Advice on storage heaters or any cheap heating solutions pls

kilo_4que · 23 Nov 2011

Hi guys, I have an office building which really only consists of two rooms and a toilet.

The building is quite simply two open floors with a single entrance/exit.

Each floor/room is 15m x 5.5m

I have no gas supply to the building and am being quoted astronomical amounts to get a gas point + meter installed and furthermore cannot afford to have all my floor boards ripped up and plumping holes everywhere.

Which leaves me to my next option which I have been advised of is storage heaters. I have tried the oil filled radiators and they are absolutely rubbish in large areas like mine, do the job in a small residential room but not in a large 15m x 5.5m room.

Currently we are absolutely freezing our assets off and need a solution asap.

What solutions would you guys recommend and would you advise on storage heaters.

What brands are good, what types should i get and how many would i need per floor.

The height of both rooms is 3m.

O and it is a design studio so, would be nice if they look good too but not too important

Thanks guys

Taylortwocities · 23 Nov 2011

I smiled at the title to your topic.

There are no "cheap" heating solutions. You could look at heat pumps but you'll need 10years+ to recoup the investment.

Storage radiators (as you may know) store heat during off peak times ad discharge the heat during the day. As the day gets later, the heat gets less so you can expect to be pretty chilly by 3 in the afternoon.

I think the idea of storage rads was that it would keep the little woman at home warm for much of the day, until she go around to lighting the fire and filling the tin bath full of water, waiting for her man to get back from t't pit.
You are in Yorkshire, so I'm sure you know all about that.

I'd rather think that storage rads might not be the solution for you. You do not mention your ceiling height as room VOLUME is important. As is wall and ceiling construction, number of outside walls etc.

There's a planning tool on the Dimplex site.
Its here http://www.dimplex.de/en/professional/online-planner.html
you may need to register to get access.

flameport · 23 Nov 2011

As a very rough estimate, 5x Dimplex FXL24 for each room.
Unfortunately, 10 of those will require a 3 phase electricity supply to the building, and they also cost upwards of £700 each, plus installation costs on top of that.

They will also cost shedloads of money to run, even on economy 7.

If the room is poorly insulated or excessive amounts of outside wall, you may need more than 5 per room.

Are you sure the gas option is too expensive?

kilo_4que · 23 Nov 2011

thanks for the replies guys.

Taylor I did mention the height lol. Its says above 3m

Btw guys this office building ive had since 2007 but we moved out in 2009 to larger premises which was kitted with a normal radiator system however this "surplus" building needs to be put to use again and i am back to square one where i left off in 2007 of not having any heating.

When I say cheap i meant cheap to run compared to having 2kw electric fan heaters scattered around the room doing squat all other than wasting money.

In an emergency case can you switch storage heaters on during peak hours?

Flamespot, i dont think i even have enough space for that many heaters, I was thinking of no more than 2 heaters per floor

flameport · 23 Nov 2011

kilo_4que said:
In an emergency case can you switch storage heaters on during peak hours?

The FXL heaters have an additional boost element which can be used in the daytime if required. They also have a fan so that the heat can be extracted from the storage core when you actually need it.

kilo_4que said:
Flamespot, i dont think i even have enough space for that many heaters, I was thinking of no more than 2 heaters per floor

Never going to happen with a room that size, whatever type of heating it is.

kilo_4que · 23 Nov 2011

my other building has a slightly bigger area in one room approx 16m x 7m with two radiators warming the room beautifully

big-all · 23 Nov 2011

you do have economy 7/off peak supply its not automatic ??
a 2kw fan heaters will give out the same amount off heat and probably more efficiently than 2kw oil radiators as you can direct the heat to where you want it

kilo_4que · 24 Nov 2011

Hi Bigal are you referring to normal fan heaters?

Regarding the economy 7, I dont have one just yet but would get one should i decide on going with storage heaters

big-all · 24 Nov 2011

kilo_4que said:
Hi Bigal are you referring to normal fan heaters?

Regarding the economy 7, I dont have one just yet but would get one should i decide on going with storage heaters

yes normal fan heaters

also remember you will often be charged more for you normal units if you have off peak electric
so you need to do your homework if you have a lot off gadgets running during the day

as an example i pay just over 10p a unit any time
i know some people on say 3p off peak but pay over 24p for day time units so calculations are a must

kilo_4que · 25 Nov 2011

Wow now thats a significant difference. Damn, im back to square one

stillp · 25 Nov 2011

What about a bottled gas space heater? They look a bit "industrial" for an office environment, but are cheaper to run than electric heating.

holmslaw · 25 Nov 2011

kilo_4que · 25 Nov 2011

stillp, i think they would be classed as a naked flame hence insurance would be void.

holmslaw, im going to look into the economy 10 bud

stillp · 25 Nov 2011

kilo_4que said:
stillp, i think they would be classed as a naked flame hence insurance would be void.

Check with your insurers - we've used them in our offices and the insurers were quite happy provided we had a procedure for ensuring the heaters were turned off at the end of the day.

ban-all-sheds · 25 Nov 2011

Don't they produce a fearsome amount of water vapour?

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Advice on storage heaters or any cheap heating solutions pls

holmslaw

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