My new workshop heater is not very hot. SIP fireball 3KW.

[Howie]

I purchased a new SIP fireball 3kw electric fan heater from Toolstation yesterday.
http://www.toolstation.com/m/part.html?p=35961

It does not seem to push out as much heat as I expected when on full. At 3 kw & at over 10,000 BTU this not a small fan heater and am pretty sure a cheap household 2 kw fan heater pushes out more.

My question is does anyone else use the SIP? Do they find it a bit weak?

If it just faulty I can return for a replacement. If it just a bad product I will return for a refund.

Also have read the recent post in this forum about workshop heaters.
heating-a-workshop-with-air-heaters-t85704.html

Howie

 

[Silas Gull]

Does it have 3 heat settings? One for each kw? Might need to check that they are all kicking in.

 

[Howie]

Hi Silas
It has a graduated controller. On the lowest setting it is just a fan. The heat comes in as you advance the controller clockwise. On full heat I can hold my hand about 5 to 10 cm away from the grill and feel a slight burn on my flesh. Anything beyond is just a bit of slightly warm air.
It has quite thick elements which do not change colour at all when heating.
I think it is a dud.

 

[Silas Gull]

Never been a fan (sorry) of these types of heaters. They take ages to have an effect.
An interesting experiment might be to take the heater indoors and see how it performs where the ambient temp is higher than your workshop.
At the end of the day it all comes down to beefing up your insulation and blocking drafts. Otherwise you've just moving cold air around.

 

[no idea]

I bought a similar one from Lidl and had the same issue - the fan seems too fast for the heat output from the heating element so just ends up moving air room temperature air around rather than heated air. I now use an old 2kW Philips fan heater which provides instant heat whereas I suspect SIP heater needs longer to have an effect.