Storage heaters

Nanni

Hi, we have old storage heaters from the mid 90's. I have had to take them off the wall to have some work done. This meant dismantling them as i couldn't move them with the bricks in. Unfortunately the ceramic wool liners are in poor shape and obsolete to replace. I am looking at repairing them either with foil tape or 

Heat Seal Glass Teflon Tape that can cope with 200° long term heat and 300° instant heat. Would either of these do or has anyone a better idea.

TIA.
Alec

lohr500

No idea if either of those would work, but I suspect not.

This article suggests the core temperature can be anything between 200 and 650 deg C. So that must surely rule out the Teflon Tape. I guess the foil tape will have some type of sticky backing and I doubt if that could cope with the high temperatures either.

Edit : For some reason the link I pasted isn't showing, but nevertheless the storage heater temperatures are as per the info I found.

EssexHebridean

Consult a qualified electrician who is used to dealing with storage heaters. In real terms, that should be who is dealing with them in any event. 

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Are the ceramic wool pieces all flat and rectangular? If so, you might be able to replace them with insulating board. Something like this:

https://shop.vitcas.com/products/insulation-materials/vermiculite-boards.html

Nanni

Hi. Yes, the boards are intact but a bit dusty to touch. They have a cover over them that has split and disintegrated at the corners.

mnbvcxz

You see this pop up from time to time. I always hope to read of some diyer successfully upgrading the insulation with aerogel or something and transforming them into high heat retention heaters but still the retaining the reliable workhorse simplicity. Haven't really seen it yet though. It mostly ends with people giving up and throwing them away, sometimes people experiment with rockwool insulation, or boards and indeed victas insulation materials. Victas does seem to be a good place to look for high temperature materials, tapes etc. storageheater.co.uk and the creda website often have spare parts but the price of insulation is generally not economic.

I would suggest the best option is to try and massage the panels into the right form. quickly press them into place and then never touch them again. Last time I had one repaired the electrician basically said he was not going near the elements, if he touched the insulation it would never go back...

Otherwise look on ebay, facebook and other classifieds for newer storage heaters. They often don't sell for much even if they are only a few years old and a three year old creda or something might still have good insulaton and more life left in it for not much money...

Or maybe its a sign to look for a hrr high heat retention storage heater. The dimplex ones need an extra electricity supply but I think the elnur ones can be basically swapped over, maybe?

Good luck, prove me wrong