The scene: a biggish bathroom with two outside walls, pretty nippy in the winter. The central heating doesn't do more than take the chill off, so I'd like to put a fan heater on the wall.
The only wiring in the room is to a small airing cupboard heater, which I don't use. It is powered from a fused spur, which can be isolated with a switch outside the room. What I want to do is get rid of the unused heater, extend the spur out of the cupboard and along the ceiling to a fan heater specifically designed for a bathroom (eg Dimplex FX20EIPX4, which has preset timer). This would be mounted above the loo, about 2.5m from the bath and shower on the other side of the room.
Is this safe and within regulations? Am I allowed to do it myself? Can I get away with doing it myself? And will it be powerful enough for a
I think CH is pointless in a loo unless you have a money tree. No way am I heating a loo all day for the odd 2 mins (10 mins with the DS) when I'm in there. Our loo is on the North side and in this weather is about 10C, switch on the fan a few mins before a 'big job', terrific. The OP will find the fan heater ideal although 3x3 is larger than ours. The 'timed-off' might be a prob though. It appears to need setting upon installation, how long do you set it for? 5 for the loo or 20 for a bath? Timer over-ride coming up ;)
If you are really trying to be economical, then a fixed version of those radiant heaters they sell everywhere for a bit less than £10 is the way to go. They warm the occupant, rather than the room.
First, check for points of heat loss - drafty windows, extractor without backdraft stop or mechanical shutters, loft ceiling without enough insulation.
Second, what heating have you got in there? Often a decorative chrome towel rail is fitted, which is useless for heating the room. By all means have a towel rail if you want one, but do have a radiator to actually heat the room. (I prefer an unheated towel shelf on the wall well above the radiator.) Neither a towel rail nor a radiator will output any heat into a room when covered in towels.
Before I had central heating, I fitted a wall mounted fan heater in my bathroom, and I found this very good. You need one designed for a bathroom (usually have an integral pull-cord switch). You can stand under it and dry yourself, and it will heat the bathroom up in a couple of minutes, which is really handy if you don't have/want central heating in there.
Actually, I like it so much I have retained it in my bathroom even though I now have central heating. It's really nice to stand under it after a bath/shower, and you can use it when the rest of the house doesn't need heating at that time.
The one I originally fitted 21 years ago was a Dimplex and that is still working fine. I've fitted newer ones in other bathrooms, and they're now consumables, lasting perhaps 3 years a go, depending on usage. Keeping them regularly cleaned with a compressed air can helps, but once they've gone past a certain dust level without cleaning, using a compressed air can can kill them too by transfering the dust to somewhere which causes a flashover if the dust ignites, writing off the element.
There are also infra-red radient heaters, but I don't like them as much as the downflow fan heaters - not as effective (although they are silent).
IIRC, needs to be 60cm away horizontally from shower and bath (don't have current regs handy - perhaps someone else can confirm this?) I would put it where you can stand under it if you want to (but not too close, particularly on the 2kW setting). If the room door opens outwards (usually only en-suites), then over the doorway works well (providing the outlet misses the door architrave). Circuit needs to be RCD protected at no more than 30mA.
It could be, but it depends on the quality of your workmanship.
Yes, although it comes under part p.
That depends on the quality of your workmanship.
Probably, provided you install it on the 2kW setting.
Usenet Nutter wibbled on Sunday 20 December 2009 14:53
SELV fan convector running off the CH water? Get the fast air heatup of a fan heater but using CH. SELV is an available option if on eis unable to find a suitably safe location for a mains one.
I have used a fan heater before and whilst it warmed the room nicely, if it was still on when you get out of the bath/shower that warm air suddenly feels cold against wet skin. The best bet is a wall mounted radiant heater to supplement the radiator and look into the possibility of fitting a larger rad. This is what I had to do in my bathroom.
Many thanks for your reply, and all the others. I could of course improve the insulation in the room, but the main problems would take a lot of work to fix and I like the convenience of a fan heater for those times the heating is not on. I don't like the radiant heaters, I think it's a personal preference thing.
Currently the spur has a fused switch outside the bathroom. I see that there are RCD units that could be used to replace this, for example:
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this be appropriate; we have an old-style consumer unit without RCD.
I would like to use plastic ducting to route the cable along the wall at ceiling height. Is this acceptable? Assume my workmanship is of a good standard.
I will investigate what this means, but if you have any pointers, I would be grateful. I would not undertake a wiring job unless I thoroughly understand the sociology as well as the physics.
The radiator is modern toss, but the room would never hold any heat even if it had a better one. That's not going to change, so for the amount it'd get used, a fan is efficient enough for me. I don't want to put the CH on just to have a shower.
Under Part Pee of the Building Regulations certain electrical work is "notifiable" ie you are supposed to put an application in to the local council Building Control if you are doing the work yourself.
If you use a tradesperson they they should be registered with one of the Part Pee Guilds who are allowed to self-certify.
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