Lack of Training

It’s amazing how these things happen close together (see HotOil blog 6/2/12) but this week another technical issue came up at work concerning heated towel rails. This was the age old question of what rail is suitable for what heating system. Again there seems to be a general lack of knowledge these days amongst people in the supply side of our industry, people who should know these things, people who are paid to know these things. In a nut shell, there are largely two types of sytem when towel rails are heated by hot water. A Closed Circuit is where the hot water is contained within a closed loop and the water has no other purpose than to heat radiators. Because there is no physical contact between the water and humans, cheaper steel radiators and towel rails can be used. An additive is placed in the water to prevent rusting and corrosion. This additive would be harmful to humans if contact was possible. The other possibility is an Open Circuit. This is where the same water used for heating is also used for washing and bathing. Using an additive is obviously not possible so the towel rails have to be constructed of stainless steel or brass, both or which will not corrode. The downside is that rails made from these materials are significantly more expensive. It makes sense that the end user, “the client”, would not know about these things. It’s also makes sense that the designer, the plumber, the sales person should all be aware of such technical necessities. Closed circuits probably make up 80%-90% of the heating systems in the UK but with an estimated 25,000,000 homes in the country, there is still a reasonable possibility of an Open Circuit, especially in older blocks of flats. Steel radiators placed on an open circuit will rust. Perhaps within a few months, perhaps it might take a year or two, but they will rust. After one of their people mis-sold a steel radiator 10 months ago, an east London supplier of mine has just paid out nearly £2000.00 for a replacement radiator and to repair water damage. A costly lesson. All their counter and sales staff are now aware of the issue and they have included it in their on-going training. In these days of compensation, it may be that many others will be following the same path.

Timely Message ?

I recently attended a lecture in Bloomsbury, London, given by interiors designer Sharron Marson. Sharron is back in the UK after several years in Israel. Apart from a couple of small verbal diversions, her main topic was the use of local materials, or lack of it. We are not particularly good at this in the UK, certainly not in the interiors industry. We source baths from Germany, kitchen appliances from Europe and the USA, tiles from Spain and Italy, and it feels like we get everything else from China. Every single item comes at a price, everything has a footprint. Sharon’s message on the night was that everything that we do will eventually have a consequence. She believes that we must be mindful of our actions, and that for our industry, the next step must be adapting designs to the availability of local products. There has been little reason for the industry to change, neither carrot nor stick. Much of the manufacturing previously carried in the UK has migrated abroad. Sharron believes that the lead must come from government, but that designers can play their part now by sourcing local, by persuading their clients to buy local, to come up with designs which promote the use of local materials. These things are out there now but the availability and range will not increase without a demand. Government has the power (if not yet the will) to encourage manufacturing, but it is up to those who have direct contact with clients to begin to create the interest. It’s a very big ask but if we don’t start moving in this direction soon, we will eventually have no choice. Better that we begin to make the change while we still have some control over the direction.

Hot Oil

This one is more of a plumbing issue rather than one of design, but the two are inter-connected, sort of, sometimes. My early years were in a small showroom in Hertfordshire with a builders/plumbers merchant out the back, so I do have some experience of the “down and dirty” side of the business. The issue of central heating systems in older properties raises its head from time to time when designing a new bathroom. Often the client will not want the expense or inconvenience of extending the CH system into the bathroom. The obvious solution is an all-electric heated towel rail of sufficient size. These can be supplied direct from a manufacturer as a complete ready-to-go sealed unit, but the downside is that the range of rails available is extremely limited and rather more functional than they are beautiful. The alternative is to choose a normal heated towel rail and convert it to all-electric usage. This requires one hole to be used for an electric thermostat and all other holes to be capped off. The radiator is 90% filled with a combination of thermal oil and water, leaving a small air gap to allow for expansion. This is not something new, nor is it technically complicated. However when I was trying to source some of this oil for a colleague last week at short notice, I was appalled at the lack of knowledge at the 14 plumbers merchants I phoned. One shop near the Edgware Road in London normally had it but were out. Two more knew of it but only ordered it in. The other eleven “businesses” didn’t have it, didn’t know about it, didn’t care about it, and certainly didn’t care about me. Some were friendly but useless, a few were curt, and two were just downright rude. Certainly none offered to find out about the oil for me. Let’s face it, we Brits are largely rubbish at customer service. In my industry, the client is king. On the high street, the “client” is a just a customer who will be treated OK as long as it’s easy and nothing goes wrong. At the first sign of a problem, the commercial barriers are raised at double-quick time. So if you are looking for proper shopping experience, get yourself out to Heathrow and on a jet to New York.