Shelf above electric night storage heater - cheap wood or expensive Dimplex one?

gemmaj

Getting ready for winter... would like to put shelves above the night storage heaters to deflect the heat into the room. Dimplex instructions say minimum clearance 250mm and they recommend special dimplex-made (metal) shelves. Well they would, wouldn't they! lol. Can I just buy normal wooden shelves and stick tin foil to the bottom? I seem to remember taking down such a shelf when we bought the house but that was 6 years ago so not positive.

pollyskettle

Bumping as I am looking for the same information

I have found this pdf from npower which includes the following (page 4 of pdf):

Fit shelves above storage heaters to push heat towards the middle of the room and
away from the ceiling. Make sure you leave enough room for air to move freely
between the top of the heater and the shelf.

I have also found quite a few articles saying that it's a good idea as it will stop dust discolouring the wall above the heater, but the general consensus seems to be that if you are not using the dimplex shelves you would need some kind of reflective material on the underside of the shelf.

I really don't like the look of the dimplex shelves - they seem quite 'industrial' looking. MInd you, the heaters aren't exactly oil paintings!