Airing cupboard advice

Gers

Just hoping for a bit of advice please.

Shortly we are losing the hot water tank in the air cupboard (along with the back boiler and gas fire in the living room) and having a combi installed. The main benefit of an airing cupboard is the easy drying of clothes - we're in a second storey flat which is actually three floors up at the back cos of a basement flat) but now that won't be there.

Is the best bet to have a kitchen maid installed in the kitchen? Or is there another good solution to getting clothes dried?

Thanks

Welsh_Totster

When we had our old boiler and large water tank removed and replace with a combi I had a huge void in my walk in airing cupboard, I was concerned that there would be no source of heat in there so the builders suggested a small square rad which really pumped out the heat when I needed it, job done and a lovely toasty airing cupboard!

Yorkie1

I have one of those suspended drying racks in the kitchen (a kitchen maid?) but don't use it for a couple of reasons - firstly I fear that the clothes would absorb cooking smells, and also they tend to hang down and get in the way of the fridge door or my head a bit.

I've got the heated airer / dryer from Lakeland - about £75 for the 3 layer version though I suspect you can get it cheaper through catalogues in magazines etc - which dries things really well and stores flat when not needed.

I also find that the pipes leading to / from the boiler, which are not lagged or insulated, give off a certain amount of heat still anyway; but there are posts elsewhere on the forum about air circulation and not using boiler cupboards for airing or storing stuff, so that would seem to rule that option out ...

dangers

We had our immersion heater removed last year - leaving us a bigger airing cupboard. We had a radiator fitted - dual fuel, so it can be powered off the gas in the winter, but electric (if we want it) in the summer.

sillygoose

a simple 60 -120w tube heater fitted in the cupboard will help as long as the door is kept firmly shut, safe to leave on, cheap to run (same as leaving a single light on) can be wired to any supply in there or spured off lighting circuit in loft.

something like these.

http://www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/Deal_Electrical__Tubular_Heaters_181.html

ziggyman99

sillygoose wrote: »

a simple 60 -120w tube heater fitted in the cupboard will help as long as the door is kept firmly shut, safe to leave on, cheap to run (same as leaving a single light on) can be wired to any supply in there or spured off lighting circuit in loft.

something like these.

http://www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/Deal_Electrical__Tubular_Heaters_181.html

Unless you want to come home to a smouldering pile of embers and an invalid insurance claim, DO NOT spur off the lighting under any circumstances.
I'm sorry to blunt but anyone who would consider doing this is an idiot.

Get a qualified electrician in.

sillygoose

ziggyman99 wrote: »

Unless you want to come home to a smouldering pile of embers and an invalid insurance claim, DO NOT spur off the lighting under any circumstances.
I'm sorry to blunt but anyone who would consider doing this is an idiot.

Get a qualified electrician in.

Abusive and nonsense. You do not have to only have lights on a lighting circuit - it just has to be correctly rated and protected (fused).. or perhaps we should rip down all ceiling fans, demisted mirrors, doorbells etc.

I would hope anyone (with more common sense than you) would know to get an electrician in if they needed to

maid020279

Unfortuantly I would agree with ziggyman99 although not quite as descriptive.

The reason being is circuit isolation and also to comply with electrical regulations.

A heater should be spured from a ring main (if you have'nt too many spurs already in the circuit) on a minimum of a fused spur (can be switched if required).

ziggyman99 is quite right about the insurance aspect though; if anything wnet wrong in the lighting circuit resulting in damage the insurance company would immediatly blame the heater that had been installed.

Please get a qualified, reputable electrician in to do the work.

Gers

Thanks for all the replies - didn't mean to start a localised war.

The new condensor (combi?) is not going in the existing cupboard so will be trying to see if I can fit in a heated drying rack thingy. Also thought about getting a dehumidifier to extract the water from the clothes.

The skirting board heater had come to mind as we used to have one yoinks ago.

Will take all your advice and ponder the problem.

Cheers
:T

caveman1

A radiator would be great but would only be on when the rest of the heating in the house is on, so never in the summer. UNLESS you ask the plumber to zone it. this would give the room its own thermostat and/or timer so you could have it on whenever and for however long u like. might cost a bit to have done though.

caveman1

or if you want to go along the lines of the tube heater INSTEAD of spuring off of the lighting circuit as suggested surely there will be a fused spur in the cupboard used for the immersion heater on the hot water cylinder????