Heating

When we moved to Hackspace 2.0 we expected the space to get very cold in the winter, because it is a nineteenth century factory building with lots of windows. Although the building has a large integrated heater, it is too expensive to run due to a standing charge for the gas supply.

Temperature monitoring

There are graphs of our temperatures powered by Cacti or on Grafana.

You can also see the current temperature in Discord, by messaging "!temp" in the #bot-spam channel.

Infrared heaters

There are two IR heaters around the Space. These are very economical because they focus their heat in a tight beam, rather than heating empty space. You'll feel the benefit immediately whilst sitting under them.

Currently, they can be found in the Studio and in the Laser Area/CNC Area. Due to the shocking amount we pay for electricity, these are run at (near enough) cost the Hackspace via your Snackspace credit. Tap your card on the 'H' for the card box and you will get 30 minutes of heat. You can 'Sign out' to turn it off immediately and stop paying. The current cost is £1 per hour.

Portable electric heaters

There are a number of small, electric heaters in Team Storage, however these are no longer used generally. Speak with the Trustees for more information on how to use these under very specific circumstances.

Since our Insurance renewal in 2025, we have banned the usage of portable heaters. Members must not bring their own in. (See the Meeting minutes.)

Previous heating methods

In the past, we've been able to be much more flexible with how we heat the space. For more information about the ones in storage, please have a conversation with the Trustees.

Space Heater

In storage, we have a Clark Little Devil propane heater. A 13kg gas tank for the burner was around £34. This was about £2/hr and lasted about 16 hours. The cost of gas has increased by at least double now, in 2025. That along with the safety concerns, means we no longer use this heater.

Space heater specs

Heat output	35000 Btu/h
Heat output (EN1595)	10.80 kW
Air flow output	300 m3/h
Gas consumption	0.80 kg/h
Gas type	I38/P I3P (Propane Mix/LPG) 0.3bar

PVC curtain

In 2011, we decided to heat small spaces of the hackspace and have designated warm areas (See minutes from the 16/06/11 meeting). We used PVC strips to break larger areas up.

• 
  Making a curtain from rolls of clear PVC
• 
  The insulating (abattoir) curtain