Greenhouse heater help - Biogreen Palma 2.0

Hey everyone,

Just a quick question to check if anyone has any experience with the Biogreen Palma 2.0 heater and Thermo 2 thermostat?

I was under the assumption that the two were simply plug into a regular 3-pin plug socket as they're supplied with plugs but my friend who's an electrician said that firstly the fuse in the fan is too high and then that potentially the power drawing for them to work would ideally be better to have them fully hard wired.

Isn't the idea of these to work as supplied with a regular plug socket!?

 

I just plug my heaters in, maybe your mate is giving you the best advice possible.
What kind of socket do you have fitted in the greenhouse.

 

Plug fuses such as 13a UK standard are to BS 1362 and available as 3a (700watts), 5a (1200watts) and 13a (3000watts) The packaging suggests the heater is 2000 watts. Therefore the appropriate fuse is 13a.
My concern would be the integrity of the supplying circuit and the two issues of correct earthing/rcd protection and the water resistance of the socket. It could be advisable to have the shielded outdoor type (IP66) such as this:
One for each, heater and thermostat.
www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-ip66-13a-1-gang-dp-weatherproof-outdoor-switched-socket/35096

 

Wonder if your electrician was refering to the unit when in Fan only mode, not heating ?
Then the 13A fuse would seem to be too high, but there is no practical way around that, its the same situation with all typical fan heaters .

As @infradig shows you can get that type of outdoor housing, single or doubles available, for your standard 13a socket though you could equally use one of these hard wired 'spur' units with a flex outlet. However agree with others that its handier to have it plugged in so allowing you to quickly remove / replace it should it fail or be in the wrong position etc.

Just one of many such spurs -
13A Switched Metal Clad Fused Spur & Flex Outlet with Neon with White Inserts - Screwfix

Also agree a RCD line is essential, though assume your electrician friend would be on top of that.

How big is your greenhouse as such heaters can be very costly to run at todays prices, we have our heater /electronic stat set at 3c to keep it frost free and use a low wattage bench heater /enclosure for the very tender small plants.

 

I was under the impression that the fuse is there to protect the cable and stop it overheating.
If so the heater will surely have 13amp cable fitted even though its only 2kw.

 

So my friend is saying to a least change the fan's 13amp fuse for a 10amp to be safe during winter.

I'll need to remove the current cable going into the thermostat so i can add a longer wire and plug from the house to the greenhouse so there won't actually be a socket inside the greenhouse it'll only be from the house.

Doesn't look like i can add a cable any thicker than the 1.5mm that's already inside the thermostat though.

 

I think I see where your friend is worried.
You really need power to be taken, via armoured cable, to the greenhouse and a socket adding in the greenhouse in which to plug your heater.

I dont think any electricians would like to say what you intend doing is a good idea.

 

You could fit a 10A plug fuse, though have not seen any stocked by typical retailers, mainly stocked by electrical wholesalers or online.
That said if the manufacturers fit a 13A fuse the cable should be capable of handling that current or they would soon run into problems.

Agree that using a 10A fuse would be much better for many electrical devices than a 13A one, but for some reason the 10A fuses do not seem to be much used .

If extending the Thermostats cable it would be best to wire the new longer cable inside the thermostat, though that will probably void any warranty, so if joining two cables you need to use a fully waterproof type.

How are you going to get the cable from that socket in the house over to the greenhouse ?

 

CEF sell 10amps so could get them from there as they're pretty cheap.

Yeah I'd need to totally replace that thermostat cable so it's one continuous piece.

I do have armoured cable at home already but its 2.5mm so won't fit.

My friends only concern wasn't the lack of armoured cable but the rating of the fan on 1.5mm cable potentially catching fire. But the original cable from the manufacturer is that size anyway.

 

Why don't you run the armoured cable to the greenhouse and connect it to couple of sockets housed in those covers shown earlier so you can plug the heater/stat into then without messing around with extensions. Also allows you to plug in lights etc.

eg

 

If the heater and thermostat have a BS mark, or what ever they call it these days it must be OK to be just plugged into a 13 amp socket and I cant see as the fuse being 13 amp is a problem the cables must be up to taking 13amp.

 

I believe that you should get your electrician to provide a fused spur fed from the rear of the ringmain 13a socket you have shown in indoors. This would allow a seperate fuse to the external socket(s) fed via the swa cable you have. This would be in addition to the interior sockets and would be hard wired. This would avoid any risk of domestic disconnection at critical times ("I just needed to hoover") It would enable the exterior circuit to be isolated by you if you need to alter anything.
It also should allow lighting, ambient or gro-lights to be used. Very handy

 

What I'm confused about now is:

How do i need all this extra installation for either: A fused spur/greenhouse socket/different cable size/10 amp fuse instead of a 13amp/hard wiring.

The fact that the thermostat and heater came as a set both with a plugged supply doesn't make sense as to why I'm being told to hard wire and it being unsafe to plug in.

I was only looking to wire in a new, longer version of the same 1.5mm cable to extend the thermostat cable into the greenhouse but just seems easier to send the thing back