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Anyone Know Where Services Heaters?


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Hi,

My Bio Green Pheonix heater seems to have packed up, the fan still works but the heating elements stopped working last night. It's no longer under warranty so I can't send it back to Bio Green so does anyone know where I could get it fixed?

I tried to have a look at it myself but they've closed the top box with weird star-shaped screws with a 'nipple' in the middle so none of my 'drivers fit.

cheers,

Dave

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Hi Dave,

Funny how these things always pack up just when you need them!

How long have you had the heater as that model has a 2 year warranty. Eitherway I would suggest you contact Bio Green about the best option to having it fixed.

cheers

bill

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Funny how these things always pack up just when you need them!

Hi mate,

Don't I just know it!

I got it about this time 2 years ago from a private seller on eBay so the warranty's right out the window. I've been using it as the night time heater and a cheap one from a garden center as my day time one. My thinking was that the Bio Green would be the most reliable so it was set to a permanent 9C that way if the cheapy packed up, even during the day, the temperature would never drop below 9C. It looks like I got them the wrong way round!

I don't normally like getting up for work at half 3 in the morning but today was a blessing as it was then that I noticed that the temp. was 5.5C! Fortunately I always keep a spare (cheapy) so I just popped out and switched them over.

I emailed Bio Green this morning but they haven't got back to me yet so keep your fingers crossed that they do and that the spare doesn't do the same in the mean time.

Dave

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Hi Dave .

You have made two mistakes . First you should have two heaters one to kick in when other fails . Second before buying one you should look at buying spares . Parwin heaters are the best heaters to buy . Have a great spares you can buy and quick delivery have been going for many years . Learn from your mistakes .

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Hi Dave .

You have made two mistakes . First you should have two heaters one to kick in when other fails . Second before buying one you should look at buying spares . Parwin heaters are the best heaters to buy . Have a great spares you can buy and quick delivery have been going for many years . Learn from your mistakes .

Hi myself,

Thanks for the heads up but the 'night' heater acted as a backup for the day heater as it wasn't on a timer and permanently set to 9C (so that would mean I'd need three heaters (one to back up the back up)).

As Bio Green has such a decent rep and is so widely sold then I, possibly naively, thought that it would do the job. As for looking at spares, I picked up a heater that retails at £199.99 for about 70 quid, if my memory serves correctly so I wasn't too fussed. Incidently, I've just had a quick look for Parwin heaters on Google and can only find them for sale on their website, do they not sell in shops or its it just a small company? Also, the website didn't have any prices, which model do you have and how much did it set you back?

I'm tempted to go for a gas heater to give me the minimum temperature and then use electric for the day time temps as there are so many things that can go wrong with electrically powered stuff.

Edited by DaveC
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Also, the website didn't have any prices, which model do you have and how much did it set you back?

I see they say "We are sorry to advise that we have currently stopped the manufacture of new heaters.

Unfortunately we have to have some of the component parts made for us and the increase in prices and minimum order values required coupled with a continued reduction in our sales means that we cannot continue manufacture at the moment."

I use oil filled radiators with the fan heater set at a lower setting so it only heats if the radiator fails.

bill

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Gas you need fresh air that means you are paying for wasting gas . Gas heaters are useless they causes fungus problems etc . Also if you had a parwin heater you would have had spares with you tomorrow if paid today . Parwin heaters are the oldest company in the uk selling greenhouse heaters and are know for quality . You brought cheap from ebay it's your fault it did't last . The most important thing in buying greenhouse heaters is spares how quick you get them are they going to be in go in years to come . You didn't thick about anything when you brought this item .

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What about a power cut? What a mistake not to think of that one... And all that CO2 generation leading to climate change; I mean, fancy not thicking of that?! :laugh:

These days electrical goods manufacturers consider two years to be ok for product life. That is the appalling situation of today's electrical consumer market.

Those screws sound like 'security torx' if you want to find drivers for them. Unfortunately, though, the usual fault with electrical fan heaters is that the element has burnt out and needs to be replaced. You might be lucky, though.

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Hi Bill, I hadn't thought about oil filled radiators but I like it! Its definitely something I'll look in to.

Thanks for the advice Jim, I'll have a look around for some security torx and see what I can do for myself (I mean me, not the guy who seems to have found someone to abuse).

Gas you need fresh air that means you are paying for wasting gas . Gas heaters are useless they causes fungus problems etc . Also if you had a parwin heater you would have had spares with you tomorrow if paid today . Parwin heaters are the oldest company in the uk selling greenhouse heaters and are know for quality . You brought cheap from ebay it's your fault it did't last . The most important thing in buying greenhouse heaters is spares how quick you get them are they going to be in go in years to come . You didn't thick about anything when you brought this item .

Thanks for the last couple of berating posts but do you have anything to add that might actually help with the topic of my post or do you want to just belittle me a bit more? I'm not sure if you work for Parwin but you certainly seem to be their biggest fan (pun intended) so perhaps you could explain to me why, if they're so brilliant, do they appear to be on the brink of colapse? Or is that because of idiots like me buying inferior products?

As for not thinking about anything when I bought this item, actually I did - I thought about what I could afford at the time.

Dave

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Dave,

Hope you've recovered from your berating.

I dont know what you are growing but nothing wrong with gas heaters in fact if you are growing neps (which I know you do) you will get better growth with gas than electric heaters. True there is some 'wastage' because you need a fresh air input, but to be honest this can be a small inlet vent somewhere, whatever its negligable.

S

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Hi Dave,

Hope you've recovered from your berating.

I dont know what you are growing but nothing wrong with gas heaters in fact if you are growing neps (which I know you do) you will get better growth with gas than electric heaters. True there is some 'wastage' because you need a fresh air input, but to be honest this can be a small inlet vent somewhere, whatever its negligable.

S

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the info. Yeah, this is just for my highland nep house, I don't heat my sarra/VFT house. I take it the plants benefit from the extra CO2 in the air when using gas?

I forgot to add an update, I emailed Bio Green who stated that they don't have any service centres outside Germany but that they do sell spare parts. It's the 1800W element that burned out on mine and a relpacement is 25 euros plus postage. I'll have to fix it myself but not a bad price and certainly easier than building a whole heater from a collection of spare Parwin parts as I would have to do since they're not selling whole units any more.

All that said, after it stopped working I had to use my spare/back up which is just one of those cheap electric fan heaters that you get in every garden center. I wired it through my Simply Control thermostat and it's worked beautifully ever since - even on the coldest nights.

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I dont know what you are growing but nothing wrong with gas heaters in fact if you are growing neps (which I know you do) you will get better growth with gas than electric heaters. True there is some 'wastage' because you need a fresh air input, but to be honest this can be a small inlet vent somewhere, whatever its negligable.

S

Hi Simon,

What is the output of your gas heaters? I have a Bio Green 4kw which I have yet to try out. Do you use any fans to help distribute the heat? I guess you use a couple of 19 kg cylinders connected via a changeover unit?

bill

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I forgot to add an update, I emailed Bio Green who stated that they don't have any service centres outside Germany but that they do sell spare parts. It's the 1800W element that burned out on mine and a relpacement is 25 euros plus postage. I'll have to fix it myself but not a bad price and certainly easier than building a whole heater from a collection of spare Parwin parts as I would have to do since they're not selling whole units any more.

Hi Dave,

I wonder how Bio Green go about servicing any heaters that are within the 3 year guarantee?

In my greenhouses I now have a mix of heating. In one house a standard greenhouse heater connected to a Two wests thermostat. In my other house a 2.5KW oil filled radiator running at 1.4Kw connected to a simply control themostat and a Bio Green fan heater set to 1Kw the other end of the house. And this winter I have been forced to set up a third setup to accommodate some larger Neps with a 2KW oil filled radiator set to 1.1KW and and a Hotbox 1.8KW running at the other end of the house.

bill

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Hi Dave, Bill et al,

Just to back up Si and give my experience.

I use a 6.5kw Hot Box (as was) silver classic, this is a high output indirect heater (heat travels around a steel convection box and exits via a chimney flue at the rear)

If you vent the flue to outside you lose about 2kw of output.

I have run this heater with orchids, neps, etc vented INSIDE for about 7 years with no ill effects from fumes.

the output is CO2 and H2O as long as it burns cleanly, so a baffled 100mm flexi vent run to behind the heater provides enough oxygen for the fire.

the stat is mechanical, ie capillary bulb and so is completely stand alone. I feed this with a pair of 47kg bottles through an auto changeover valve.

Above the fire I have a 16in desk type fan to circulate the air (cost about £12 and last 1-2 years running 24/7) and then at the other end of the warm section I have a simply control 3.5kw fan running 24/7 but with the stat set a couple of deg. C below that of the gas, this provides secondary circulation and back up heat if the fire should fail.

The highland section (I used to put the flue output to here) gains a bit of background heat from the warm section and then is controlled by another SC 3.5kw heater and a parwin as back up.

The only weakness with the above is is the stagnation of air resulting from an electrical failure (plants above the heater could get a bit fried)

However I now have a UPS to back up the essentials.

Whatever you do with your setups, just remember that Sods Law does exist so you will one day be grateful of whatever backups you have in place!

PS. The Parwin fan heater is a bit like "Trigger's Broom" (the case is original!!)

Good Growing

Matt

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Thanks for your replys chaps, gas is sounding more and more likely as the way ahead for my night time heater.

I appreciate that this will be a hard one to answer as everyone's insulation is different and outside temps vary greatly but, out of interest, how much gas could I be expecting to go through when heating my 8' x 6' highland house to 8-10C for 12 hours each night (I'd use an electric heater to take the the temp. up to 18-20C during the day)?

Dave

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