Belling heater

[vidjoman]

Recently I replaced the mains plug with a plug with a handle grip on a 1500 watt model for an elderly relative. She's had it from new. All the internal wiring was solid uninsulated wire about 14 gauge. The mains cable was rubber, in good condition, and went to a ceramic block. I think the cable has been replaced at some time but there was no sign of any clamp so I fitted one. The switch was an open frame type with a heavy 'clang' as it operated. Insulation on the switch was mostly mica. She used it for heating food and boiling a tin kettle to make tea for years. It still has the original element but the lamp was missing. Still in use during the cold weather in her conservatory.

[julie_m]

I think these heaters, with the design clearly based on a paraffin stove, are a nice example of form following function. It already looks like something that should be a heat source, but the power cable (heat-resistant, further reinforcing the notion that the appliance gets hot) and absence of a fire door mark it out as being slightly special. The light bulb in the base provides the same sort of indication indication that the appliance is providing heat; and the chunky toggle switch for on and off and possibly another for half or full power, remind the user of the early style of electric light switches.

People would naturally have expected to be able to use such a heater for keeping a kettle, teapot or saucepan of food warm, even if it could not quite raise it to the boil; and could reasonably have been expected to be at least as careful with it as they would have had to be with the more dangerous (yes; not just naked flames, but the fact of it competing with you for the oxygen in the room, and it will always win) oil-burning type.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by julie_m

...even if it could not quite raise it to the boil...

Ah, it had to be tried: a measured pint of cold water in the whistling kettle that normally lives on our Rayburn, brought nicely to the boil in 24 minutes by the 2250 watt No.83A Champion. I expect the 1500 watt 82A would get the job done eventually, and I'm sure the little 250 watt No. 79 wouldn't. The later 91A/92A models should definitely be off limits to pans and kettles, as their tops aren't designed to allow continued ventilation.

[Herald1360]

I hope it went into a large, stained and chipped enamel mug of builder's finest spoon support mixture....

[petertheorgan]

I too have one of these superb heaters which I "rescued" from the back of a disused organ loft in a local church , I am also reliably informed that they are very popular in the traditional woodworking fraternity as they are just the right heat to keep a traditional scotch glue pot warm .

[AC/HL]

One off topic post deleted.

[Paul_RK]

We're currently without a hot water supply, as we ponder our next move after the poor old Rayburn cooker's back boiler sprung a leak and started spraying the solid fuel. I expect I'll mostly use an electric cooker ring to heat water for baths, but I had to give the 83A Champion the job at least once. For anyone who doesn't know it, the thing on top of the Champion is an Easiwork No.12 pressure cooker from the '30s, used here just for its capaciousness.

Paul

[kirstyd]

We had the 83A. being the heater my brother and i had in our bedroom it did a really good job of warming what was usually a freezing room in the winter i have fond memories of melting chocolate on the top of it .I have vivid memories of its death and very nearly mine way back in 1968 [when i was a boy of 11 years old ]i stuck a knitting needle through the top grill you can only guess what happened next . i ended up on the other side of the room with a lovely red burn on my hand [i got a matching one on my backside when dad came home from work ]

[Hartley118]

Like many others, as a lad I enjoyed the warmth of a Belling in my bedroom. The cosy glow from the red lamp underneath enhanced the whole experience.

Then I soon discovered that I could considerably extend the life of my torch batteries by heating them on top of the Belling. However, one day I forgot they were left on top... until there was the most almighty BANG, and the whole room was spattered in manganese dioxide and ammonium chloride blobs. One of my more unpopular moments!

I never heated them again!

Martin

[Brigham]

I've used these Champion heaters for years, and finally started working through the 'spare' examples I've acquired. (You know the ones: 'only a fiver/going in the skip/free to good home', Oh, it'll do as a spare). They now outnumber the rooms I could put them in.

I've never seen a 250 watt example. It would be OK for the lav! My smallest is a 92A, at 750 watts I thought it would be the smallest available.

Is there any system to the numbering? The 'A' seems to refer to the half/full switch, but apart from that I'm baffled!

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Brigham

Is there any system to the numbering? The 'A' seems to refer to the half/full switch, but apart from that I'm baffled!

Well, sort of, as far as I'm aware.

250 watt models: 79, 79A
500 watt: 80, 80A.
750 watt: 81, 81A, later 91A.
1500 watt: 2, 82A, later 92A.
2250 watt: 3, 83A.

I haven't noticed any sign of a 750 watt No.1, but I'd guess there may well have been such a thing. A 500 watt No.0 doesn't seem so likely. So the final digit does seem to represent the rating, in ascending order from, well, 9 to 3. The 'A' in every case gets you a lamp as well as a switch, or switches in the case of the 83A.

The 79's a sweet little thing, seen below with the resident 83A. I've yet to see a 79A, though they were offered: the 125W option doesn't seem especially useful!

The early No.2 and No.3 don't seem to differ greatly from the 82A / 83A. For consistency they were perhaps actually 2A and 3A, but I've never seen a baseplate or a catalogue listing to confirm or deny that guess. Their visible difference is that the switch isn't on a raised flat section of the perforated base, but is mounted flush with the contour of the base, as seen on https://images.denhams.com/522/522lot217.jpg , which also happens to be black. The two models beginning with a 9 are of much lighter construction than their predecessors, with bases largely of sheet steel rather than cast iron. They're also much more commonly met. The 83A seems to have been kept in production alongside them until about 1961-2, but by 1964 only the 91A and 92A remained in the catalogue.

Paul

[AC/HL]

Two off topic posts moved to a new thread: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...273#post818273

[Brigham]

The 79 is truly a sparrow among pigeons! I must find one.
The 9-series types I have are certainly more lightly built than the equivalent 8's, using less cast-iron and more pressed steel. Presumably later types.
Have you seen the pink-topped one? I thought mine had been 'modern-ized' in some handyman's shed in the '60s, using left-over pink emulsion, until I saw another one on EBAY.
Perhaps it was a late attempt to make a heater look 'cool'!

[Paul_RK]

Yes, or more at home in a child's room or nursery - safety even when knocked over was always a selling point, and by the 91A/92A the meshes at top and bottom had become close enough to exclude most likely forms of foreign objects. I think I recall seeing one of the pink-top-and-base variety years ago and, yes, wondering too whether it had started out that way, as the makeover seems less than thorough!

I've bought both my 79s in the past couple of years, so with any luck you'd not have to wait long for another to show up. One is in daily use through the winter - beside an armchair or under desk or workbench it does help considerably to make a coolish room comfortable - the other I've yet to prepare for use, as unlike the first it has an asbestos-sheathed wire up the centre to the top end of the element, and in a heater that's designed to create a lively updraught I'd rather be rid of that. The first uses a stiff bare wire there, so I'll probably just find and fit a length of copper wire of the same gauge.

[Brigham]

I can now confirm that the Belling Champion No. 1 heater does exist. I have an example in front of me as I write.
It has no lamp or switch. The iron base differs from the No. 81, but exactly how will have to wait until I can find my wartime illustrated price-list.
I'll report back when I've had time to look inside!

[Paul_RK]

I've seen one recently too, quite possibly the same one. Visible differences seem to be much less ventilation in the cast iron base - a small number of small holes rather than slots as in the 79 and 81 above - and, as with the 2 and 3, no raised flat panel where a switch if fitted would be mounted. Probably only a catalogue or another heater coming along would confirm whether the No.1 was offered with lamp and half power switch, as the 81 was.

Oh, and this one http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/au...9-a4c800d8a461 is plausibly described as a No.1 Champion and appears to have no ventilation to the base casting at all, though it's hard to be sure as the photo isn't the clearest.