Choosing the Right Heating for your Warehouse
Getting the heating of your warehouse just right is essential for many reasons. It helps to ensure a safe and legal working environment, keeps your employees comfortable and saves you from throwing energy and money down the drain. There are two main ways to achieve the perfect heating set-up for your warehouse, and each comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages which we cover in this blog. Once you understand the pros and cons of each system, our helpful Swiftheat experts are on hand to help you make an informed decision and can guide you through the process from installation through to maintenance and repair.
Warm air heaters
Warm air heaters are a popular choice for warehouses in the UK that require heating through the colder months.
How do warm air heaters work?
They work by converting the cool air in the warehouse into warm air by passing it through a heat exchanger that uses a gas flame to generate heat. The hot air is then distributed by the vents in the heater which circulates around the building. Warm air heaters are thermostat controlled, so properly serviced and functioning machines are able to keep the warehouse at a constant temperature without overheating the space and wasting valuable energy and money.
What are the best warm air heaters?
Many brands of warm air heaters are available to warehouses in the UK. These include machines by Reznor, Winterwarm, Powrmatic, Ambirad, Benson, RG (Roberts Gordon), Combat, and Space-Ray. While they all perform the same basic job, the performance and affordability of each machine vary and it’s recommended that you use a specialist installer such as Swiftheat to help identify the right warm air heater for your warehouse.
We have covered the benefits and drawbacks of warm air heaters in full detail, but here’s a quick summary.
Advantages of Warm air heaters
- Provides consistent, regulated heat
- Rapid warming
- Generally reliable
- Easy to adjust
Disadvantages of warm air heaters
- Heats spaces that don’t need it e.g above racking
- Initial setup costs
Destratification fans with warm air heaters
As hot air rises, warm air heaters, unfortunately, do a great job of heating the spaces in your warehouse that you don’t need as well as the spaces you do. The best way to counter this is by using a destratification fan.
A destratification fan is a ventilation fan that suspends from the ceiling and recirculates the hot air from the ceiling, pushing it down towards the floor. This minimises heat wastage and greatly improves the efficiency of your heating system which saves your business money and cuts down on energy consumption.
Radiant heating
Radiant heaters are the best alternative to warm air heaters. They are suspended radiant tubes that provide targeted heat to nearby people and objects.
How do radiant heaters work?
Radiant heaters don’t heat the air, they heat surfaces. They work by creating infrared radiation, which is distributed in electromagnetic waves that are intercepted and absorbed by objects, including people, and turned into heat.
What are the advantages of radiant heaters?
- The targeted form of heating doesn’t heat unnecessary spaces
- Minimal heat wastage
- Cost-effective
What are the disadvantages of Radiant heaters?
- Needs direct access to people and objects - high racking can cause ‘shading’
- Cold spots in areas of the warehouse not covered by radiant heaters
Which type of heating is right for your warehouse?
Warm air heaters and radiant heaters are the two best ways to heat a warehouse. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the best heating solution for every type of warehouse. It depends on a number of factors such as the density of racking, whether there is a loading bay that remains open and lets warm air out, the number of people working in the area, and many more.
The best solution is to speak to a professional who will provide you with tailored advice that takes into account all of the considerations necessary. At Swiftheat, we are specialists in warm air and radiant heating systems and experts in all areas of commercial and industrial heating solutions, from installation to repairs, servicing and maintenance. We are based in the North West but can work nationwide.
Call us on 0161 764 4539 for a no-obligation heating quotation, or get in touch online and one of our specialists will guide you through the process.
