point us in the right direction.

Many thanks

https://m.imgur.com/a/9GhG84T

Andrew

 

[oldbutnotdead]

I'd suggest you don't Google heater wire. I'd also suggest you ring round a few commercial electricians and see if you can find one familiar with that type of beast. Having a go at it yourself might seem like a good idea but in a commercial property there are some grown-up liability issues to think about. Plus (don't know if you noticed) that's a 415 volt 3 phase device.

 

[andrew1210]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

Yeah we know it's 3 phase and isolated it locally, at the CU and the isolator by the DNOs cutout just to be safe!

We wouldn't repair it ourselves either, just trying to do some of the legwork to see if it's worth repairing at all.

Thanks again

 

[mattylad]

What are the running costs for that heater?
With that and the cost of getting someone to repair it, it may be less costly to get another heater, perhaps one of the portable ones - and some thick overalls

 

[andrew1210]

well, rough calcs - approx 5p kw @ 30ky = £1.50 per hour on full (which it ain't working anywhere near at the moment!) For background, the unit is being used for painting scenery for stage productions, so it's basically needed to heat the unit to dry the paint in low temperatures and would only be used occasionally. The idea of "lots of heat in a short space of time" works well here as the power is isolated when off-site - which is why we thought it would be good to get it operational. The other option of the electric portable heaters would very likely be cheaper, we're just limited to the 32a ring.

Thanks again,
Andrew

 

[ericmark]

Nearly every fan heater works in the same way, however there has to be some method to stop over heating should the fan fail, and the element will likely need matching to the speed of air flow, and some method to stop build up of dust. I would advise find a heating and ventilation guy first, as there may be safety issues using that type of heater in a workshop. I have seen where massive filters were required to remove dust before air is fed into that type of heater, as otherwise the dust could explode.

 

[andrew1210]

thanks, yeah we are aware of that and the filters were one of the first things we checked (and replaced with spares that were lying by the unit). We'll definitely be looking at our options to heat the place safely. Thanks for all your help.

 

[flameport]

rough calcs - approx 5p kw @ 30ky = £1.50 per hour on full (

Where are you buying electricity at 5p per kWh?

 

[andrew1210]

It's a group/consortium deal I believe

 

[mattylad]

If they cannot be replaced, those heat units look like a repair is not going to be too hard if you can find the right person to do it with decent materials and not the crappy stuff found on ebay.

 

[andrew1210]

We've actually had some good news. An electrician we know popped by. The trays of elements are actually three individual elements in series. When one pops the three stop. basically we've grouped the good ones together and bad ones together, and it's kicking out a fair bit of heat. Nowhere near 30kw, but it did hear the place from 5 Celsius to 17 Celsius yesterday within a few hours. Given how little it will actually be used, we're fairly happy with this for now! Although we will look at a more long term repair.
Thanks for all your help

Andrew