Electrical heating in two very large rooms - pls help

[kilo_4que]

Hi guys, I briefly discussed this ages ago when not really in the position of implementing a solution to heating my business premises. Everything said was not so much clear on my part hence the reesponses I was being given were not clear cut.

Now that I have been up and running since March I have got a to a point where I may soon freeze to death lol.

My premises consists of two floors i.e. ground floor and 1st floor with an unaccessible basement. On the ground floor I have drylined walls and ceiling built around an aluminum structure.

On the first floor the walls are dot and dabbed with the a drylined ceiling and some insulation in this ceiling.

Both room are pretty much identicle in size and are approx 14.5m x 5m. They are very long rooms. At present I am using a 2000W Portable fan heater and a 2000kW convector heater downstairs. Both these heaters do no more than warm my legs.

I have no gas at the premises at all and would cost me a fortune to get a supply coming in on top of which i would have to pay for a meter also.

Likewise I need a solution, which would warm my whole building but one that would not require me to switch to 3 phase electrics. I am in real need now as it is absolutely freezing. Btw the business is a design agency and one other major problem i have is, my digital press gives off condensation on printing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

My initial idea was to use several delonghi oil filled heaters throughout the building, but these were pointless as they warmed squat all.

 

[Spark123]

Something running on calor gas?

 

[kilo_4que]

spark thanks for the reply matey, I have thought of that but was wondering whether they actually do the job or not. Furthermore the other two issues i was thinking of is, how long would a bottle last based on regular usage and how many such heaters would i need at the premises. Not to mention cost to refill these bottles

 

[Spark123]

The old type heaters created condensation so they are probably not going to be much use to you. Not sure how much a wet boiler etc will cost + adding radiators etc. Generally, gas is cheaper for heating than electricity. Something to look into.

I guess you currently have a 100A SP service, you will probably find you'll run out of capacity before you manage to get the place warm with electricity. The max is approx 2 x 3kw heaters per ring circuit (loading = 25A), not including what else you have plugged in.

 

[kilo_4que]

Hmm it is a commercial building so dont know what service i would be on to be honest.

Regarding the boiler, my concern is more to do with cost of getting the gas supply to my premises, cost of a meter and on top of all the would be the cost of a full radiator system.

The mobile heaters i was however thinking of getting were the following

http://www.lpg-portable-heaters.co.uk/acatalog/info_delongblue.html

 

[Spark123]

iirc the result of burning butane efficiently is CO2 and water hence condensation may be an issue, but don't trust me I'm a spark!

 

[kilo_4que]

LOL

when i meant condensation, the printer only gives it off in severe cold as in now as the atmosphere is so cold and when it heats it condenses the cold vapour. With a heat supply regardless of the type, it will eliminate nay such condensation. My issue with these heaters however is how long a tank would last and how many heaters would be required to heat a 15x5m room

 

[RF Lighting]

How high is the ceiling in these rooms?

 

[kilo_4que]

Just under 9 ft

 

[ColJack]

did we completely rule out the air source heat pumps?
cooling in the summer, heating in the winter, 3x "efficient" ( you get 3KW heating form 1KW electricity..)..

if you have a large'ish car park or garden area then ground source might be a viable solution too...

if your roof is flat then you could have some heating units up there...

 

[kilo_4que]

ColJack, no not at all, but I have become a bit wary regarding electricity usage to supply avaiable.I currently have 4 mac computers, a digital printer, a server, cctv system, fridge, wide format printer and few other bits and bobs being used together. Do you think something like this would still have sufficient power and would one unit heat or cool in other cases each floor. Btw I have sufficient space for the external parts you are referring to.

 

[kilo_4que]

O and another thing, remember it is a design agency with a slicked out decor lol last thing i need is some massive thing dangling out of the side of my wall lol

 

[RF Lighting]

The main meeting hall at my local scout hut is roughly the same size as your room. That is a timber framed building with thermal insulation, and also has no gas supply, so we are in a similar situation to you.

It is currently heated by 3no. 2kW convector heaters, but it takes a long time to get upto a reasonable temperature. It was put in as a temporary fix, and doesn't really work too well.

We are looking at replacing these heaters with probably three 3kW electric radiators.

They are much easier to control, and warm a room just like a conventional radiator central heating system, but without the need for either a gas or electric boiler and all the associated pipe work.

What roughly is your budget to install the heating?

Clicky

 

[kilo_4que]

To be honest i havent had a budget in mind but mainly because i have no budget, i just need a solution as it has to be done regardless of cost. Im my arms are pretty much shivverring as im typing.;

Regarding these 3 heaters, are you guys using 3 heaters per room?

And if that is so i would require approx 6 which is 18kw in total, would my supply even handle it lol

 

[RF Lighting]

Yep, we are going for 3 in one room, so you would probably need 6.

It depends on you supply size. You could possibly get away with it on a 100A SP supply, but it would be right on the limit, or maybe even over it which is obviously not good.

If you have a TP supply, then you would be good to go. If you could pop a photo on here someone would be able to tell you.

ColJacks suggestion is a good one, and something we might look into too. The reduced running costs certainly makes it an attractive way of heating.

Maybe a combination of the two systems such as an air source heater and a couple of smaller rads might be an idea?