Electric heating options for cold studio

My sound studio is 8m x 4m (normal ceiling height) brick built space, concrete floor (carpeted in thin carpet and a few rugs), it is part of an industrial unit so although it is pretty well insulated & not really draughty it is absolutely freezing through the winter months.

I have a fairly powerful electric heater but i just use it when i’m there and it doesn’t heat the room and i end up putting it next to me and having a hot left leg and freezing cold mouse hand…

So I’m looking for a better solution that is as efficient as possible - the two things i’ve found are decent wall mounted electric radiators (there seem to be a few technologies), and wall/ceiling mounted infrared panels which seem interesting but i’m not sure in practice what they are like. The difference seems to be radiators heat the air, infrared heats objects (me).

Anyone work in a cold concrete box who can offer advice?! Thanks

 

Insulate, and use said insulation as acoustics for your recording (studio?) Plenty of rockwool will save you a lot in the mid / long term, keep you warmer for longer, and make any generated heat go much further.
Yes, mine was a big brick and concrete area, now vastly improved.
This all depends on if you own said space I guess.

 

Watch this space, I am bidding on a very good fan heater on ePrey, ends at 19:00, there are similar items on there I can heartily recommend.

Will post again laters.

 

A watt's a watt, no matter what.

 

A 500W halogen light above where you sit, and a wall mounted radiator on either side should keep you cozy. A heated mat under your feet makes more difference than you'd think too.

 

Or try a hot water bottle!

 

Drat, snipers huh?

Check out ceramic convection heaters, they are very good, some have eco friendly functions.

 

As Sonority says insulate. There's no point attempting to heat somewhere thats badly insulated and lets the heat escape and the cold in. Start with the floor.

 

Theres a good consumer show thing on iplayer where they compared heaters in the same space, as Vinny says a watt is a watt.

On that basis I went for all of the watts, with a delongi oil filled radiator, to big for my space and it was expensive at 190 quid but it heats up very quick and once there it only occasionally clicks in. I was finding with other solutions there was never enough omph to get the room warm in the first place so it would be constantly going.

Avoid the infrared panel jobbies, we got an expensive one for the utility room, utter cack, I imagine drifting in space would be similar, feeling stone cold with a single source of heat only heating your exposed skin. Very disappointing product.

 

Yes a watt is a watt (unless it's a heat pump) but a convection heater must heat all the air in the room before you feel warm, while radiant heat is directional.
It's like sitting around a fire outside and being warm even though the air around you isn't warm, or sitting in the sun on a frosty morning.

 

When I worked in the Diamond hangar at Stansted, they replaced the hot air heating system with IR panels. The big issue before was that when the hangar doors were opened, almost all the expensive warm air would disappear outside, and it would be half an hour before the temperature built up again, only to disappear etc etc.
With the IR panels, the aircraft surfaces, tools, equipment, hands, everything, were warm to the touch. Very pleasant.

I would think an IR panel above the desk, for example, combined with an oversized oil filled radiator would do well. Plus of course some for of insulation. Thick concrete walls in winter will take hours to get warm, and then you go home!

 

I’ve sometimes thought about a heated car seat for such situations.

 

Finding one without airbags might be a challenge

Not a bad idea though, just needs a 12v supply and a decent platform to mount it on?

eta: a driver’s seat from a Volvo 850 T5R…

 

cant you buy a kit to retro fit heating to car seats?

you can buy all sorts of heat pad things for chairs https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=heated...724832&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_6vqxcky7qs_e

 

I just purchased 3 radiators from a company called Radiwarm in Yorkshire. Put them into a flat we redecorated in Central London. They came with an electronic controller which was easy to use. We only tested them for an hour but they quickly heated the flat. A building surveyor recommended them to me, he said he used them in in garden office.

Cheers BB

 

Thanks for the input everyone, the studio has a load of acoustic treatment on the walls and ceiling so it's pretty well insulated - the single thickness door and the (carpeted) concrete floor would be good to look at though, I could get it floored in plywood for not too much wedge.
Will look at the heating options discussed, cheers.

 

they look interesting