Belling 322 'Art Deco' electric heater - Page 2 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Dave Moll · 28th Dec 2019, 11:16 pm

I don't know about a mica tube, but we had one with the elements in what was, I believe, described as a silica tube - some sort of heat-proof glass-like substance.

Refugee · 29th Dec 2019, 12:39 am

They are indeed silica tubes with the elements inside.
I have got a "posh" one like the one linked to in post #20.
It also has the plastic logs with a light under them and the flame effect still works too.
We acquired it with the house.

dave walsh · 29th Dec 2019, 1:42 pm

Yes Tanuki, we rarely ran ours with all three elements fired up! It was more Sci Fi than that one-just polished metal [no faux wood panels] and was wall mounted in the "front room" of our 'modern' [1958] newly built semi that it came with. The house had a ring main [explained to me by the electrician who brought his megger to locate a nail hammered through one of the cables]. Paraffin Lamps on the first night in residence

The 3 bar fire had it's own cable to the fuse box, hard wired through a Storage Radiator type fused outlet! NO sockets were provided at all in what should have been our main living room OR the smallest bedroom. For a while we maintained the terraced house tradition of living in the back room with it's open fire, next to the kitchen [no concept of a Dining Room then]. Inevitably we wanted to be able to use the front part of the house in the end.

I was able to persuade my parents that I could tap into the fused supply for the fire [before the switch] and fitted a very neat socket along side. I did it very neatly because it would not have gone down so well otherwise! Based on this success and with advice from an electrical engineer my dad knew, I put 4 sockets into the un-wired bedroom. I removing the skirtings and there was space for wiring. Using an existing cavity [though the wall] into the back of a double socket in the main bedroom I was able to wire the sockets [in series] directly into the ring, without even having to use a junction box. It was a bit like invisible mending. I was 14 at the time and although 4 sockets seemed a lot for that small room, I somehow finished up with a bedroom/Radio Shack!

Dave W

Yes chaps I'm sure the tubes would be silica and not expensive mica. It was the first time that I ever came across a ring main, 13 amp plugs and hard wired electrical items ie the Fire and the Immersion. I remember the kudos gained by myself when the TV was in one room and the Record player in another. Happy Days!

Heatercathodeshort · 29th Dec 2019, 2:38 pm

Trouser burners! J.

Red to black · 29th Dec 2019, 5:30 pm

Trouser burner!

I like that

true all the same though

28th Dec 2019, 11:16 pm	#21
Dave Moll Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK Posts: 6,127	Re: Belling 322 'Art Deco' electric heater I don't know about a mica tube, but we had one with the elements in what was, I believe, described as a silica tube - some sort of heat-proof glass-like substance. __________________ Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)

29th Dec 2019, 12:39 am	#22
Refugee Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK. Posts: 5,553	Re: Belling 322 'Art Deco' electric heater They are indeed silica tubes with the elements inside. I have got a "posh" one like the one linked to in post #20. It also has the plastic logs with a light under them and the flame effect still works too. We acquired it with the house.

29th Dec 2019, 1:42 pm	#23
dave walsh Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex. Posts: 5,817	Re: Belling 322 'Art Deco' electric heater Yes Tanuki, we rarely ran ours with all three elements fired up! It was more Sci Fi than that one-just polished metal [no faux wood panels] and was wall mounted in the "front room" of our 'modern' [1958] newly built semi that it came with. The house had a ring main [explained to me by the electrician who brought his megger to locate a nail hammered through one of the cables]. Paraffin Lamps on the first night in residence The 3 bar fire had it's own cable to the fuse box, hard wired through a Storage Radiator type fused outlet! NO sockets were provided at all in what should have been our main living room OR the smallest bedroom. For a while we maintained the terraced house tradition of living in the back room with it's open fire, next to the kitchen [no concept of a Dining Room then]. Inevitably we wanted to be able to use the front part of the house in the end. I was able to persuade my parents that I could tap into the fused supply for the fire [before the switch] and fitted a very neat socket along side. I did it very neatly because it would not have gone down so well otherwise! Based on this success and with advice from an electrical engineer my dad knew, I put 4 sockets into the un-wired bedroom. I removing the skirtings and there was space for wiring. Using an existing cavity [though the wall] into the back of a double socket in the main bedroom I was able to wire the sockets [in series] directly into the ring, without even having to use a junction box. It was a bit like invisible mending. I was 14 at the time and although 4 sockets seemed a lot for that small room, I somehow finished up with a bedroom/Radio Shack! Dave W Yes chaps I'm sure the tubes would be silica and not expensive mica. It was the first time that I ever came across a ring main, 13 amp plugs and hard wired electrical items ie the Fire and the Immersion. I remember the kudos gained by myself when the TV was in one room and the Record player in another. Happy Days! Last edited by dave walsh; 29th Dec 2019 at 1:52 pm.

29th Dec 2019, 2:38 pm	#24
Heatercathodeshort Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING. Posts: 9,147	Re: Belling 322 'Art Deco' electric heater Trouser burners! J.

29th Dec 2019, 5:30 pm	#25
Red to black Nonode Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 2,475	Re: Belling 322 'Art Deco' electric heater Trouser burner! I like that true all the same though __________________ I don't suffer from Insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.