Zonal Cafe Heating

Brrrr….The Beast from the East certainly has made its mark this year!

Introduction

Michael, proud owner of Café Culture in Kettering recently got in touch through our online enquiry form to ask about heating for his premises.

The complete glass front and high ceilings made heating a real problem. The need for heating really came to light when two different couples had complained and left because of the lack of effective heating.

Current System

Currently, at the front of the building were 2 x 4.5KW air-exchange units, similar to walking into a supermarket. The issue was the heat was constantly being lost through the double-entrance doors. Also, 9KW of electric heating is expensive to run if the heat is lost and not controlled.

After an initial call, one of our team worked out drawings and sent back our recommendations the same day.

We gave Michael a few options such as a ‘welcome’ bar heater for the front entrance. The other option was a panel heaters next to specific areas for more zonal heating.

The café was an odd layout. It had two front seating areas, two narrow corridors into two more larger seating areas. It then had another two corridors leading to the ladies/gents and the kitchen respectively.

Because of the awkward layout we super-imposed our heaters onto photos that we received to show the optimum positioning of the heaters. As the café wasn’t always at full capacity, we recommended splitting the café into ‘zones’ 1, 2 ,3 and so on. This way if only the two front areas were occupied then it means only these two areas need the benefit of infrared heating. This will also help improve savings.

Our Recommendation

To start with Michael purchased two of our 2.4KW Alpha Bar Heaters to try out in the main restaurant area. This way the client can gauge the effectiveness of far-infrared without having to commit to a whole system. He was really impressed with how they performed and got in touch with us to let us know how well they were working. Now that the main area was done it was time to move onto the smaller areas.

Michael purchased another 1.8kw Alpha Bar Heater to go into a smaller area of his café. This area included the seating booths which required less heat. Again he was really impressed with the heat output.

Lastly, two Large 960 Watt Picture panels were mounted at the far-end of the café as the wattage requirement was less. This  was a good opportunity to double up with artwork.

Controllers

After this he realised he needed some aspect of control for the heaters. Michael explained to us that because the old system didn’t heat up quickly or retain any heat he kept it on constantly from 11AM-7PM. Because he was so used to having his heating on all the time initially he thought it would be the same with the infrared heaters. He soon came to realise how warm it was getting in the café. One person even moved tables with their food as it was too warm. He came to the conclusion that he needed a controller to maintain the temperature of the areas during specific hours.

We recommended two of our RF plug in controllers which are controlled via a remote controller which is perfect for this area. It meant that the temperature could be increased or decreased whenever necessary from the bar area. It also saves having to come in early to turn heating on. Or worry if they’ve been turned off for the night.

The café now has a heating system which cost less to run, visually is less intrusive and makes no noise. The customers are more satisfied when visiting due to the comfortable back ground temperature.

If you want to benefit from heating like Michael, please contact us or call on 01205 821 796 for friendly advice with no obligation.

www.cafeculturekettering.co.uk