Plinth heater in bathroom?

[Tim Downie]

Is this legal? If so, how far must it be from taps etc.?

Tim

[zaax]

Where abouts would it be? If under the bath it's out of zone

[Tim Downie]

Under the unit that supports the sink would be my preferred site.

Tim

[Tim S]

Tim Downie coughed up some electrons that declared:

Hi Tim

Do you mean like a Myson Kickspace heater (fan assisted wet fed)?

If so, I'd consider the 12V version fed from a suitable SELV supply, itself RCD protected - that would address any possible concerns.

Or did you mean a 100% electric heater?

Cheers

Tim

[Tim Downie]

For cost reasons it would probably be an all electirc one. I have a wet myson one in the kitchen which is nice but the bathroom one would only be used for short periods occasionally so the capital outlay for a wet heater isn't really justified.

Haven't found anything to beat the Argos one pricewise.

|category_root|Home+and+furniture|10197552.htmSeems it has an I/R remote control too which has got to be good in a bathroon situation.

Tim

[The Medway Handyman]

|category_root|Home+and+furniture|10197552.htm>> Seems it has an I/R remote control too which has got to be good in a

Argos stuff is usually completely s**te IMO.

Don't think you are gonna find a Zone 'A' plinth heater, or whatever it is.

I've installed a

is a wall mounted heater, bathroom compliant and really very good.

[Doctor Drivel]

|category_root|Home+and+furniture|10197552.htm>>>> Seems it has an I/R remote control too which has got to be good in a

> Which is a wall mounted heater, bathroom compliant and really very good. But looks kaka. They also have plinth heater too.

[BigWallop]

|category_root|Home+and+furniture|10197552.htm>> Seems it has an I/R remote control too which has got to be good in a

The appliance you linked to at argos has it's own switching on the face and not moisture barrier. if fitted at floor level in a bathroom, under or beside a wash basin, it will be splashed with water. Having 240Vac beside my feet while I shave and slosh my face, is not something I'd look forward to in the morning.

If it was a sealed heater element with a proper splash guard and drip off front, then I might think about it, but not the one in the your linked argos page. It's wide open at the front, with exposed mains voltage switching. There is not splash guard cover or drip off gutters. So, no thanks mate. If I'm gonna' electrocute myself, I'll do it on my terms, not in a surprised shooting up my foot to the taps from a wet floor scenario. That's not on. :-)

Choose something else, please.

[Tim S]

Tim Downie coughed up some electrons that declared:

OK.

Where were you thinking of mounting it? The Argos one I don't think would be suitable, and certainly not close to Zone 1 (eg under the bath). Those switches on the front are probably carrying mains and I doubt there's much of an IP rating. You got to consider what might happen if a shower were accidently sprayed at it or someone with wet fingers leaning on the bath operated the controls.

The rules on extractor fans (a comparable device, explicitly mentioned in one of my books) are:

If fan is 230V and in Zones 1 or 2, it must be IP4x rated. Outside the zones, any fan is OK.

So, if you can get it outside of the Zones, eg 0.6m away from Zone 1 (floor area of bath, up to 2.25m above floor) you'll probably be OK. The only restriction outside the zones is not having a socket withing 3m of a bath or shower.

How about going high level with:

(Still need to be outside zones).

Cheers

Tim

[Andrew Gabriel]

Also, in a bathroom, there are times of the year when you'll want it on, when the central heating isn't on.

Not sure I like the idea of an electric heater at floor level in a bathroom.

I would use a wall-mounted downflow heater. I've installed these in several bathrooms, and they work very well. The only problem with these is they're all crap nowadays, and you don't get more than a couple of years life before replacing them. You can increase this by fitting an external switch rather than using the internal one. One of mine is 20 years old, and the best quality of the lot. It's a Dimplex one, and although the switch died after 4 years (about twice what you get from a current model), there was a large space inside (which in other vaients contains a light or shaver transformer), and I put a contactor in there so the switch wasn't switching the main current, and it's been fine for 16 years since.

In a bathroom environment particularly, you need to make provision to clean the dust out annually (maybe more in a heavily used room).

Also, for a bathroom, if the heater is over 1kW, make sure it can be switched down to 1kW or less, and preferable automatically. Many of the bathroom downflow heaters include this feature.

[Tim Downie]

|category_root|Home+and+furniture|10197552.htm>>>> Seems it has an I/R remote control too which has got to be good in a

> Which is a wall mounted heater, bathroom compliant and really very good. It would be safer but it seems a shame to waste the plinth space. ;-)

Tim

[Tim Downie]

It would be easy enough though to "depower" the mains indicator & switch and use remote switching . Not sure about the adjustable stat though.

Where's your spirit of adventure? ;-)

I take your points though. I just wasn't sure as under a bathroom sink doesn't at first sight seem greatly different from under a kitchen sink but I suppose bathroom floors are wetter and walked on in bare feet.

Thinking about it there is a place where I could install a wall heater but I just fancied a hidden plinth heater.

Are there any heaters designed to be fitted in the ceiling? I've got good loft access immediately above the bathroom so fitting would be easy.

Tim

>

[BigWallop]

>

Is there space enough to have the heating element away from the basin or bath and duct the heating into the plinth, with a decorative grating on the face?

Or even something like a tube heater behind the plinth and a grating on the front. Like these

They're cheaper in running costs as well.

But for a bathroom, I'd advise on some of the items on this page

not the plinth heaters at the bottom of the page, unless the specify that can be used in a bathroom.

[BigWallop]

The only thing about drawing air from a loft is that it can be damp and cold and need a lot more power to heat it up. Worse in the winter months when it is a lot colder in a normal loft space. Though you can get duct heaters which you might be able to cut two holes in the ceiling and pipe from one to the other through the duct heater, so drawing the air from bathroom as well as pumping back in again at the other side of the room.

And on reading that back to myself, it doesn't sound at all clever. :-)

Another thing I've heard about plinth heaters, installed in shop displays and things mind, was the cleaners splashed them with the damp mop heads while cleaning the floors. In winter, if a cleaner flicked the mop to take something out the corner with the wall, any dampness left on the mop would attract a static charge off the heater face. It frightened the daylights out of them. It has something to do with the fine dust these heaters gather, or summit like that.

What it is with these types of fan assisted heaters, is that the heating elements are far to close to the front of the unit to be safe in an environment where dampness or water splashing could be a possibility. Maybe if you could find something that had the fan at the front that sucked the heat from the element, rather than push the air over the element, it might work. And placing a fine mesh over the facia grating to minimise the possibility of splashing inside the unit, would only restrict the air flow through the heater and make it less effective, or even burn out the element with the reduced air circulation.

I think there could be a niche market out there somewhere. :-) Get your designing heads on guys and girls, we starting a new business in bathroom plinth heaters. LOL