|
Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
|
Thread Tools |
15th Aug 2010, 12:20 am | #21 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Bedfordshire, UK.
Posts: 341
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Hi Steve,
The fire looks great, well done. Your fire is listed in my 1961 Brown Bros catalogue. It is a "Waverley" and cost £18 17s 6d plus £3 9s 3d purchase tax. Mine is a "Princess".Your glass diffuser looks the same or very similar to mine. I see yours has two bulbs. Hope this is of some interest. Cheers, Des.
__________________
www.freewebs.com/405tv |
15th Aug 2010, 8:13 am | #22 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Edgware, Middlesex, UK.
Posts: 92
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
My family had a belling like that in the sixties but with only one fireglow bulb the windmills were supposed to turn to give it a flicker affect
|
15th Aug 2010, 10:00 am | #23 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 4,061
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
If Steve's fire was listed in a 1961 catalogue, then I wonder how many years it was in production for? I remain convinced it predates 1961 by some ten years but, then again, the 1950's were quite a 'stagnant' decade and more modern designs didn't really appear until well into the 1960's.
|
15th Aug 2010, 11:42 am | #24 |
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Somerset, UK.
Posts: 2,356
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
As I stated ,some Deco based, "dated' designs ran well into the 60s .Odd really .Seams mostly to have been things like fires .It wasn't cheap was it!!
|
15th Aug 2010, 5:03 pm | #25 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 4,061
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
It wasn't at £22 6s 9d (if I've worked that out right) in total, but then people those days expected things like this to last a lifetime, unlike today, so the investment of what equated to two or three weeks wages would've been seen as worth it.
|
17th Aug 2010, 4:47 pm | #26 |
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Solihull, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 4,872
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Probably a bit late to say this now, but was that asbestos insulation on the internal wiring?
We used electric fires like that (1960's versions) up to 1989 in our house in London because my Dad did not believe in central heating. |
26th Aug 2010, 11:34 am | #27 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: South Cambridgeshire, UK.
Posts: 99
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Brings back memories - my sister had the same fire for many years standing in front of an identical fireplace AND the same clock!!!
I used frequently have to adjust the flicker fans because a single spider web thread would stop their rotation. It was also useful to carefully remove the fans from their gramphone needle like pivots and twiddle the shapened end of a soft B pencil inside the glass thimble of the fan to impart some graphite lubricant. They went around at a fair old rate after that. It's all to do with age and relative technology. The ball point pen began to be available in 1946/7 but was no good for doctoring flicker fans! Cheers, MM |
26th Aug 2010, 10:01 pm | #28 |
Octode
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,397
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Thanks for the tip MM, one of my fans is decidedly sluggish even after much careful alignment of the fins. I'll try your pencil tip, er tip!
Steve |
2nd Sep 2010, 5:33 pm | #29 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Near Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 4,609
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Great job, Steve!
I think these coal-effect fires using fans were around for a few decades, pre- and post-war. If I recall correctly. some of the red bulbs with bayonet contacts had three pins, not two. There were later coal-effect fires using a row of dangly tinsel strips blown about by the fan. Quite realistic.
__________________
Mike. |
2nd Sep 2010, 8:56 pm | #30 |
Pentode
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 215
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Saw an advert in the local rag last year "Electric Fire Very Magical", I guess it was 'phoned in on a bad line.
__________________
I was so upset that I cried all the way to the chip shop. |
6th Sep 2010, 1:25 pm | #31 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Staffordshire Moorlands, UK.
Posts: 5,270
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Our first flame effect fire had a synchronous motor to drive the flicker flame (early 70's) and after a few years it got very noisy indeed.
__________________
Kevin |
17th Sep 2010, 9:25 pm | #32 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,748
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Smashing stuff. My mother used to turn on "the glim" (as she called the fireglow bulbs) on cool evenings, but left the main elements off to save electricity. We all felt warmer!
__________________
Phil Optimist [n]: One who is not in possession of the full facts |
18th Sep 2010, 9:48 pm | #33 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,535
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Quote:
Berry Magicoal, I presume?
__________________
....__________ ....|____||__|__\_____ .=.| _---\__|__|_---_|. .........O..Chris....O |
|
10th Oct 2010, 7:48 pm | #34 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,965
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
What a superb looking fire. Its inspired me to dig my old Belling fire out.
__________________
Simon BVWS member |
11th Oct 2010, 8:02 pm | #35 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: St. Frajou, l'Isle en Dodon, Haute Garonne, France.(Previously: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK.)
Posts: 3,182
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Hi,
Don't forget that when these magnificent beasts were sold they were usually run from nice, big, beefy 15amp round pin plugs. Sometimes 2 pin ones . As a kid we had an ancient Berry Magicoal 2Kw fire with a fireglow lamp that had two different sized pins . I found out the hard way that the switches were on the neutral side ; As an aside, a friend of my wife's asked me to have a look at her immersion heater as it smelt "a bit warm". It was running from a 13amp socket with an MK switched plug. The heater was rated at FOUR kilowatts! and had done so for many years without incident. I sorted the problem and replaced the plug/socket with a 20amp DP switch, now everyone's happy and I've got a nice vintage plug Cheers de Pete
__________________
"Hello?, Yes, I'm on the train, I might lose the signal soon as we're just going into a tunn..." |
12th Oct 2010, 8:49 am | #36 | |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Wimborne, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 1,407
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Quote:
Cheers
__________________
Lee |
|
14th Oct 2010, 1:29 pm | #37 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Co. Durham, UK.
Posts: 1,116
|
Re: Belling 264 Electric Fire
Splendid news! My 3kw. Belling 'Champion' tubular heaters are back in spec.! I was using 1.5mm iron flex until I could get something heavier.
|