Hydronic Plinth / Kickspace Heaters

boonshark

Hello All

I'm trying to heat our sunroom which is a smallish space but I don't want to install a radiator because it is going to have to be huge in order to keep it warm (and this obviously costs a lot to run). I don't want to keep it warm in there all the time, only some weekends / special occasions. Hydronic plinth heaters seem like a good option as I have the space for one and they have a button which controls the fan so I can turn off/on when I need to. Looking at the Smith's SS5 Dual.

However does anyone know if you turn this heater off will it continue to be a drain on our heating bill? I'm not sure if the switches actually stop water flowing through it/stop it being a drain on cash!

Thanks in advance!

molerat

Water flow is governed by your heating system, the plinth heater will not stop it. The fan can be set to off or on when it senses hot water flowing - no cold fan only facility for summer. You should have the sunroom on a separately controlled zone. To heat x volume of air by z degrees is going to cost the same whichever type of wet heater run from your CH you use, this has the added cost of a fan.

I have radiators in my conservatory and keep the TRVs on frost protection setting. When it get really cold they come on and keep a background heat. Many people have a 500w electric heater to do the same but I have found this works out cheaper with the advantage that if I want to use the space my 4 radiators can heat the place up pretty quickly, far quicker than the 2 x 2kW fan heaters I used before I commissioned the rads.