Village hall heating control

dsopus

Hi My small village hall is heated by two LPG radiators, They are controlled by simple on / off switches.The users have a bad habit of forgetting turn them off. Seeing that the next use of the hall could be in two or three days time this can get expensive!
As some use of the hall is eratic and add hoc it is not posible to link the heaters to the hall diary.
As a simple solution I would like to fit a simple "Boost Switch" to each radiator. So users would give one press of a button for 1\4 hour and 4 presses 2 hours heating.
Now comes the difficult bit, all the boost switches I have found switch the mains voltage to directly control the appliance.  The LPG radiators must not be directly turned off as they must go through a cool down sequence.
The radiators have a  on/off input that requires a zero voltage input, ie  just two relay contacts making and this is currently controlled by a simple nonpowered switch. Lots of central heating controllers have this form of output ,but are much too complicated for our users.
So does anybody know of a simple Boost switch which has a zero voltage output ? or alternative solution?
Thanks in advance

MikeyPGT

A big sign on the door saying 'Have you turned off the heaters?' would surely be a cheaper option - that and tracking frequent offenders!

Robin9

Don't know what the solution might be but look your local council for funding. They paid for wifi controls for my VH heating as part of their xero carbon budget.
 

dsopus

There is a  big notice on the exit door and in the kitchen in amonst turn off the lights ets and check list on hires form.  People  just dont see them .
A grant may  be posible in the long term. but need a quick simple fix now.

tacpot12

Making the offenders pay the cost if they leave the heating on is certainly going to solve the problem. You could take a deposit from the hall users.

However, there is a cheapish technical solution to your problem. You can combine on of the Boost Switches that you have already seen with one of these: Easy Relay 240V Mains Relay (230V AC 50/60Hz Coil) in White or Red Single Gang Box - Discount Fire Supplies

The boost switch should be wired to operate the relay coil, and the heaters can be operated by the relay contacts. Note that the relay contacts are only rated for 8 Amps, and so if you want to wire the two heaters to one relay, you need to check that each heater only needs 4 Amps. If the heaters need more than 4 Amp but less than 8 Amps, you could buy two of the relay units and have the boost switch turn them on both relays at the same time. (Normal light switches are rated for 10A). 

Any electrician should be able to wire this for you, and can check that the current required by the heaters is less than 4A or 8A if you are not sure.   

p00hsticks

dsopus said:

There is a  big notice on the exit door and in the kitchen in amonst turn off the lights ets and check list on hires form.  People  just dont see them .

Do you not have anyone to check and lock up after each hire of the hall ?

Section62

dsopus said:

...
A grant may  be posible in the long term. but need a quick simple fix now.

You need to get a professional heating engineer involved - with a building the public use and the involvement of gas, a quick simple fix on a DIY basis could have serious repercussions.  Make a mistake and someone could be looking at jail time.

A DIY adaptation of the heating system could also impact on the validity of the hall's (public liability) insurance, again with the potential for personal liability for whoever does the DIYing.

dsopus

I would not dream of doing the job my self, only a fully qualified electrician / gas would do the job (most probably the buildings insurance would be invalidated.

Bookworm105

MikeyPGT said:

A big sign on the door saying 'Have you turned off the heaters?' would surely be a cheaper option - that and tracking frequent offenders!

sadly speaking as the manager of a village hall that won't work. For most of the year even switching lights off can be an intellectual challenge too far for most hirers despite many of them parking directly in front of the hall windows.