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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. |
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12th Jan 2020, 2:48 pm | #21 |
Dekatron
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Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
People have forgotten or have no idea what things used to be like! Jon's safe electric hard wired towel rail would have seemed the height of luxury in the sixties
One alternative heater to the combi or a huge light bulb might have been the old trick of using a perforated metal biscuit tin with 60 or 100 watts glowing inside but hardly suitable for the bathroom-probaly no earth on the lighting circuit, not much light and dangerously accessible Dave |
12th Jan 2020, 2:49 pm | #22 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Warminster, Wiltshire, UK.
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
I changed one a couple years ago . The existing one had failed . The make was a RIMA Ithink. Someone had modified it to have a external pull switch for the element by the door
So 2 pull switches by the door one for the light and one for the element. New ones are still available on line. To my horror someone had wired the external switches with single conduit type cable ,so a bigger job putting that right ,then fitting a rcd switched fuse spur. just outside the bathroom Andy |
12th Jan 2020, 2:54 pm | #23 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: North Somerset, UK.
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
My present bathroom has an infra red lamp as illustrated in the previous post, ES base though. I installed a good quality brass and ceramic holder for it.
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12th Jan 2020, 3:31 pm | #24 |
Dekatron
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Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
These date from the days before central heating became an everyday facility.
The bathroom at Merton Park was absolutely freezing with frost on the inside of the window glass on bleak winter days. We had one in our bathroom and it transformed an igloo into a more pleasant experience. To be honest it was a much loved friend in that winter of '63! Care had to be taken when switching off but it was also controlled by the bathroom light switch or pull cord and yes we had a real bathroom wall mounted switch back then! [House built and wired 1906] The 750w could just be safely carried by the lighting circuit that was generously wired in this case. We are all mollycoddled today with everything including heating at the push of a button, a far cry from the 50's coal fires, paraffin heaters, bowl fires and very much colder houses than anyone could imagine today. Anything that brought a little comfort to those bitter winter days was more than welcome! Regards, John. |
12th Jan 2020, 4:22 pm | #25 | |
Dekatron
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
Quote:
Switch it on half an hour before you wanted to have a shave! |
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12th Jan 2020, 5:55 pm | #26 |
Octode
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Location: Watford, Hertfordshire, UK.
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
Had one of these in our old terraced house, no such thing as central heating in those days. Infra-red heating element and just a single on-off pull cord for the heating element, the lamp was duly switched by the bathroom switch at the door. Not wishing to go OT but surely the most horrid things were the small metal boxes containing an open wire element in a ceramic base. Would easily fail the BSI finger test, there was only a very coarse grille on top where people put their soup saucepans, kettles or just left open for heating the room. The nurses from nearby Harefield Hospital were always buying these for their quarters, the majority being plugged into the lighting circuit with no earth by way of bayonet plugs. All taken as normal then but now?
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12th Jan 2020, 6:26 pm | #27 |
Dekatron
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
HWMBO was using one until the central heating was installed in 2014. Up til then the only heating in the 1960-built bungalow was a coal fire in the living room and the sunhouse heater in the loo. Everything else required warm garments.
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Kevin |
12th Jan 2020, 7:43 pm | #28 | |
Nonode
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
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12th Jan 2020, 7:55 pm | #29 | ||
Dekatron
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Location: Invercargill, New Zealand
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
Quote:
Quote:
No pull cords though. They come with a faceplate with three switches - heat, light and fan - although due to requests from wife and daughter both bathrooms have a mirror light now as well, so I've replaced them with a standard PDL 600 series four way faceplate with named switch mechs. |
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12th Jan 2020, 8:20 pm | #30 |
Dekatron
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
British bathroom extractor fans take an always-on live feed and a switched feed from the main light, and have a built-in over-run timer which keeps the fan running after the light is turned off. This avoids the need for separate switches and prevents leaving the fan on unnecessarily. There is usually a three-pole switch outside the bathroom to disconnect both lives and the neutral.
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12th Jan 2020, 8:30 pm | #31 | |
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
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12th Jan 2020, 8:54 pm | #32 |
Dekatron
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
It looks like the OP's heater plus light unit has received a more friendly reception than he perhaps thought it would.
While I was up in the loft a while ago, I remembered that I had one of these heater light units stashed away up there. I can't exactly remember where it came from, but think it may have been given to me by a neighbour a few years ago. I've brought it down and taken some pictures of it. I don't think it's anywhere near as old as the OP's example and has a nice stainless steel shroud for the light bulb. This shiny shroud will reflect heat away from the lamp and its holder and perhaps help to spread the heat into the room a bit better than the version with the glass shroud, but possibly at the expense of some light output. I'll have to apply some power to it and test its working efficiency |
12th Jan 2020, 9:08 pm | #33 | |
Dekatron
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
Quote:
https://www.pdl.co.nz/products/home-...pe=g_200001203 |
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12th Jan 2020, 10:47 pm | #34 | ||
Heptode
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Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
Quote:
http://www.mkelectric.com/Documents/...rid%20Plus.pdf Last edited by dglcomp; 12th Jan 2020 at 10:54 pm. |
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12th Jan 2020, 11:37 pm | #35 |
Octode
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
Goodness me! I never thought this thread would take off in the way it has. I've only just caught up with it and its been a fascinating read, so thanks to everyone has contributed. I'm beginning to regard my unit with a more kindly eye now.
Mine is labelled 'Sunbeam/Rima' and I'm pretty sure I remember Rima as a maker of fan heaters and other similar items that were retailed by Argos in the 1980s. It seems the design has barely changed down the years. Techman's looks to have a 2010 manufacturing code on it, which suggests these units had an even longer production life than I imagined. The idea of re-wiring the switch so the light is controlled on a separate pull switch by the bathroom door is a good one. I also found what looks to be the frosted shade for this lamp amongst some junk in the garage, so maybe it'll live on after all. Steve |
12th Jan 2020, 11:59 pm | #36 | |
Hexode
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
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13th Jan 2020, 12:04 am | #37 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Staffordshire Moorlands, UK.
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
It appears these heaters have fallen foul of an EU directive first issued in 2009 and now in full force from 2018 that requires heating appliances above a certain wattage to incorporate energy saving devices such as thermostats, open window detectors, room-occupied sensors and full-function timeclocks... and the outlawing of other features that might lead to the misuse of energy such as fixed-level heat settings.
The number and type of energy saving devices required depends on whether the heater is fixed, temporary or mobile. Plenty of reading out there, the directive is here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-cont...9L0125&from=EN
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Kevin |
13th Jan 2020, 3:31 pm | #38 |
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
A Ceiling Heat + Light unit can hardly be described as mobile though.
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15th Jan 2020, 11:59 pm | #39 |
Dekatron
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
as a fixed appliance the rules are more strict.
Manufacturers of 'mobile' heaters are no longer allowed to include wall or ceiling fixings, brackets or keyholes to convert them for mounting.
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Kevin |
16th Jan 2020, 10:19 am | #40 |
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Re: Horrid Ceiling Heat + Light unit
Hi,
I worked next to the Rima Electric Factory which was in Ealing Road, Alperton, where this Heater was almost certainly made. I had one in the past. They produced an assortment of well made small Appliances. #14 here makes interesting reading: https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?topic=6609.0 Sadly they (and Griffin and George where I worked) is now a Housing Estate. Regards - Mike |