Distribution Centre Heating
Distribution centres tend to be vast buildings occupied by a small amount of workers making traditional space heating systems costly and impractical to use. Our approach to this application is always the same – localise heat above workers and keep running cots to a minimum.
Quartz halogen heaters are instantly effective making them ideal for heating intermittently used work stations
Heating for Distribution Centres
The very scale of distribution centres presents a significant issue when considering an appropriate heating system. Distribution centres tend to be vast buildings occupied by a relatively small number of people. For this reason, conventional space heating is often considered impractical.
Should there be a requirement to provide a conventional space heating system for a distribution centre, a combination of industrial fan heaters and destratification units will be required. Please see Heating a Warehouse for details.
Spot Heating
The most common approach to heating a distribution centre is to provide localized ‘spot’ heating for personnel. For example, this approach can provide comfort heat for a person working at a packing station without the need to heat the surrounding area. The difference in operating costs, between space heating and spot heating can be extremely significant.
Quartz heaters heat people directly not the surrounding air
BN Thermic quartz halogen heaters come in 5 different outputs. Above is the 3kW two lamp version
Quartz Halogen Heaters
The heaters best suited to spot heating are quartz halogen heaters which heat people directly rather than the surrounding air. Quartz halogen heaters are instantly effective, a feature that keeps pre-heating to a minimum and means that there is rarely a requirement to heat an unoccupied workstation.
Heater Selection and Positioning
Typically, a quartz halogen heater would be mounted above a workstation at around 2.5m. An individual packing station might require a single 1.5kW heater while a larger bench might require a combination of larger output heaters.
Quartz heaters can be wall mounted using the bracket provided. Suspension kits are available for drop rod/chain mounting
Controlling individual work stations keeps running costs to an absolute minimum
Control for Economy
To maximise the cost savings of a spot heating approach, the selection of suitable control devices is vital. It is rarely sufficient to rely on personnel to switch heaters on and off as required. Two types of controllers should be considered.
A movement sensor will automatically switch on a heater when movement is detected. BN Thermic’s movement sensor can be programmed for a time delay of up to 18 minutes and if no further movement is detected within the selected period, the sensor will switch the heater off.
An alternative is a push-button timer. This type of device works similarly but requires somebody to push a button on the front face of the timer to switch on a heater.
We strongly recommend the use of either a movement sensor or a push button timer for controlling spot heaters in a distribution centre.
Designing a Spot Heating Scheme
To design a successful spot heating scheme, an understanding of the size of a heater’s ‘footprint’ and the optimum heat intensity for a specific activity is required. The engineers at BN Thermic have considerable experience with this type of application and are always available for consultation.
BN Thermic engineers can design schemes for any sized project
Distribution Centre Heating FAQs
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I don’t need to heat the warehouse but the people working at the packing stations are cold. What can I do?
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The answer to this question lies in the unique properties of quartz halogen heaters which heat people directly without the need to heat the surrounding air. This allows us to heat specific targets within an otherwise unheated space which we call spot heating.
In a distribution centre, it is very common to use this spot-heating approach to heat individual packing stations. Typically an individual packing station requires a single 1.5kW heater but this selection may change depending on the actual size of the packing station and mounting height/position of the heater. The engineers at BN Thermic are always available to help with selection.
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What controls can I use for lowest running costs?
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Assuming we have decided to use quartz halogen heaters to heat individual packing stations within an unheated building, we should take precautions to ensure that unoccupied stations are not heated.
Most commonly this is achieved using a push button timer but a movement sensor is sometimes preferred.
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Can I adjust the intensity of a packing station heater?
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Yes, it is possible to use our VR-2 dimmer switch to control a quartz halogen heater. This approach may be required when someone is working at a specific packing station for a protracted period.
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Will my people find the heater’s light output annoying?
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Standard quartz halogen heaters emit a red glow which is usually quite acceptable for packing stations. However where an operative is using a computer or perhaps has to ‘colour match’ items, a reduced level of light output may be required. In these circumstances, we suggest selecting a quartz halogen heater using BN Thermic’s Magic Lamp technology. The Magic Lamp has a significantly lower light output with zero glare.