Belling 601 Portable Fire

[Hybrid tellies]

Colourstar's thread on the Belling 264 inspired me to dig out my old Belling 601 which has been in the family since new. I remember this fire from when I was a boy being pushed into service in our Cornish cottage during really cold winters. I think it was old then, back in the 1960's, and remember well that it used to work well and some members of the family were a little wary of using it. It did break down once when the element wire blew dramaticly throwing sparks half way across the room. The element was repaired by a local electrical shop in Helston back in the late 1960's or early 1970's.
Some years later when I was living in my small flat I rescued this from my parents new house as it was about to be thrown out and I used it frequently during the winters of the 1980's and 1990's. I noticed that it was taking longer to warm up accompanied by a strong smell of burning rubber. A new mains cable was fitted and it continued in mainline service for many years. I have dug it out today gave it a good dust out switched on and it worked first time after being laid up for years. Its still very effective and chucks out a very impressive 1Kw, it was only running for about 30 mins this afternoon and everyone in the house started to complain about the heat.
I don't know how old this fire is and nobody in my familly can quite remember when it was bought, I would guess 1950's but it may be earliar it does not look like there was much health and safety considerations when this was made but according to the stamped label on the back it conforms to both BS1670 and BS1945.

[Rob_Lewis]

Looks like it was made in an electric chair factory.

[Tim]

Hi Simon

My (late)Auntie had one of those,(complete with "old lady" joint in the mains cable!! She did some sort of course in the WAF during the war and the whole house was like it.) and she used to say the projections on the back were to allow the fire to be laid on it's back and used as a stove. (Knowing her it probably was-and run from a light socket!) Try it, the front grill will be level..............
Safe or what!

The only references I can find to BS1945 I can find is with regard to guarding, dated 1971. I'm sure the fire is older than that though, so I expect the BS has been revised.

[Hunts smoothing bomb]

Hello Simon,

Is it the camera or are there several hotspots on the element?

Cheers

[Hybrid tellies]

There are indeed some hotspots but when you leave it run everything seems even out. I think it does not help that it has not been switched on for many years. The amazing thing about this fire is that as well as radiant heat from the elements there is also heat wafting through the vents on top of the case making it a small convector heater as well.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Lovely! Just how I remember them. These were horrendous 'Trouser Burners' but men were real men then, simply dousing the flames and getting on with the job. Nice one! J.

[chipp1968]

Yes untill people started wearing crimpolene

I have one of those .Im sure as stared the BS no must have had an earlier life than 1971 .I have a fire of my Grandmothers that must at the latest be 1940s and has that number

[harvestgold]

Lovely fire! I have a 2KW version here in the same design and finish, which I use in my garage's back storeroom section. Like you say, these things certainly belt out the heat. I definitely wouldn't use it as a stove, but I have used it as a superbly effective toaster before now!

Neil

[dseymo1]

she used to say the projections on the back were to allow the fire to be laid on it's back and used as a stove.

Probably true - a number of electric fires were marketed in that way, but how many were ever used as stoves I don't know!

[Hybrid tellies]

Interesting so possibly dates back to the 1940's. No Tim I have never used this as a toaster but can see that it would be an effective one and I am also happy to say that I have not tried to run it from a lighting socket

[matthewhouse]

she used to say the projections on the back were to allow the fire to be laid on it's back and used as a stove.

I wouldn't like to clean the food splatters out of the elements, and a pan boiling over onto the open elements would be interesting too.

[Herald1360]

I reckon it would be pretty much self cleaning just don't run it from a RCD protected supply when boiling things over



Give it a quick vacuum when it's cooled down....

[chipp1968]

A Mad friend of mine when he first lived away from home back in the 7os used to cook sausages on the electric fire !

[AndiiT]

Hi,
Wasn't there a wall mounted version of this type of electric fire, which seemed to be used extensively in some local authority housing in the 1950/60s?

Andrew

[Brian R Pateman]

There was a wall mounted version.

I've always been under the impression that the protrusions on the back are to space it away from a wall in the upright position.

The back plate of these has a tendency to become very hot so it could have scorced the wall paper at the very least.

[KeithsTV]

My parents house had a wall mounted fire of this type in my bedroom when we moved there in 1967, the house being all electric. I can't remember using it much and eventually it was removed and disposed of when they had gas put it.

Keith

[anthony lawrenc]

i have fond memories of the wall mounted version of this fire in our council house in the earliy 60s i also remember getting two belts one off the fire when as a 9 year old i stuck one of my mums knitting needles in it causing the huge 30amp cartridge fuse to blow and the other off my dad when he came in from work

[McMurdo]

Got some more more basic fires here from a 1937 wholesalers catalogue, a couple of them are mentioned as suitable for cooking on!

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...belling1-1.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...e/belling2.jpg