Cheap workshop heating

[fizzy]

I have recently invested in 3 of these to heat our 3 offices. Our electric bill in winter is running at £600 a month!

Running on Kero they are about 1/3 to 1/4 the price of electricity. Not very popular in the UK but used a lot in Europe and Japan/China where they originate.

They are CE approved and have all sorts of safety features.

They do smell a bit on start up but are fine after 20 mins. One bad feature is the thermostat. They STINK when they keep cycling on and off. They have a min function which it should default to but doesn't. What we do is just whack the thermostat up full so it stays running all the time. If it gets too hot just switch to min.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Mode...639723?hash=item543dc6022b:g:lMoAAOSw44BYHGcO

They do 3kw as well. These are not the old wick type.

The oil tank is removable for refilling even when running.

You are supposed to use clean parrafin but kero works just as well and is far cheaper.

I just though these would be ideal for people with cold workshops. I have worked out we will recoup the cost in about 2 months - but that is running 50 hours a week.

 

[Ashley Burton]

Our electric bill in winter is running at £600 a month!

Is that previous to having these heaters?

Were you using electric heaters before?

 

[fizzy]

Is that previous to having these heaters?

Were you using electric heaters before?

Yes - my staff are all freezers! Our summer usage is about £200 a month - I can live with that! Electric heating is way too expensive. Kero works out at about 5p per kwh v 16p for electric.

 

[Ashley Burton]

Yes - my staff are all freezers! Our summer usage is about £200 a month - I can live with that! Electric heating is way too expensive. Kero works out at about 5p per kwh v 16p for electric.

Sounds like a good saving!

I've got an oil filled rad in my garage, But have no idea on cost to run it. Never had a massive electric bill to notice!

 

[rtcosic]

They appear to be flueless devices.

Condensation?

 

[MattF]

Sounds like a good saving!

I've got an oil filled rad in my garage, But have no idea on cost to run it. Never had a massive electric bill to notice!

I have a fan heater in mine, set on low temp to just kick in occasionally. Didn't use it last year, and I had a few pieces get a minor coat of surface rust in places, so not risking that again.

An oil filled rad never seemed to help much when I tried one.

 

[Ashley Burton]

I have a fan heater in mine, set on low temp to just kick in occasionally. Didn't use it last year, and I had a few pieces get a minor coat of surface rust in places, so not risking that again.

An oil filled rad never seemed to help much when I tried one.

Yeah it works ok, I normally have it close to where I'm working. I wouldn't mind a fan to circulate the heat more.

Never went with a propane heater due to fumes & condensation

 

[waddycall]

You should get some CO alarms. Not a good idea to recommend using flueless heaters on the wrong fuel to save a few pence per hour. Do your staff know they’re burning the wrong fuel?

 

[Ashley Burton]

You should get some CO alarms. Not a good idea to recommend using flueless heaters on the wrong fuel to save a few pence per hour. Do your staff know they’re burning the wrong fuel?

They're no longer alive to answer

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Sounds like a good saving!

I've got an oil filled rad in my garage, But have no idea on cost to run it. Never had a massive electric bill to notice!

Im lucky the huge combi boiler in the garage keeps the ambient temps high.
Can get away with a jumper in winter.

 

[fizzy]

You should get some CO alarms. Not a good idea to recommend using flueless heaters on the wrong fuel to save a few pence per hour. Do your staff know they’re burning the wrong fuel?

I am not burning the wrong fuel both are allowed.
They have built in CO sensors but I have also bought separate ones.
CO is something I am paranoid about. Running wood burners and oil agas etc I have 5 CO alarms at home!

 

[waddycall]

I am not burning the wrong fuel both are allowed.
They have built in CO sensors but I have also bought separate ones.
CO is something I am paranoid about. Running wood burners and oil agas etc I have 5 CO alarms at home!

Are you burning heating oil?

 

[fizzy]

Yes kerosene

 

[waddycall]

Heating oil is class 2 kerosene for use in boilers, cookers etc (flued). Class 1 kerosene is paraffin for use in flueless lamps etc.

 

[fizzy]

Heating oil is class 2 kerosene for use in boilers, cookers etc (flued). Class 1 kerosene is paraffin for use in flueless lamps etc.

Well so far I have used the free fuel they came with.
I thought odour of the unburnt fuel was the main problem and that combustion products were pretty similar?

 

[waddycall]

Well so far I have used the free fuel they came with.
I thought odour of the unburnt fuel was the main problem and that combustion products were pretty similar?

If they’re designed and approved to burn paraffin then putting anything else in them is a bad idea, especially if it’s not for personal use. They may only just pass combustion tests with the right fuel in lab conditions. I’ve never known it to be ok to burn heating oil in flueless appliances. I used to design oil fired heaters (flame effect Stoves). I’ll never claim to know it all but if the instructions state a particular fuel that’s what you should use.

 

[rtcosic]

BS 2869 C1 - for flueless appliances:

https://www.britishfueloils.co.uk/bfo-bs2869-class-c-premium-paraffin-spec.pdf

BS 2869 C2 - for flued appliances (central heating boilers)

https://www.britishfueloils.co.uk/bfo-bs-2869-kerosene-class-c2-spec.pdf

Class C1 is much lower sulphur content and very much higher Smoke Point. It is probably lower density as well, but the spec doesn't call for that, relying on Smoke Point to achieve that.

Years ago our local distributor got a very large fine for selling C2 as C1.

If I were using this in an unoccupied greenhouse I would use C2. The water and carbon dioxide would be beneficial to plants and they probably would not be unduly impacted by the other minor products of combustion

If I were using this in an enclosed space to which employees or the general public had access I wouldn't. It just takes one employee with a headache or customer with a grievance to complain to an outside body and you risk a world of pain.

BUT I wouldn't use a flueless appliance in an enclosed space occupied by people in the first place. The condensation alone would put me off, but the high CO2 and risk of other products of combustion would be unacceptable to me.

I shudder at the recollection of the fashion for LPG fired 'cabinet heaters' a while back.

 

[rtbcomp]

In one house we lived in we had a fixed town gas heater on the landing, no flue. Same with gas cookers and geysers, no flues.

 

[DennisCA]

Heat pumps are common here, usually connected to a borehole or the collector is buried in the ground for a roughly equal length. Below freezing depth. This is then electric heating, usually heating elements of floor heating, but with a COP of 3-4.

 

[earthman]

You should get some CO alarms. Not a good idea to recommend using flueless heaters on the wrong fuel to save a few pence per hour. Do your staff know they’re burning the wrong fuel?

I wouldn't be surprised that the H&S bods haven't banned any type of fuel/fume burning heater for office use especially. Lol

I grew up with portable paraffin heaters in our house, thank god the council put central heating in when I turned 11.