Types of Heaters Available to Hire

by

S. Reeve

Electric heaters: Far from being a last resort , electric heaters are often the cheaper option to hire (compared to gas and oil heaters); they may be a little more expensive to run, but they can be ideal for smaller applications and requirements where big oil or gas heating units would simply be too great in size.

Environments such as offices, shops and care homes, etc., would use smaller electric heaters, while larger electrical heating units would be best for places like refineries, pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, laboratories, and also areas where paint spraying (or similar) is being carried out.

Gas-fired & oil-fired heaters: these are best used at remote sites or sites with little available power load; such environments would be unable to sustain the large power requirement big electrical units need. Also, in areas where there is a necessity for great volumes of air movement, electrical units would not have the capacity to achieve sufficient air delivery, and so gas or oil-fired heaters would be the perfect option.

Gas and oil heaters can either be direct-fired or indirect-fired.

Direct-fired heaters: these are highly efficient, compact, robust, fully portable heaters that are best for places that need large volumes of warm air, such as factories, warehouses, sports halls, loading bays and farm buildings.

However, in a sealed environment, direct-fired heaters could cause fume problems; this is why a specialist portable heater hire company will insist on first carrying out a site survey by qualified and experienced staff (prior to equipment supply). The main issue will be ventilation, as direct-fired heaters deliver air that is carrying carbon from the spent fuel.

Also, direct-fired heating is not appropriate for drying materials and substances in places like construction sites, as the amount of moisture delivered to the area (as a bi-product of the combustion process) would slow down the drying process.

Direct-fired heaters are much more efficient than their in-direct counterparts, in fact direct-fired heaters are generally referred to as 100% efficient (based on net calorific value of the fuel) because all the heat generated is discharged into the area to be heated.

Indirect-fired heaters: these are sophisticated, reliable and highly efficient heaters that are most suitable for places where there is limited ventilation; they will deliver huge volumes of clean, dry, fume-free heat safely and economically.

Indirect-fired heaters are ideal hired heaters for shops, showrooms, marquees, exhibition halls, food preparation areas and factories virtually anywhere people need to keep warm.

Indirect-fired heaters can also deliver large volumes of warm air via ducting (up to 40m); an option not available with direct-fired heating. This is particularly useful at construction sites as the heating plant can be located outside the building, and flexible ducting can then be fed into any floor level (up to four floors).

Hired indirect-fired heaters are efficient, ductable and people-friendly; however, environments where they would not be appropriate include: areas where the unit would be too large, where ducted units could not deliver the air far enough inside the building, where only small amounts of air delivery are required, and where ducting would cause a security or Health and Safety issue.

Site surveys

A specialist heater company should carry out a site visit to assess the following factors before specifying and installing the correct equipment. The following factors will be considered:

Size of the space and how accessible it is for delivery of equipment

The use of the premises

The people and equipment in situ

Any environmental concerns

The space where the heater will be used (and whether the client will need to move the heater around into different areas of the site)

What temperature must be maintained (and what temperature rise is likely to be required to achieve this)

Power supply/Accessibility for delivery of fuel, and fuel management requirements

Health and Safety and Risk Assessment

Budget

Be sure to check that your heater hire specialist makes these checks, or you could be faced with issues further down the line.

Article submitted by Steve Reeve, Sales Director at Andrews Sykes. Andrews Sykes is the UK\\’s largest specialist

heater hire

company, with over 25 years experience providing portable heaters to virtually all industry sectors. To find out more about

heater rental

, visit http://www.andrews-sykes.com/.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com