How to Prepare the Install of New Heating Systems in the Workplace

We all need a comprehensive electric heating system in the workplace to protect ourselves against those cold winter months. The installation can cause an insurmountable amount of disruption, though. It is a time where preparation can potentially save your business from losing productivity.

Unbelievably, you do not have to accept the disruption and reduce your output. By having a contingency plan in place, you can have your panel heaters installed without any hassle.

The Best Case Scenario : The easiest way to prepare is to not have any disruption in the first place. Companies that specialise in installing heating systems on business premises will do everything they can to install at a convenient time. For most companies, this is at the weekend. When everyone is away, they can complete the installation and eliminate most of the disruption.

Understandably, this is not always possible, but this should be your ideal option.

Talk to Your Employees : You should warn your employees in advance of the situation. This will help them to brace for the arrival of the engineers. Talk to them about where they will be working and whether any areas will be cordoned off. If they are working close to the front entrance, you might have to tell your employees to come in through the back door on Monday morning, for example.

Moving Away : Most of the time, installing an electric combi boiler and heaters will require you to move some of your workers out of the way. It is important that you already have desks setup prior to the engineers arriving. When the day comes, any affected employees should know where they need to go. You do not want to run into conflict when someone discovers his or her desk has suddenly been deposited in the corridor the night before.v

Help the Engineers by Giving Them Space : It is difficult enough for your workers to function under these conditions. The installers have to contend with challenges, as well. By helping them, you will reduce the amount of time it takes to complete the installation process.

Give them the space they need by providing them with a designated area where they can leave their tools and carry out any cutting and welding work. Cordon the area off by keeping employees out. In a busy workplace, the presence of both employees and engineers in the same place tends to slow everything down and disrupt the work of both parties.

Get the Workers Out! : Not every business can adjust appropriately to suit a full heating installation. Some bosses have to accept they are going to lose out. The easiest way to prepare for this is to schedule the work around the installation.

Rather than planning anything significant for the affected days, reduce the workload and catch up later on. Alternatively, if you are planning a business trip or a teambuilding day, this could be the time to do it. Getting the workers out of the workplace will only accelerate the installation.

This is not always possible, but if you plan for it far enough in advance, you can make both events coincide with each other.

Electric Heaters vs Oil Heaters - What are the Key Differences

You have a series of vertical radiators and you are wondering whether it is better to have an electric heater or an oil heater. They function in different ways and both have their pros and cons. We want to demonstrate the various nuances of each. In this article, we are going to explore a range of attributes to help you determine the best heating option for you.

The Function : It seems obvious; both heaters are designed to keep you warm. The difference is in how they manage to keep you toasty.

Oil heaters have hollow columns where heated oil is circulated to produce heat. A small flame or electric current acts as the heating element. Electric boilers rely entirely on voltage to produce heat. They do not use any form of liquid. Electric heaters tend to heat up faster, as a result.

How Safe Are They? : All heaters carry some sort of risk. In the case of an electric heater, they are hot to the touch. This naturally means you should never place any flammable objects close to the heater. Oil heaters are also hot, but do not come to the same external temperatures as electric heaters.

Although the differences are not significant, it is best to be aware of the general safety risks.

Environmental Effects : A well-maintained oil and electric heating boiler will not cause any damage to the environment. The oil within an oil heater will circulate for years before it needs replenishing, and electric heaters do not leave any waste behind.

The only real environmental effect is that the oil in oil heaters is toxic. If it is not disposed of properly, it can damage the local ecosystem.

Efficiency Concerns : Electric heaters have the problem of always needing a constant supply of electricity to function. The oil within an oil-based heater can stay warm for hours after the power has been turned off. As a general trade, however, electric heaters can begin producing heat immediately, whereas oil heaters can take some time. It depends on your priorities, but all modern heaters are extremely efficient.

Weight : The weight differences are significant. Oil heaters are far heavier than electric heaters. Manufacturers of oil heating boilers must use materials that emphasise durability, in order to contain extremely hot oil. This means you will need less storage space to have an electric heater installed in your home.

Noise ; Oil heaters win out when it comes to noise levels. Although none of these heaters will keep you up at night, there is a noticeable difference in sound levels. This happens because electric heaters always have to work to keep the temperature at the correct level. An oil-based heater does not have to do this. It can stay warm forever.

What is Better? : The key difference is in the size. In the majority of cases, oil and electric has no real difference. Electric heaters do offer a more lightweight solution, which is perfect for homes that cannot spare the space. Moreover, as long as the electricity is gained from sustainable sources, purchasing an electric heater is far better for the environment.

Carbon Monoxide - The Main Danger of Faulty Boilers

Boilers, whether these are electric or gas, have risks associated with them. When the problems of a boiler are ignored, it can become downright dangerous to be in the same building as them. Although we would like to think the biggest threat of an electric heating boiler is the fact it might explode, this is not the case. Exploding boilers are comparatively rare.

What you have to watch out for is carbon monoxide poisoning. Otherwise known as the silent killer, carbon monoxide is a gas produced by all faulty boilers. In this article, we are going to discuss carbon monoxide – how to notice it, and what you should do about it.

What is Carbon Monoxide? : Carbon monoxide is a gas that can be emitted by any boiler running off fossil fuels. This makes practically every household in the UK capable of emitting carbon monoxide. Electric boilers when they give off carbon monoxide are a danger to human health. It only takes a few hours of exposure to suffer permanent damage.

The problem with the gas is you cannot see it and you cannot smell it. You have to search for other signs, including the symptoms in humans.

Is Your Boiler at Risk? : Electric heaters in your home can put you at risk of carbon monoxide exposure. There are no concrete signs as to when you have been exposed to it until you start to notice symptoms in yourself.

What you can do is search for any signs that your boiler is faulty. There are a number of key signs of faulty boilers. Let uslook at the primary ones:

1.The flame is not blue. It is orange or yellow at all times.

2.There are stains above the fuel burning applications. This might also manifest itself as a covering of soot.

3.Any wood or coal fires in your home take ages to burn or they go out frequently.

4.You find it almost impossible to light a fire.

Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning : When you begin to notice symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, this is the time to seek urgent medical help. It also means you need to turn off the boiler at the mains and call a professional. Your energy provider will have a number you can call, and they will send out an emergency engineer.

These are some of the main symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning: tiredness, nausea, chest pains, drowsiness, headaches, and dizziness.

Preventing a Build-Up : All boilers must have enough ventilation to function. You need to make sure the flues are not leaking and the chimneys are swept on a regular basis. Poor ventilation can exasperate these problems and lead to human health hazards.

Take note, it is the responsibility of the household to make sure their boiler is well maintained. In rented accommodation, this is the responsibility of the landlord. Complain at the first instance if you believe the boiler requires servicing. If your landlord refuses to help, you have the ability to sue them for negligence. A poorly maintained boiler is a major offense and must be taken seriously.

5 Clever Ways of Increasing the Efficiency of Your Home Boiler

Your boiler is the source of your energy bills. The more efficiently it works the less you can expect to pay. The problem is that many people are not aware of the simple maintenance techniques that can save them hundreds of pounds every year. Electric Heating Supplies is here to help guide you through the little things you can do to save money.

1.Check Your Boiler Yearly : Annual inspections by a qualified engineer are not a superfluous expense. On the contrary, they can spot the issues you have missed. You as an unqualified individual can only notice a faulty boiler when there are obvious external signs. An annual inspection will involve delving deep into the boiler’s mechanisms to discover if anything has gone wrong.

Solving problems as early as possible both saves on repair costs and prevents you from paying more on your energy bills in the short-term.

2.Clear the Air Ducts : The air ducts in your home become dirtier over time. This eventually leads to clogging, which reduces the airflow. To combat this, appliances like air conditioning systems and electric heating boilers have to work harder to reach the same level of efficiency. Your boiler is working harder to produce the same results.

Get into the habit of cleaning out the air ducts each year. This will prevent any significant diminishing of the airflow.

3.Installing an Electric Ignition System : The electronic ignition system makes the old-fashioned pilot light obsolete. It means the boiler does not have to burn all the time. It will cost more in the short-term to install, but it will save in the long-term because your boiler will only work when it absolutely has to.

4.Check the Seals : The seals open up what should be a closed system and helps to diminish the effectiveness of a boiler. Usually, the seals are the first things to encounter issues on a boiler. The seals around the home boiler should not allow for any cracks of leaks. If you spot any of these problems, call an engineer immediately. It is a simple repair thatwill not cost a lot of money. Leaving cracked seals can lead to breakages in the long run.

5.A New Heating System : Getting new vertical radiators and a new boiler tends to be a last resort. Boilers older than fifteen years should always be candidates for replacement. There are usually far more efficient models on the market by this point. The cost of installing a new boiler will be outweighed by the savings you can make on your energy bills.

When you decide to purchase a new heating system, get the help of an engineer. They will be able to assess your needs and provide you with some recommendations on the best boiler for you.

In some areas of the UK, you can even get access to grants that will pay for a portion of the installation costs. The UK government considers it in its best interest to support more efficient heating options, so you can take advantage of this.

How to Make Sure Your Electric Heater Does not Waste Energy

It's common to find homes with electric heaters and radiators. These are ideal for keeping you warm during the winter. Heaters have come under fire for not being energy efficient, though. With all the concern over carbon emissions and going green, energy inefficiency is something you want to avoid.

Heaters can waste energy if used in an incorrect manner. In this article, we will discuss how you can make sure your electric radiators and heaters are as energy efficient as possible.

Thermostats : A thermostat is more than a device designed to tell the heater how much power it needs to use. Thermostats keep the room's air at that specific temperature. Many cheap, low-end heaters that do not incorporate thermostats will continue to heat the room, even when it reaches the desired temperature.

Always shell out for a heater with a thermostat. Once the room reaches a certain temperature, the heater will automatically stop, and therefore save energy.

The Right Size Heater : Let's say you want to look at a range of vertical radiators to heat a room within your home or business. This heater must be of the right size to sufficiently heat your room. The wrong size heater can lead to huge amounts of electricity being wasted.

For example, if a large room has just a small heater at one end of the room then it is never going to reach your desired temperature. It does not have enough power to hit the temperature you set on the thermostat. This means it is going to struggle on for hours, wasting immense amounts of electricity.

A heater that is too large will use too much electricity in getting to your desired temperature. This isn't an exact science. Ask your supplier for some guidance on the right size heater for your room.

Heating Location : Heaters need to have correct positioning to make them as efficient as possible. A heater that sits near an outside wall will spend more time and energy heating up the cold air coming in from the outside.

Make sure it is pointed towards an interior wall. The stream of heat should reach the centre of the room to ensure it is not wasting all its energy trying to heat up an exterior wall.

If you pointed a heater directly at the outside wall, it would take longer for the room to reach your desired temperature. In other words, the heater will have to work for longer and use up more energy than needed.

Get it Fixed! : The problem with heaters is these are often put into storage when the spring comes around and forgotten about until it's cold again. This means people often forget about essential maintenance.

As a heater gets older, it tends to become inefficient. It needs to use more energy to maintain an optimal level of performance. You should inspect your heater after each winter period to make sure it does not require any attention from a professional.

Proper maintenance will ultimately help you to save money on your energy bills in the long-term.

How Should You Size Your Electric Radiator

Electric radiators are convection heaters, which, by their very nature, heat the air around them. The problem is the radiator might not have the power to heat the air, since it’s too small, or it’s too big and using too much power. To keep your energy bills down and maximise efficiency, you must have the correct size radiator.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is not taking into account the heat loss of a room. They only take into account the size. And this is where knowing radiators are convection heaters comes in handy.

In this article, we will discuss how you should go about sizing your electric radiator.

Fact Finding Mission : To start with, you need to find out a number of key pieces of information about the room you want to heat. The type of radiator does not matter when making these calculations, so you don’t need to change anything if you’re using vertical radiators.

Find out the following:

- square footage 

- ceiling height 

- any insulation in the walls 

- the number of windows 

- the number of fireplaces.

You should use this information online. There are plenty of calculators to help you discover the amount of heat loss in a room. This will ultimately determine the best radiator for you.

For the most accurate results, take these calculations to a professional installer. They will be able to recommend a number of radiators that work for you.

Features and Type : Now you have an estimate about the right sizes of radiator suitable for your room, you need to choose the features. The features you pick can determine how efficient your radiator is.

To start with, your radiator must have a thermostat control. This ensures your radiator only heats as much as it needs to for reaching the desired temperature. Without a thermostat control, it will continue to heat the room, and therefore waste energy.

Other features you should consider depend on the needs of your home, such as safety devices, wheels, and handles for transportation.

Type of Radiator : You may have to purchase a different electric heating boiler system depending on the type of radiator. An electric radiator is a general term used to describe a series of different radiators. There are multiple types you have to consider.

When sizing your electric radiator, you have to consider the following radiator types:

- portable –these tend to be attached to wheels and may not have the same level of power 

- wall-mounted radiators, which are the most common types 

- baseboard 

- wall inset.

Radiator Output : The radiator’s output must be determined by converting the wattage of the model to something called British Thermal Units (BTU). You have to convert wattage to this unit because this number takes into account the results gained through intensive room-based testing.

There are a number of free online conversion tools online to help you with this. By using BTUs, you can determine the type of radiator that will have enough power and efficiency after the heat loss of your room is taken into account.

In some cases, you may also discover it is more viable to purchase multiple smaller radiators for larger rooms.

Your Guide to Thawing a Condensate Pipe on a Frozen Boiler

A frozen boiler is a big danger posed by winter in the UK. The problem is thatwe are never quite sure in the UK whether we are going to have a cold or a mild winter, so we never prepare for them. The biggest problem is the condensate pipe. If your boiler freezes, this tends to be the heart of the problem. A blocked condensate pipe can leave you without any heat at all.

Electrical Heating Supplies always recommends finding a professional engineer to help you with this. Thawing the pipe yourself can lead to cracking and splintering, which is far more expensive to repair. If you feel you can do it yourself, you do it at your own risk.

What is the Condensate Pipe? : Let us begin by discussing what part of a heater the condensate pipe is. Most modern electric heaters have this pipe, which helps transport water away from the boiler itself. The boiler takes away the energy from the flue gasses to increase efficiency. This waste gas cools and leaves some acidic water behind. The condensate pipe is responsible for taking this acidic water to the drain.

You have to check that your boiler actually has one of these pipes. Not all modern electric boilers have them. These pipes are about 2cm wide, white, and plastic. If the rest of the pipes are metal, this is almost certainly the condensate pipe.

As a final check, see if the pipe runs into the drain. If it does, you have a condensate pipe.

Why Does the Condensate Pipe Freeze? : Simple! It is the only part of the boiler outside your home. It cannot drain the water without exposing itself to the outside elements. Acidic water is prone to freezing. When it freezes, the pipe is blocked because the water from the boiler continues to be sent down the pipe. Luckily, modern boilers have a special automatic switch to turn everything off to prevent the entire system becoming flooded.

How Do You Thaw the Pipe? : You have two possible ways of thawing the pipe. To start with, you can get some hot water and apply it to the outside of the pipe. The water should never be boiling or it can cause the material to crack. Warm water works best. Drop the water across the frozen section slowly and deliberately.

Another option is to use a heat wrap or hot water bottle. Wrap it around the pipe and hold it. The water should begin to flow again.

If you do not feel confident in your ability to do this, call a professional. The treatment sounds simple, but it is easy to go wrong. If the water is slightly too hot, you could damage the pipe beyond repair. Always start with lukewarm water and work your way upwards.

Overall, you cannot do much about this problem. It is impossible to prevent completely because the pipe is exposed to the cold air. Thankfully, UK winters are not as long as they used to be. They can often unfreeze themselves as quickly as they freeze themselves, so it is not a problem to fret over.