Heaters from ring

[Eddiesparks]

Okay, so I am doing a Rewire at the moment and have put in 32 amp ring final circuits on the upstairs and downstairs. Kitchen will be on its own ring. Top floor feeds about five double sockets bottom floor feeds four double sockets. So not a great amount of sockets. There has been talk of getting an electric radiator in the upstairs bedroom, an electric towel rail in bathroom and one heater in the downstairs front room - it's quite a small maisonette.. Would it be a heinous crime to Spur these off their respective rings. I am guessing they would be about 2 kW as they are quite efficient. Basically my first fix is done and the decision about the heaters has been made afterwards. So this would be far and away the easiest solution. What do you all think to this? In my opinion it is no different, and in fact probably a better solution, than her plugging in a couple of 3 kW oil filled radiators into the existing sockets!

 

[Pete999]

Can't check just yet as Ive just finished a very nice bottle of vino, but I think anything over and above 2KW as a fixed appliance should be on it's own circuit, will check when I'm a little more able:chillpill::rockon: and let you know

 

[telectrix]

Okay, so I am doing a Rewire at the moment and have put in 32 amp ring final circuits on the upstairs and downstairs. Kitchen will be on its own ring. Top floor feeds about five double sockets bottom floor feeds four double sockets. So not a great amount of sockets. There has been talk of getting an electric radiator in the upstairs bedroom, an electric towel rail in bathroom and one heater in the downstairs front room - it's quite a small maisonette.. Would it be a heinous crime to Spur these off their respective rings. I am guessing they would be about 2 kW as they are quite efficient. Basically my first fix is done and the decision about the heaters has been made afterwards. So this would be far and away the easiest solution. What do you all think to this? In my opinion it is no different, and in fact probably a better solution, than her plugging in a couple of 3 kW oil filled radiators into the existing sockets!

FCU on the RFC for each. 13A fuse. sorted.

 

[Adam W]

You can probably 'get away with' the towel rail, but I seem to remember reading somewhere the primary source of heating should be on it's own circuit.

 

[Engineer54]

You can probably 'get away with' the towel rail, but I seem to remember reading somewhere the primary source of heating should be on it's own circuit.

Does that read ''Should Be'' or ''Must Be''?? I wouldn't give it a second thought if i needed an electric heater, and all i had available was a RFC, .....that's what will be supplying the heater!! lol!!


Most ring circuits carry ridiculously low current loads in the vast majority of typical homes, especially those supplying bedrooms. So if the capacity is there, ....Use It!! lol!!

 

[wozz]

the towel rail will probably be just a few hundred watts and provide not alot of heating. on the face of it nothing in the regs to stop your plan working.

My only concern would be the effectiveness of these heaters, if they arnt enough will more get plugged in they are cheap after all and then you may have a problem, have the heaters been sized for the room? a chat with the customer and a bit of advice may provide a better solution for them and a bit more work for you. you cant control what happens after you have left but advising them of the limits of what can be plugged in may be advisable in this situation.

 

[DPG]

Sounds like you've got 3 separate ring finals serving what is only a handful of sockets anyway. That seems a bit of an overkill anyway, but should definately have spare capacity! Daz

 

[Eddiesparks]

Thanks all. I designed it this way anyway because it was not a great stress to run last leg in (10 mins per floor , if that!) and allows for extra load as there was talk of a towel rail and one heater downstairs to supplement rads. Looks like she wants to do away with the rads and just have some clever electric heaters with timers as it's only a small place with not many rooms and she is on her own so could turn heater on when she's in one room then switch over with a little overlap when she heads up to bed for e.g. To be honest she'll prob only use a tiny amount of the 32a without the heaters which is why i thought it ludicrous to put in a 16a radial for each one! Good responses, feels like i'm right in my thinking.

 

[Engineer54]

the towel rail will probably be just a few hundred watts and provide not alot of heating. on the face of it nothing in the regs to stop your plan working.
have the
My only concern would be the effectiveness of these heaters, if they arnt enough will more get plugged in they are cheap after all and then you may have a problem, have the heaters been sized for the room? a chat with the customer and a bit of advice may provide a better solution for them and a bit more work for you. you cant control what happens after you have left but advising them of the limits of what can be plugged in may be advisable in this situation.

No different to a homeowner plugging in 2 or 3 electric fan heaters around the house, and some of those are 2.5KW to 3KW a pop!!!

 

[wozz]

No different to a homeowner plugging in 2 or 3 electric fan heaters around the house, and some of those are 2.5KW to 3KW a pop!!!

Agreed although most properties have some sort of adequately thought about heating system without resorting to this as a back up this one doesn't, advising the customer of possible problems if they use lots of them seems wise in this situation as they have no other form of heating. In general in the cheap shops the cheaper the heater the less control and more kW so 3kwcall round, happy days till bill time.

Do they not want to think about using some cheap electricity and getting storage heaters?

 

[Knobhead]

It’s a small maisonette not a sauna!

I don’t recall the OP asking about electricity charges and tariffs.

 

[wozz]

so informing the customer the running costs of convector heaters is not something you would do?

couple of minutes chat and thats it, hardly a hardship.

 

[davesparks]

Only if you know the efficiency and running costs of the particular heater being installed.

 

[wozz]

Only if you know the efficiency and running costs of the particular heater being installed.

An educated guess will give them a idea.

by ONLY i suppose you would offer no advice then to the customer?

 

[haj]

ROINTE radiators are very good and on a plug too too !! Or you can fcu them.