OT; The Mind Boggles.....

Mar 06, 2015 21 Replies

Got a call from a landlord, storage heater come away from wall in a fairly new flat.



Got there, plasterboard wall, storage heater probably around 70kg held by three of those self drill plasterboard screws;



formatting link



Apparently installed by the builders.



Anyone seen a helicopter with an oak tree on it?



Reminds me of the apprentice that when installing storage heaters for the first time asked me "How far off the floor are mounting these heaters?".

I used to find those fittings quite good. Should/could they have use more of them, or should they have used wooden plinths?

The weight is taken by the feet, the wall fixing is to prevent it toppling forwards.

Strongest PB fixings you can use;

formatting link

/Strongest PB fixings you can use;

formatting link

- show quoted text -/q

What about gripits?

formatting link

Jim K

Ahhh, I thought that they had wall mounted it. Shirley the fixings they used should have kept it from moving? I bet it was booted. I've used the 40 year ago version of your link.

Toggle bolts would be stronger.

As an apprentice I helped install some of the very first storage heaters. They came complete/all assembled and weighed about 100Kg. We had to get some upstairs too. I remember on place where the joists turned out to be rotten and the ceiling below caved in.

Never seen the point in them.

Hollow wall anchors fitted with a setting tool quick and easy, I have never had anything move. Gripits which I have seen at Wickes seem to require lar ge holes and to me look fiddly to install. I can see some applications for them in certain dry-lining applications.

Richard

I've seen those sort of walls bowed out by such poor use of storage heaters where the feet did not touch the floor. Quite how they achieve this given the weight eludes me. Brian

Some of the very early (1970s) storage heaters could be fully free standing - 4 foot long, 1/5 foot deep, 3 foot high and weighed a ton - they were not going anywhere!

Yeah, mine's like that, tho quite a bit deeper than that, more than a foot deep, and installed in the very early 70s.

We had similar ones, but mid to late 1960s...

OK. I was in a new flat in 1968 whose main heating was storage heaters on a separate (lower-cost) meter which only provided volts overnight. And the heaters were quite heavy but were on the floor (can't remember what happened about putting carpet down).

Iron frame windows, 3-bar electric fire in the living room and only two (single) sockets in that room. Cardboard internal doors, too.

The house my parents bought in 1973 had them in (I think, I don't think they had them installed).

Great big things, I liked them as I'd either sit with my back against them, when not so hot I would sit on top of them as they were at least a foot deep I think (until I got told off, and told I would get piles sitting on them, though I never knew what they were)

I used to get told I'd get them from sitting on the cold concrete doorstep.

If it was anything like my brother's flat that we refurb'ed 20 years ago, the carpet was laminated between the storage heater and the floor.

jgh

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required