OldMcDonald
Platinum Member
I have a wooden garden shed about 6m x 4m with walls and ceiling reasonably well insulated. I use it for several purposes – seed house, vegetable production, 8 stacking wormeries, wine cellar and some general storage. It is quite full, so little empty air space, or spare floor space.
I presently use a permanently switched on 1.5kW fan heater at floor level on a very low setting and it is sufficient to maintain 14º to 15ºC (just below 60F) most of the time. It operates only infrequently during the day. The temperature does drop on cold nights (only very slight frosts now and again), but a max/min shows it has not gone below 12.3º in over a year at distance from the heater. That is acceptable for everything in there. Daytime requirements will be less than the 1.5kW.
I am in the process of switching electricity tariffs so that I have a reduced rate from 00.30 to 7.30 a.m. My idea is to continue using the fan heater during the lower rate electricity time as well as making use of this time for my LED grow lights. I want the fan in use because it blows warmer air around the wormeries when on and this raises their temperature above the ambient air temperature in the shed and they are doing OK.
I wondered whether it would be feasible to charge a battery for the 7hrs when electric costs are lower, then use that stored power for an oil filled radiator even for part of the remaining time. This is the only question I want to be answered, and I ask it because I have no experience of using battery storage. Just think cents instead of pence, and the prices are 16p and 33p/kWh. I would need to buy an inverter and battery, but have a radiator that I could use.
I have posted the foregoing information on dedicated sites, but nobody has answered the question, they just want to tell me all sorts of things I did not ask and make suggestions for alternative heating methods – all of which I either cannot have or do not want. If it is not feasible then I will just stay with what I use at present and experiment with the radiator on a low setting and time switch for during the day.
Please do not waste your time on giving me other ideas. What I have and do does not warrant capital expenditure. The shed is organised in such a way that fixed storage heaters, fires, stoves, heat pumps etc. cannot be used. It needs to be small and mobile, hence the radiator idea.
I presently use a permanently switched on 1.5kW fan heater at floor level on a very low setting and it is sufficient to maintain 14º to 15ºC (just below 60F) most of the time. It operates only infrequently during the day. The temperature does drop on cold nights (only very slight frosts now and again), but a max/min shows it has not gone below 12.3º in over a year at distance from the heater. That is acceptable for everything in there. Daytime requirements will be less than the 1.5kW.
I am in the process of switching electricity tariffs so that I have a reduced rate from 00.30 to 7.30 a.m. My idea is to continue using the fan heater during the lower rate electricity time as well as making use of this time for my LED grow lights. I want the fan in use because it blows warmer air around the wormeries when on and this raises their temperature above the ambient air temperature in the shed and they are doing OK.
I wondered whether it would be feasible to charge a battery for the 7hrs when electric costs are lower, then use that stored power for an oil filled radiator even for part of the remaining time. This is the only question I want to be answered, and I ask it because I have no experience of using battery storage. Just think cents instead of pence, and the prices are 16p and 33p/kWh. I would need to buy an inverter and battery, but have a radiator that I could use.
I have posted the foregoing information on dedicated sites, but nobody has answered the question, they just want to tell me all sorts of things I did not ask and make suggestions for alternative heating methods – all of which I either cannot have or do not want. If it is not feasible then I will just stay with what I use at present and experiment with the radiator on a low setting and time switch for during the day.
Please do not waste your time on giving me other ideas. What I have and do does not warrant capital expenditure. The shed is organised in such a way that fixed storage heaters, fires, stoves, heat pumps etc. cannot be used. It needs to be small and mobile, hence the radiator idea.