Any experiences of plinth heaters

[Biggles]

I need to use all the wall space in a small kitchen so plan to go for a plinth heater (under a 600 base unit) running off the CH. Is there anything to watch out for? Are there any types to prefer/avoid?

[Chris J Dixon]

To be Part L compliant, I believe you should be connecting this via a room thermostat, so the fan only runs when heat is required. Additionally, my Myson also has an internal thermostat which will only run the fan if the water pipe is hot.

In my kitchen, it is the only heat source. Since I have set the thermostat relatively low, it only kicks in on really cold mornings, as the kitchen is otherwise well enough heated from cooking and solar gain.

As far as fitting under the cabinets is concerned, then you need to look at the dimensions. My kitchen units have quite shallow plinths, and the fitters had to steal a little extra height to get the Myson in (don't forget to allow for your floor covering). Only you can tell what is going on beneath your intended units, and what their widths are between legs.

It is connected by flexible pipes, so you can drag it out if it needs attention.

Chris

[Biggles]

It will be the only intentional heat source in this kitchen too and I'd planned to have a thermostat next to the isolating switch, so Part L should be covered. I need to disconnect an existing rad so was going to fit standard isolators to the tails and then connect the flexible pipe to those when I fit the carcass. I'm tempted to put an access hatch in the bottom of the carcass - do yours have that?

As for what goes on between the legs - I'll get my tape measure out - back to early teens!! ;-)

[Chris J Dixon]

No, just the kick strip.

Chris

[David.WE.Roberts]

Used them twice, once in a small kitchen with just the manual switch, now in large living/dining area with wall thermostats.

Both times I was well impressed - think I used Smiths the first time and I just checked and have Smiths here.

Be aware that you will have a radiator under your kitchen unit which will warm up when the CH is running but not blow unless the fan is activated - so don't plan to store anything you want to keep cool directly above the plinth heater.

The two speed fan option is sensible.

The cool fan option to blow cold (well, room temperature) air around your ankles in the summer is IMHO a solution desperately looking for a problem.

Having said all that, our plinth heaters rarely come on because the living area is insulated up to the latest standards and has enormous solar gain from the bi-folds so the back of the house is always warm.

It does make me wonder if a plinth heater fitted into a fireplace would free off a lot of wall space in a living room otherwise taken up be a radiator.

Cheers

Dave R

[spuorgelgoog]

Wouldn't have to be a fireplace - it could be fitted into some bookshelves etc

Owain

[Alan Braggins]

I had a house with warm air heating where I had to make holes in the back of some bookshelves and keep the bottom shelf clear. Worked fine. (Ikea Billy shelves, so shelf height was adjustable, and back was only hardboard. But the wall with the vents was the only practical place to have the bookshelves.)

When the underfloor heating fails in our current library/study, I might build plinths to put the bookcases on and have heating in. There are some windows that don't have bookcases below them, so could have radiators there though. (But one of the windows I'd really like to replace with a door, one day.)

[newshound]

I had one which I took out in the end because it was noisy and I didn't find it very effective. The rating was OK in theory and the water side was fine because going back to an equivalent metal rad gave me a working system. Forget whether it was a Myson or a Smiths.

[Muddymike]

I need to use all the wall space in a small kitchen so plan to go for a

Our kitchen is quite large yet the Smiths plinth heater does the job. It has a two speed fan and is simply switched on when needed with no thermostat involved. Full speed is a bit noisy but only needed for a fast warm up. Low speed is ideal for holding the temperature. It would be better with a remotely mounted control as having to bend right down to floor level to change the speed can be a pain.

As already mentioned the cabined above does get warm. We use this to advantage by storing plates in it, they come out ready warmed when the central heating is on.

We did have a problem after it had been installed about five years. The flexi hoses that came with it turned brittle and started leaking. It was a challenge getting to the isolation valves as they were at the back and very difficult to reach through the kick board opening with the heater in place. Smiths supplied new hoses FOC and paid for the installation and lost Furnox as they were aware of having had a bad batch! I did the job myself but extended the fixed plumbing forward so that the valves are now beside the heater instead of behind it. So I would recommend plumbing yours in in this manner for easy future maintenance.

Mike

[mimigopsill]

Hello, I found this thread whilst researching plinth heaters for my large L

-shaped open plan kitchen-into-living-room-space.

The kitchen in the rear will have patio doors onto a north facing garden ( no sun coming in) whereas the living room at the front is double aspect wit h x3 windows on two sides (x1 bay and x1 standard window onto immediate sou th-facing front and x1 large feature 1700x1700 window on the side which is facing west). Despite being south-facing, there are a lot of tall trees in the park opposite the front of the house which casts some shade over the ho use at different times of the day depending on the season. Though I don't h ave sunlight and heat streaming in, because of these big trees, the sun doe s hit the front walls of the house to give a certain amount of heat.

I've been told I need 16,500 BTUs to heat this large open plan space. I can fit 3 radiators in the living space area (under 2 Windows and on living ro om side of the 750mm wide nib near the kitchen). However I have no wall spa ce for rads in the north-facing kitchen, which is the room I'm most concern ed about keeping warm when not cooking.

We were considering but have now ruled out underfloor heating for a number of reasons so are now focussed on fitting central heating linked plinth hea ters. I have been looking at SMITHS and MYSON brands (though am open to any other decent brand that's effective and quiet) but am just a bit concerned about the following..

1. Noise. As we will have an open plan living space, I don't want a noisy f an going off. Which is the quietest brand?

1. Location. The kitchen is 3.8m x 3m. It is essentially a galley kitchen w ith an island down the centre and patio doors at the end. The island has a sink built into it so I was thinking of having x2 plinth heaters down both sides of the island blowing into the walkway as A. It's out of sight (I don 't find them attractive and am having a brand new designer German kitchen f itted) and B. It'll be under the sink to warm toes one side and under the b ar overhang on the other side to be out of the way and to offer heat when s at there. Does this work? Would the heat circulate around the kitchen still or be too directional into quite a narrow 850mm walkway either side?

2. BTU calculation. I say I'd like x2 plinth heaters for more even distribu tion around the kitchen and the obstacles of the cabinets but I have notice d that on average, each heater gives off about 3,900-4,700 BTUs. Having two doubles that. Is that excessive or OK for a north facing kitchen that need s to both retain heat but also deflect heat loss from the living room?

1. Thermostat & heater mounted switch. I would like to get a thermostat but most of the heaters I've seen have mounted switches which are good if I wa nt a boost of heat if the GCH is off but I've read that they can be easily kicked to turn on or off!! At the same time, some people think having them under the sink to toast your toes is a benefit!! Any thoughts on this?

Not sure if anyone is still reading this thread but would be great if they are and could give their opinion! Thanks.

[mimigopsill]

Hello, I found this thread whilst researching plinth heaters for my large L

-shaped open plan kitchen-into-living-room-space.

The kitchen in the rear will have patio doors onto a north facing garden ( no sun coming in) whereas the living room at the front is double aspect wit h x3 windows on two sides (x1 bay and x1 standard window onto immediate sou th-facing front and x1 large feature 1700x1700 window on the side which is facing west). Despite being south-facing, there are a lot of tall trees in the park opposite the front of the house which casts some shade over the ho use at different times of the day depending on the season. Though I don't h ave sunlight and heat streaming in, because of these big trees, the sun doe s hit the front walls of the house to give a certain amount of heat.

I've been told I need 16,500 BTUs to heat this large open plan space. I can fit 3 radiators in the living space area (under 2 Windows and on living ro om side of the 750mm wide nib near the kitchen). However I have no wall spa ce for rads in the north-facing kitchen, which is the room I'm most concern ed about keeping warm when not cooking.

We were considering but have now ruled out underfloor heating for a number of reasons so are now focussed on fitting central heating linked plinth hea ters. I have been looking at SMITHS and MYSON brands (though am open to any other decent brand that's effective and quiet) but am just a bit concerned about the following..

1. Noise. As we will have an open plan living space, I don't want a noisy f an going off. Which is the quietest brand?

1. Location. The kitchen is 3.8m x 3m. It is essentially a galley kitchen w ith an island down the centre and patio doors at the end. The island has a sink built into it so I was thinking of having x2 plinth heaters down both sides of the island blowing into the walkway as A. It's out of sight (I don 't find them attractive and am having a brand new designer German kitchen f itted) and B. It'll be under the sink to warm toes one side and under the b ar overhang on the other side to be out of the way and to offer heat when s at there. Does this work? Would the heat circulate around the kitchen still or be too directional into quite a narrow 850mm walkway either side?

2. BTU calculation. I say I'd like x2 plinth heaters for more even distribu tion around the kitchen and the obstacles of the cabinets but I have notice d that on average, each heater gives off about 3,900-4,700 BTUs. Having two doubles that. Is that excessive or OK for a north facing kitchen that need s to both retain heat but also deflect heat loss from the living room?

1. Thermostat & heater mounted switch. I would like to get a thermostat but most of the heaters I've seen have mounted switches which are good if I wa nt a boost of heat if the GCH is off but I've read that they can be easily kicked to turn on or off!! At the same time, some people think having them under the sink to toast your toes is a benefit!! Any thoughts on this?

Not sure if anyone is still reading this thread but would be great if they are and could give their opinion! Thanks.

[Tim+]

I have a Myson kickspace heater that has two fan speed settings. The higher one is definitely too loud for regular use but the lower one, whilst not silent, is unobtrusive.

We had problems with the flexi hoses for ours that got quickly choked. Replaced with large loops of 15mm speedfit plastic pipe has fixed the problem and still allows the heater to be pulled out for any service needs without unplumbing.

Tim

[Chris J Dixon]

To be Part L compliant, I believe it should at least be connected via a room thermostat controlling the fan. When I had one installed as part of a kitchen refit, I was surprised how hard it was to convince those involved that this was correct.

In my smallish south-facing kitchen, it is the only heat source. Since I have set the thermostat relatively low, it only kicks in on really cold mornings, as the kitchen is otherwise well enough heated from cooking and solar gain.

It is a Myson, and whilst audible, is tolerable.

When you are having your units fitted, make sure that they allow adequate clearance for the heater, especially with the floor covering installed.

Chris

[Roger Mills]

By whom? How was the calculation done? What assumptions were made about outside temperatures, solar gain, etc.

If the figures have been arrived at using somebody's "rule of thumb", you really need to calculate them properly - using one of the available heat loss programs.

[Seems a little odd stating the requirements in BTU (/hour) anyway. All such calculations have been done in kilowatts for many a long year!]

[David]

Just to add that we have two plinth heaters in the kitchen/living area and they are controlled by a wall thermostat. To come on, there has to be hot water in the radiator and electricity from the thermostat. Works well for us.

Be aware that you are putting a heat source under your units. If this is cupboard space you should only store stuff that is O.K. getting warm in winter. That is, not chocolate bars.

Cheers

Dave R