'Convection heating system'

[neil_ev]

Hi all,

a landlord has phoned and asked the following question;

"is it OK to have a heating system that consists of wall mounted convection heaters manually plugged into sockets on the Ring Main?"

My thought was you wouldn't want it in your house, but electrically it's fine. As long as the heaters are PAT tested and do not tip the systems MAX Load over the limit it falls within regulations.

or am I wrong.

thanks

Neil

 

[kingeri]

You're not wrong, but the main issue would be the loading on the ring or rings. You need to allow for other appliances to be plugged in and used!

 

[7029 dave]

will cost loads!!

 

[Adam W]

Without getting the books out, I seem to remember if the primary source of heating is electric it should be on it's own dedicated circuit taking additional maximum demand into consideration on the assumption that all the heaters would be used simultaneously.

 

[kingeri]

At the end of the day convector heaters on plugtops are not fixed appliances. The only question mark is that this sounds like a comprehensive heating system, so ideally it needs to be on it's own circuit/s.

 

[Adam W]

At the end of the day convector heaters on plugtops are not fixed appliances. The only question mark is that this sounds like a comprehensive heating system, so ideally it needs to be on it's own circuit/s.

Surely if it's the main or only heating system they should be fixed down and permanently wired into FCUs?

 

[neil_ev]

Surely if it's the main or only heating system they should be fixed down and permanently wired into FCUs?

Why? Is there a regulation that states this?

 

[kingeri]

Surely if it's the main or only heating system they should be fixed down and permanently wired into FCUs?

Yep, I'd agree with that.

 

[neil_ev]

I agree that ideally they should be, but he's asking me if there is an electrical regulation that states this. And I don't think there is.....

 

[oldtimer]

Think you need to look at what load is being drawn and yes nice to have separate circuits with FCUs but what is the difference of fitting a 2kw wall heater or using a 2kw portable heater that has a plug on it.

So a 2 bedroom flat getting a 2kw heaters fitted in each bedroom would not be a strain on the ring circuit in my view

 

[Richard Burns]

Try 433.1 a circuit shall be designed so that a small overload of long duration shall not occur. Designing the circuit for the heaters use is doing just that.