Heating a Site Cabin Through a British Winter
Getting a site cabin warm is straightforward. Getting it warm and dry is the part people get wrong, and the answer is nearly always more ventilation rather than more heat.
Why a warm cabin gets wet
A working cabin generates moisture all day — kettles, wet coats, ten people breathing. Warm air holds that moisture happily until it touches a cold surface, at which point it condenses on the windows, the frames and anything metal. Turning the heating up makes the air hold more moisture, so sealing the unit tight and cranking the heat is exactly the wrong move. A little continuous ventilation with steady background heat keeps the room drier than a hot sealed box ever will.
Steady beats blasting
Cabins that are heated hard for an hour in the morning and left cold overnight go through a daily cycle of cold surfaces meeting warm wet air. A low background setting overnight costs less than it sounds and stops the whole cycle. On a site that runs Monday to Friday, leaving the heating ticking over the weekend is usually cheaper than the Monday morning recovery.
The heaters themselves
Our units are fitted with heaters — new heaters in most cases — sized for the building. Keep them clear: a heater with a coat rack in front of it heats the coat. If you are adding portable heaters of your own, watch what that does to your power draw and never use anything unflued in a small unit.
Wet gear belongs somewhere else
The single biggest moisture source on most sites is drying workwear. That is what a drying room is for — rails, heat and airflow in a separate space, so the moisture is not being released where people sit and eat.
Simple things that help
Wipe the windows down rather than letting condensation run into the frames. Keep a vent cracked when the kettle is on. Leave a gap between furniture and the outside walls so air moves behind it. Check the door seals — a draught in the wrong place is a cold surface waiting to happen.
Ask about specification
Insulation specification varies from unit to unit, and it is not something we will claim sight unseen. Ask us about a particular cabin and we will confirm what it has. Heating and lighting are visible fittings and we are happy to be specific about those.
Browse site cabins or look at welfare units if the crew needs somewhere warm to eat as well.
