The last few years have been a truly torrid time for warehouse owners – not least when it comes to heating costs. In late 2022, the logistics and transportation industry was facing soaring energy costs alongside reduced turnover – and more than a third of businesses were forced to pass these increases onto their customers.
Unfortunately, the subsequent years have done little to limit the damage. Though business energy costs have fallen from their late 2022 heights, they remain significantly higher than before the pandemic – and they’re set to rise again through the latter part of 2024.
In this context, a cost-effective warehouse heating solution is no longer optional – it’s a vital investment in the future of your business. But with a range of heating methods on offer, how can you ensure you choose the right option for your warehouse?
In this post, we’ll break down the most cost-effective way to heat your warehouse and offer some expert advice on how to choose the most efficient heating system for your space.
The challenges of cost-effective warehouse heating
Before we look at the different ways of heating your warehouse – and the impact each approach can have on your heating costs – it’s important to stress just how difficult warehouse heating can be.
While all businesses will face challenges with keeping their heating costs down, warehouses must confront some unique issues, including:
Large open spaces that not only require more energy to heat but can also lead to warm air gathering near the ceiling while it stays cool near the ground where it is of most benefit to the work force and production processes.
Temperature-sensitive stock that may be damaged if consistent temperatures cannot be maintained at all times.
Significant heat loss through large shutter doors that may be kept open throughout the day to make way for site traffic
Regulatory requirements that can lead to significant fines or legal issues if temperatures fall outside of statutory limits.
Taken together, these issues can place severe demands on even the most powerful heating system. If your warehouse heating system isn’t up to the task, you may find yourself facing high heating costs while failing to secure a consistent, comfortable temperature during colder weather.
So, how do you choose a cost-effective warehouse heating system that will truly deliver for your business? To answer this question, we first need to understand the key factors that determine how much your warehouse costs to heat.
What factors affect warehouse heating costs?
While most warehouses will face most if not all the issues we listed above, it’s also true that no two warehouses are exactly alike. That means that the heating costs you’ll face will depend on several factors that are unique to your warehouse, including:
- The size of the warehouse. It’s an obvious point but it bears repeating – the larger your warehouse, the more it will cost to heat. Not only does a larger area require more energy to heat, but higher ceilings can also increase the impact of temperature stratification – more on that below.
- The layout of the warehouse. The location of any temperature-sensitive stock and staff work areas can also impact heating costs. For instance, if your staff spend much of their time in relatively localised areas, you may be able to focus on spot-heating solutions. The size and extent of your racks can also have a major impact – dense racking can block the movement of warm air, making it harder to heat your space.
- The nature of your stock. Some types of stock – food or pharmaceuticals, for instance – will have more stringent temperature requirements. If the safe temperature range is narrower, you’ll likely have to run your heating system more consistently, with higher costs as a result.
- The construction of the warehouse. If your warehouse is poorly insulated or has many shutter doors and other openings, this can result in more rapid heat loss. As a result, your heating system will have to work harder to maintain a consistent temperature.
Each of these factors will contribute to the overall heating costs you’re likely to face. Just as importantly, the heating system you choose will need to take them into account.
As we’ll explain more fully below, the most cost-effective heating option will depend on the specifics of your warehouse – what is best for one business may prove inefficient and ineffective for another. With that in mind, let’s break down the top choices for cost-effective warehouse heating.
The most cost-effective warehouse heating solutions
Warm air heating
Warm air heating is an efficient and cost-effective approach to heating large, open spaces, making it an excellent choice for warehouses.
This method involves installing heaters at strategic points throughout your space. These heaters draw air and pass it over a heat exchanger to warm it up. The warm air is then distributed using a circulation fan built into the heater itself, ensuring it is evenly distributed throughout even the largest spaces.
As a result, warm air heaters are an ideal choice if you need to ensure a consistent temperature throughout your warehouse and avoid any hot or cold spots. Ultimately, there is simply no more efficient or cost-effective way to heat large spaces in their entirety.
Warm air heating systems are also highly flexible when it comes to how they are powered. From a cost standpoint, natural gas or LPG fuelled warm air heating systems are likely the best choice – as we explained in our post on factory heating running costs, gas has a significantly lower cost per kw/h tariff than electricity, much like we would find in our own homes. However, if you don’t have a gas supply to your warehouse, or room for an external LPG storage facility, or as a business are wanting to prioritise sustainability – then electric warm air heating options are available.
Destratification
Warm air heating is an extremely efficient warehouse heating solution – but it can be made even more cost-effective by pairing it with destratification fans.
These fans are designed to tackle the tendency of warm air to rise, which can result in heat gathering in the upper part of your warehouse while it stays cool closer to the ground – a process known as thermal stratification. Needless to say, stratification can significantly increase your heating costs.
Destratification fans solve this problem by redistributing warm air back down into the lower parts of your warehouse. The fans are installed at ceiling height and automatically turn on when the temperature gradient becomes too high. Once the temperature near the ceiling has been reduced and the heat fully redistributed, the fans switch off again, minimising their energy consumption.
By pairing destratification fans with a warm air heating system, you can heat even the largest warehouse in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way. But as we’ll see below, there are other options to consider, especially if you don’t need to heat the entire building.
Radiant tube gas fired heating
Radiant tube heating, like far infrared heating, is a spot heating solution that can be effective for warehouses that don’t need the entire space to be kept at a specific temperature. They offer high-precision heating of localised areas and benefit from being highly customisable. Both the shape and design of the tube heaters themselves and their location in your space can be modified to ensure maximum efficiency.
Nevertheless, it’s important to recognise that radiant tube heating requires a direct line of sight between the heater and its intended target – something that may be difficult to secure in large warehouses with extensive racking.
Electric far infrared heating
While warm air heating is likely the most cost-effective choice if you need an even distribution of heat throughout your warehouse, there are other solutions to consider if you are only looking to heat specific regions of your warehouse.
Electric infrared heating, for instance, is an extremely reliable option for spot heating areas such as loading docks, or individual staffing work stations. It works by emitting electromagnetic radiation with a lower frequency than visible light. This radiation can directly warm the surface of objects or persons it encounters without heating the intervening air, allowing you to avoid heat loss from convection currents and lowering your overall costs.
Infrared heating systems are also mechanically simpler than more traditional heating systems – they have fewer moving parts and do not require any complex ductwork. This makes them less prone to malfunctions and means they usually require less maintenance, reducing the overall cost across their lifespan.
This is particularly important because the specific layout of your factory doesn’t just affect which heating system is best for you – it also determines whether you get the full benefits from whichever system you do end up choosing. The unfortunate truth is that even if you choose an energy-efficient heating system and opt for the latest heaters and advanced thermostatic controls, you won’t see benefits if the systems isn’t installed in a way that is tailored to your space.
How to minimise your warehouse heating costs
Hopefully, you’ve now got a clear sense of the factors that affect warehouse heating costs, and which type of heating system will best allow you to minimise them.
But when it comes to keeping your warehouse heating costs down, it’s not just a question of which heating system is most effective. The specific design and layout of the system, the appliances used, and the way they are installed can all impact the heating costs you’ll face once it’s installed.
If you’re looking to secure the most cost-effective heating system for your warehouse, you’ll want to consider:
- Seeking a custom design. As we emphasised above, every warehouse is different. If your heating system isn’t designed from the ground up to fit your space and match the needs of your business, you will likely struggle with lower energy-efficiency and higher heating costs.
- Cutting-edge appliances. Heating systems, like every other technology, are improving at a rapid rate. While making use of the latest heating appliances may set you back more in the short term, the longer-term savings will more than offset these initial costs. Remember: a new heating system is an investment in the future of your business, and cutting corners can prove to be a false economy.
- Temperature controls. Precision thermostatic controls and automated heating routines allow you to keep your space at the optimum temperature while ensuring that your heaters aren’t active when they aren’t needed.
- Air curtains and door contacts. For warehouses with large shutter doors that need to be open throughout the day, air curtains and relays can help to reduce heat loss by creating a barrier of warm air over the entrance and enhanced even further with the introduction of door contacts that enable the heating system to switch off while the shutter door is opened. As a result, adding an air curtain and contacts to the design of your new heating system can lead to significant cost savings.
By focusing on these key factors when choosing your new warehouse heating system, you’ll be able to minimise your costs while securing a range of other benefits, from a reduced carbon footprint to improved staff comfort and productivity.
Of course, it’s not enough for you to keep these factors in mind – you need to work with warehouse heating specialists who can deliver them effectively. And that’s why you need OKEL.
OKEL can deliver a cost-effective warehouse heating system
In a highly volatile economic environment, driving down your warehouse heating costs is crucial. An energy-efficient warehouse heating solution won’t just help you balance your budget in these trying times – it can also help you appeal to climate-conscious customers and keep your staff happy and productive all year round.
Here at OKEL, our team of experts have been designing bespoke warehouse heating solutions for more than a decade. We are committed to delivering a cost-effective, eco-friendly heating system that’s fully tailored to your space, and which takes advantage of the latest technology. And with our safe and reliable installations and ongoing maintenance options, you can rest assured you’ll be reaping the benefits of your new warehouse heating system for the foreseeable.
To arrange a free consultation with one of our expert team, get in touch today.