Fixed Electric Heater
Fixed electric heating is now the go-to solution for all professionals who want to heat their premises without any hassle. No combustion, no fumes to extract, no mandatory annual maintenance. You plug it in, it heats up, end of story.
At Climatik, we help French businesses choose the electric air heater that perfectly suits their situation. Is your workshop one hundred or three hundred square meters? Do you have single-phase or three-phase power? Are you heating a public building or an agricultural shed? We'll guide you to the right equipment from our trusted European brands: Frico, Teddington, Inelco, SPLUS.
Why sheathed heating elements change everything
When you buy a professional electric heater, you're not really paying for the appliance itself. You're mainly paying for the quality of its heating elements. That's where it all comes down to.
The stainless steel sheathed heating elements found in professional air heaters are constructed differently from the ceramic elements in consumer heaters. The heating wire is enclosed in a hermetically sealed stainless steel tube, filled with ultra-pure magnesia that electrically insulates while perfectly transmitting heat.
This construction fully protects the wire from moisture, dust, and corrosive atmospheres. The practical result for you? A lifespan of 15 to 20 years without failure, compared to a classic ceramic element that lasts 5 to 8 years maximum.
Concretely: you install your air heater, you plug it in, and it works for fifteen years without ever breaking down. No parts to change, no progressive degradation, no unpleasant surprises in the middle of winter. This is exactly what you expect from professional equipment.
Single-phase or three-phase: the question that determines everything
Before even discussing power or brand, you need to understand one essential thing: your electrical installation directly limits what you can install.
If you have single-phase
Standard 230-volt single-phase current limits you to 3 kW on a normal outlet, and a maximum of 9 kW even with a robust dedicated circuit. This is an unavoidable physical limit.
This corresponds to heating offices, locker rooms, small workshops up to 50 or 60 m². The advantage? You plug into an existing circuit without major electrical work. An electrician runs a cable from your panel, you mount the air heater on the wall, and you're done.
If you have three-phase
400-volt three-phase opens up a totally different world. You can go up to 15, 22, 30 kW without a problem. This means temporarily heating workshops from 150 to 200 m², warehouses, and sheds.
Installation requires a qualified electrician to create the dedicated circuit from your main panel. But once done, you have reliable permanent heating that runs for fifteen years without a hitch.
How to check what you have
Open your electrical panel and look at the circuit breakers. Single-phase circuit breakers have 2 terminals. Three-phase ones have 4. If all your circuit breakers have two terminals, you only have single-phase. If you see circuit breakers with four terminals, three-phase is available.
This thirty-second check prevents you from ordering the wrong appliance. A three-phase air heater will not work at all on single-phase, and vice versa.
Wall-mounted or suspended: optimizing space and heat
Electric air heaters can be mounted in two ways depending on your premises' configuration.
Wall mounting for local standards
You fix the appliance high up on a load-bearing wall, usually at 2.50 m or 3 m from the ground. Horizontal blowing creates efficient air circulation that quickly homogenizes the temperature.
This configuration is perfect for workshops, offices, technical rooms with standard heights of 3 to 4 meters. Installation takes two hours: you drill four holes, screw on the bracket, hang the air heater, and connect the electrical cable. Done.
Ceiling suspension for large volumes
In warehouses, hangars, and sports halls with heights of 5 to 8 meters, you suspend the air heater directly from the ceiling or framework. Downward vertical blowing compensates for the natural rise of hot air.
Without this forced downward flow, all the heat would remain trapped near the ceiling while you freeze on the ground. Models with a destratification function can even operate in ventilation-only mode to recover hot air accumulated at height — which saves 20 to 30% of energy.
The decisive regulatory advantage: zero emissions
Here's something many professionals discover too late when they want to install gas or oil heating: regulatory constraints can kill a project.
Electric heating has none of these constraints. Zero emissions means zero restrictions.
Total ERP compliance
You can install electric air heaters without any power limitations in all public access buildings. Shops, village halls, gymnasiums, sports changing rooms, municipal workshops. No particular constraints.
No limitation to 35 kW per appliance as with gas. No obligation to install in a separate boiler room. No chimney to size. No high and low ventilation to create. No annual inspection by an accredited body.
You install where you want, when you want. Period.
Sensitive areas where nothing else works
Archive rooms with valuable documents? Paint shops with solvent-laden atmospheres? Storage facilities for flammable products? Food processing laboratories with strict hygiene requirements?
In all these environments, electric heating often represents the only technically acceptable solution. No flame, no combustion gases, no moisture produced. Just clean hot air.
Sizing correctly to avoid mistakes
Calculating the necessary power for your premises follows a simple logic. You take your floor area, multiply it by the height to get the volume in m³, then apply a coefficient of 40 to 50 watts per m³.
A workshop of 80 m² with 3.50 m height is 280 m³. You therefore need 11 to 14 kW. A 15 kW three-phase air heater will comfortably cover your needs.
Increases according to your situation
Poorly insulated or uninsulated premises? Add 50% more power. Your 280 m³ workshop will require 17 to 21 kW, so a 22 kW model.
Doors frequently opened? Loading dock with constant traffic? Add another 30% to compensate for heat loss during openings.
Conversely, if you just want to maintain frost protection in an unoccupied room in winter, reduce by 30%. A 10 kW air heater is more than enough to prevent frost in your 280 m³.
Actual consumption versus installed power
A 15 kW air heater consumes 15 kWh when running at full power. But thanks to the thermostat, it only runs at full power during morning warm-up and in very cold weather.
The rest of the time, it modulates its power or stops completely. Over an 8-hour day, it actually operates for 3 to 5 hours depending on insulation and outdoor temperatures. Your daily consumption will therefore be around 45 to 75 kWh.
At an average professional rate of €0.20/kWh, this represents €9 to €15 per day. Over 100 heating days per season, you consume €900 to €1,500 of electricity annually.
Simple installation, virtually no maintenance
Installing a fixed electric heater does not require any particular professional qualifications. Any competent electrician can do it, or even your internal maintenance department if you have authorized personnel.
You fix the support, you hang the air heater, you run the electrical cable with the correct cross-section, you connect according to the provided diagram, you power it up. The device works immediately without any adjustments.
Unlike combustion heaters, which also require an annual maintenance contract with an approved installer, electric heating has no maintenance obligation. You save €300 to €600 per year for fifteen years, or €4,500 to €9,000 over its lifespan.
The recommended preventive maintenance? A simple annual dusting of the fins with a vacuum cleaner, a visual check of the electrical connections, a thermostat test. Your maintenance team does this in thirty minutes without calling anyone.
The true cost over fifteen years
When comparing heating systems, don't just look at the purchase price. Calculate the total cost of ownership over the entire lifespan.
A fixed 15 kW electric air heater costs €1,800 to €2,500 including installation. It consumes about €1,000 of electricity per year. Zero euros for mandatory maintenance. Over fifteen years, you spend €17,000 to €19,000 all-inclusive.
An equivalent gas heater costs €5,000 installed with burner and chimney. It consumes about €700 of gas per year. But the annual mandatory maintenance at €400 increases the bill. Over fifteen years: €21,000 to €23,000.
Fixed electric heating therefore becomes more economical in the long run thanks to the absence of maintenance and its reliability, which avoids premature replacements. And above all, you never have a surprise breakdown that paralyzes your activity in the middle of winter.
Climatik's support for the success of your project
We don't just sell electric air heaters. We support you in properly sizing your installation according to your actual volumes, insulation, and daily use.
We check your existing electrical installation with you to avoid any ordering errors. We advise you on the choice between wall-mounted and suspended, between single-phase and three-phase, between a standard model and a model with destratification.
All our fixed electric air heaters are available in stock with fast delivery anywhere in France. 3-year manufacturer's warranty on all equipment, including resistors and electrical components.
