Heating a cold space

Liverpoolbaker

Hi

We have just started a bakery and cafe in Liverpool, it is in an old industrial building which gets very cold. We want to heat the space where customer sit, but wondered what system would be best.

We can't afford to put central heating in, so where thinking of using space heaters. There are a few choices, gas or electric space heaters or Halogen heaters. Which would be the most economical? Is it worth getting gas heaters, and deal with the trouble of gas bottle supply? Or is something we can just plug in and easier option? If gas bottles are considerably cheaper that would be something we would be willing to do.

Thanks

TiredGeek

Well, thinking of customer safety (and there's some very thick people out there) I would say bottle gas heaters are a bad idea. You'll find very soon some moron will let their child poke their fingers into the flames and then you'll end up with a letter from no win no fee... or someone will sit too close and set their coat on fire....

Halogen heaters only heat the person directly in front of them so won't heat the room very well.

Fan heaters will work and be pretty safe as well, particularly if you wall mount them above head height to blow downwards. Very cheap to buy but could be high running costs depending on how many you need.

Have you considered an air to air heat pump or two?
Pretty economical to run, not too hard to fit (get the DIY ones from ebay) and will give you cooling for summer.
Gonna cost a lot more than fan heaters to buy, depends on how long you are keeping the building if it's cost effective or not.

Liverpoolbaker

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately we can't really afford and air to air heat pump, we are looking for something with a much lower initial cost.

Dunroamin

I'd recommend mobile gas heaters as a quick option, ours don't have flames.

Longer term, I'd second the idea of a reversible air conditioning unit as they're very cheap to run and the fact that your space has air conditioning can be a real selling point in the summer.

macman

Per kWh, mains gas is about a third of the cost of electric heating on standard rate. LPG is about 50% more than mains gas, but less than electricity.
All electric heaters are the same efficiency (100%), so for the same rated output, will cost exactly the same to run, whether halogen, convector, oil filled rads, fan heaters...so buy the cheapest that will do the job.

Liverpoolbaker

@macmam thanks looks like it will be gas for us, although we don't have mains gas so will have to be bottles.

@dunroamin what make are your heaters? Do you remember how much they cost?

reeac

Liverpoolbaker wrote: »

Hi


Thanks

Our village hall has quartz infrared heaters high up on the walls which radiate heat out into the space in general. It's probably the best solution as the hall is used only a couple of times a week - just requires someone to switch them on an hour early in cold weather. Could be your best bet. I see that Argos do 1.8kW Honeywell bathroom heaters for £34.99 ea.. Maybe 6 of them would do the trick.

Dunroamin

Liverpoolbaker wrote: »

@macmam thanks looks like it will be gas for us, although we don't have mains gas so will have to be bottles.

@dunroamin what make are your heaters? Do you remember how much they cost?

I can't find the make but similar to this.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Gas-Cabinet-Heater-4-2kW/dp/B002PZXOHO/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1363196779&sr=1-1

reeac

Dunroamin wrote: »

I can't find the make but similar to this.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Gas-Cabinet-Heater-4-2kW/dp/B002PZXOHO/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1363196779&sr=1-1

Beware that if you burn gas with no flue then you'll produce lots of water vapour and could have problems with condensation on cold surfaces.

ilikecookies

If you don't want to install central heating at this point then I think, as suggested, electric-mounted wall heaters are the only way to go. They will be cheap to install but costly to run

As others have pointed out the HSE implications of any form of mobile gas heaters or even portable, floor-standing electric heaters really don't make these options viable as they just can't be idiot-proofed!

rustyboy21

If you use portable heaters (LPG) then be really careful and have child friendly fire guards in front of them like these.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tippitoes-FG2-Extending-Fireguard/dp/B003N7NHAC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363534384&sr=8-2

Liverpool H&S are known to be total P.I.A to small businesses.

Why don't you go down the road of this type of product. I have seen them in a lot of small businesses and they do give off a lot of radiant heat. fitted above head level and pointed down, they should be fine.

http://www.pumpsdirect2u.com/heaters-oil-gas-352/iwmh3000-wall-mounted-infra-quartz-heater-6372.htm?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=6372&utm_campaign=froogle

Good luck with your new business. Am around Liverpool every now and again, love proper Bakeries, who do their own bread. Let us know where you are based.

Just think, you could be the next Paul Holywood !