USE OF RADIATORS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18532, 17 October 1923, Page 10

USE OF RADIATORS.

THE BOARD'S NEW POLICY.

DISAPPOINTED. CITY MEN".

Alternative NOT welcomed.

The terms on which the Auckland Electric Power Board lias agreed to restore the supply of current" for radiators occasioned a good deal of disappointment in the city yesterday. While recognising that the board was faced with a difficult position, the issue '-which lias been most forcibly impressed upon the powerusing public is the apparent inadequacy of the stipulations to meet the immediate growing requirements. of the city. It can safely be said that : employers do not readily welcome the responsibility indirectly thrust upon some of their number to provido reasonable heating facilities in their shops and offices in place of electric radiators, when the latter are not forthcoming.

''The position from the point of view Qf the public and the electrical trade is not as satisfactory us it might be," stated a prominent business man with an extensive electrical knowledge. "I have sufficient confidence in the Auckland Power Board, however, to realise that it is doing its best in difficult circumstances, and as soon as tho more general supplies from hydro-electric sources arc available the whole' matter will no doubt bo revised." He was inclined to contest the deputy-chairman's statement that radia- ! tors in business areas averaged about one ] kilowatt each. "With the wire-wound typo of radiator," he said, "there if great efficiency, and the tendency is tc use radiators of small capacity consum , ing about two-thirds of a unit an hour.' Referring to the board's decision tc increase the charges in the business area this authority said the alternative tc bearing the increased cost was for eacl building to instal its own central-heating system. Such systems, however, wen unsuited to Auckland, as the climate hen was sub-tropical and tho temperature ir winter not so high that artificial heatinj could be dispensed with, and not so low that heating over long periods was callet for. He prophesied that occupiers c! buildings would probably find it cheapei to pay the increased cost of heating elec trieally than to carry the capital cost o: central heating systems. lie quite ap predated the unremunerative nature o: tho radiator load, but at the same tim< responsibility had been cast upon em ploycrs to heat their shops and office! reasonably.

A certain amount of surprise was expressed in some quarters at the suggestion of the works committee that radiators are in use on a paying basis onlyover 30 days in the year. "I. should say that the radiators in our office are on for at least three months of the year," declared one business man; "we start | using them occasionally in April, and are | still using them in August. Another opinion was that while a number of -radiators might bo used for only 30 days in the year, it was obvious a great many were certainly used for a much longer period. An architect interested in the erection of many of Auckland's large new blocks dwelt on the uncertain position in which Owners of _ new buildings were yplaced. The board intended to refuse further connections except where special permits were issued, he said. In that case there were only two other courses open. The first was for owners to instal open fireplaces, with chimneys in each office, with the trouble of cleaning the grates and the attendant smoke nuisance. The second course was to instal central systems for steam or hot water, operated by boilers. Again the smoke nuisance would crop up, and small smokestacks- would aris« all over the city, spoiling the work and careful supervision of years. Owners, also, would be saddled with costly plants, which would beyan use only one month (if the works committee's statement "was j to be taken as corect), yet involving a i heavy capital cost covering the -whole ! year for an inefficient stand-by plant. He had little doubt that if the capital costs of installation in every building' were totalled up the resultant figure would bo far larger than the cost of the central oloctno power plant. The installation of fireplaces in offices was quite an antiquated idea throughout the .world, while steam plants went onlv. one better. The question of heating of buildings is to be, discussed later af a conference between the board and representative architects and engineers. ■ l- ■ . - ■;■ ■