Category: Daily Living
hi
any of you guys much experience with electrical storage heaters? how accessible are they? I'm moving house (again!) and the new place has them
jack
What is a storage heater?
Electric heaters can't really be classed inaccessible, unless you have a touch panel which you could label.
I love the water-filled or oil-filled radiators, quite literally like having a hot water bottle in your room or office. Very very sustainable if used properly. Run off a standard 110-v outlet and once you heat 'em up all the way, you can even unplug it / let it cool in a small room and it'll radiate warmth for hours.
Kinky Blinky thank you for asking this question. I was just warning a friend about these the other day.
Where I live unfortunately a lot of people try to save money on central heating by putting little storage, or "space heaters" in various rooms. You have to live virtually clutter free to use these as they have a tendency to start fires when clutter makes contact. There have been people who failed to save money (or got an insurance payout) when their space heater made contact with clutter & the place burned down. I get cold but don't use one as I am Oscar Madison from "The Odd Couple", but make sure you are a very neat living person before you turn one on.
I wasn't familiar with the term: Absolutely Squidward is right, space heaters are a fire hazard.
Eighteen inches of clearance around the sides and back (no papers, pencils, socks, etc.) and a free path in front where the hot air blows out.
They're just a fan with a heating element. No insulation on sides or rear. Even the intake side gets real hot (the rear where the air is going in).
While you're at it, set it on a metal or hardwood (not particle board) shelf. Ventilation is your key. Formica or similar countertop would be fine provided it's got the clearance.
As to the accessible or blind thing, well if I put one in the garage I always know where it's at by either the sound or, if your working next to it, you'll know how close your hand is to it because literally the heat radiates off the steel / alloy they're made of.
Hope it helps you out some
i have a space heater here, and it is not metal. it's rather nice actually and can put out a lot of heat. no part of it gets hot except the front grill where the heat comes out, and even then that cools almost instantly when it switches off.