Electric radiators on one circut?

[wicherkowo87]

Hi everybody
I'll try to put it as simple as possible.
I'm rewiring my two bed flat and want to hard wire all electric oil radiators on one circuit.
There'll be 6 Harmoni Lugo oil rads 1x1540w, 3x1100w, 1x660w, 1x500w: all together 6000 watts.
One electrician told me every radiator must have separate circuit with breaker and the other that its possible to put them all on one circuit and 40 amp breaker just thicker wire. Im very confused right now. I would prefer one circuit as it is cheaper to do.
What do any of you think about this?

 

[Spoon]

Welcome to the forum mate.
The regs do say "connecting cookers, ovens and hobs with a rated power exceeding 2 kW on their own dedicated radial circuit."
Personally I don't see a problem with putting your radiators on one circuit, depending on the layout of the radiators.
6000 Watts is about 26A. If your radiators have thermostatic controls then I doubt they will all be on at the same time.

 

[westward10]

There are a few ways this could be done considering the heater loads. The individual who suggested a 40A circuit can be ignored as they sound incompetent. The 660 and 500w heaters I would have on one 16A radial circuit. The remaining four are fine on individual 10A radial circuits or one 10A radial for the 1540w heater and a 32A ring final circuit for the three 1100w heaters. There are options.

 

[Pretty Mouth]

I'm not sure there's anything in the regs that says these can't all be on the same circuit?

Appx 15 of the regs advises against putting them on a ring final, but it might not be a problem in this instance, depending on how the cable is installed.

Appx H5 of the OSG says
"permanently connected heating appliances forming part of a comprehensive space heating installation, should be supplied by their own separate circuit.",
but I don't think that means each appliance must have its own circuit, rather there should be a circuit just for heating.

 

[davesparks]

Hi everybody
I'll try to put it as simple as possible.
I'm rewiring my two bed flat and want to hard wire all electric oil radiators on one circuit.
There'll be 6 Harmoni Lugo oil rads 1x1540w, 3x1100w, 1x660w, 1x500w: all together 6000 watts.
One electrician told me every radiator must have separate circuit with breaker and the other that its possible to put them all on one circuit and 40 amp breaker just thicker wire. Im very confused right now. I would prefer one circuit as it is cheaper to do.
What do any of you think about this?

They can all go on one circuit, but that means that if a fault causes the MCB to trip you will be left without any heating.
I would split them over a couple of circuits, maybe put bedrooms on one circuit and other rooms on a second circuit.

 

[pirate]

I'm thinking that you would want at least 2 circuits anyway, so if, in the depths of Winter, you have a fault one one circuit, you still have some heat somewhere...bit like lighting, really

 

[wicherkowo87]

Hi. Thanks to all for your advice.
I see if he can do it as Westward10 say on three circuits. The thing is I have funny looking CU in my cupboard and limited space in it so if all meant to go on separate circuits I'd have to buy new CU but three should be fine.

 

[davesparks]

Hi. Thanks to all for your advice.
I see if he can do it as Westward10 say on three circuits. The thing is I have funny looking CU in my cupboard and limited space in it so if all meant to go on separate circuits I'd have to buy new CU but three should be fine.

If the flat is being rewired the electrician doing the work will replace that CU as aatter of course

 

[Zerax]

Just try not to do what I saw in a new build flat last year... of 7x800W heaters... have 5 on one circuit, 1 on another circuit and shove the last one on the sockets rfc.

 

[Wilko]

Hi - perhaps also check the manufacturer’s installation instructions for the heaters. If they were intended to be plugged in you might need a fused connection unit, particularly if you are attaching them to a 32A+ circuit.

 

[wicherkowo87]

Thanks for all advice guys.
Electrician will do it on four circuits all radial circuits.
Seems like good Idea.