Electric heating systems Good or Bad ?

cazze

Hi guys,

one of my friends has emigrated to London
he being offered a good deal on a lease of a commercial unit near Kings Cross Train Station(an area that is up and coming apparently due to regeneration)

Anyway one of the catches is that he has to fit out the unit himself
He is a carpenter so that shouldnt be a major problem.

he is looking for advise on the best heating system to put in
he has being quoted £2000 by the gas board to just put in a meter(and supply)
he feels this is a bit extreme and is thinking of going down the electric route

i know from working in offices down the years that the standard Electric storage heaters that run on night time rate and give off heat during the day are very expensive to run

He seems to think that there is a new type of electric type heating out there but doesnt know what it is ! ! !

if anyone here has any sugestions it would be greatly appreciated.

irishspark

Oh you've opened up a complete can of worms here.

Couple of areas he has to look at first.
1. What is the coverage area? Is it open plan?
2. What height are the ceilings at?
3. How much is he willing to spend?
4. What are the working hours of the office.

I work in London a good bit and unlike Ireland the weather is completely extreme from freezing cold in winter to boiling in the summer. If he is going to be in the office a good bit and have employees in it he should look at an air conditioning system. Small to medium sized offices in Ireland dont really have to worry bout that. Again depends on usage, but with energy prices coming down storage heating is the most common because of the night time tariff (As far as I know the UK offer something similar to that of the ESB) .but I still think a proper air conditioning system would be a better solution due to his location.

Hope this helps.

Randyleprechaun

Hi,

In my experience, and I have a good few years under the belt, any type of electrical heating is going to be costly to run. There are heaters out there that claim to run for 1p an hour etc but I don't think they'd be suited to a commerciel premises.

Perhaps some type of panel heaters wired through room stats controlled by timers etc might work. It's hard to know without knowing the size of the premises and its intended use.

I do a bit of design work from time to time and generally these kinds of premises would have storage heating but that is kinda dying away now. Storage heaters are expensive to but also and there may be implications with the supply authority.

Your friend also needs to think of what the initial costs are and what he will do if he has to leave the premsies. The panel heaters are dirt cheap tp buy & install even with the controls etc etc.

What size is the unit and whats its intended use.

cazze

irishspark wrote: »

Oh you've opened up a complete can of worms here.

Couple of areas he has to look at first.
1. What is the coverage area? Is it open plan?
2. What height are the ceilings at?
3. How much is he willing to spend?
4. What are the working hours of the office.

I work in London a good bit and unlike Ireland the weather is completely extreme from freezing cold in winter to boiling in the summer. If he is going to be in the office a good bit and have employees in it he should look at an air conditioning system. Small to medium sized offices in Ireland dont really have to worry bout that. Again depends on usage, but with energy prices coming down storage heating is the most common because of the night time tariff (As far as I know the UK offer something similar to that of the ESB) .but I still think a proper air conditioning system would be a better solution due to his location.

Hope this helps.

Irishspark

Thanks for the quick reply

i think its mainly going to be an office space
as regards ceiling height etc i am not sure i will be ringing him later and will more know (dimensions etc)

thanks for your ideas
if any one else has any suggestions
feel free.

Randyleprechaun

If its going to be office space then air conditioning is probably better but it will cost.

You will also probably need supply & extract fans for air changes depending on the amount of people working in there

cazze

Randyleprechaun,

thanks for the reply,

I was talking to my mate last night the unit is quite small its 4 metres x 9 metres on two levels ceiling height are quite low do due the two levels.
he is thinking of subleting an office on the first floor but thats not definite.

Am i right in thinking Air conditioning is a very effective way of heating and cooling a building but it is quite expensive to install and you have maintenance issues down the road ?

The other option is combi storage heaters in certain areas combined with panel convector heater controlled by thermostats.

Is this the only electric form of heating out there at the moment ?
does a more efficent system/type exist

Would he better to just bite the bullet and pay to two grand and get the gas board to supply him a meter and Put in a conventional gas boiler system ?

cheers