Snooker table slate heating

[Nott]

Basically, What to use? Where to buy? How to mount?

Any help appreciated.

[cueman]

If you can get hold of some greenhouse heaters they should do the job. Basically you want about 3 tubular shaped heaters that you can attach to the slate. Something like this - http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...ers/index.html

Mounting them is probably not quite straightforward as you can't exactly drill or screw them directly onto the slate. You can probably find some way of attaching them though. I think it might be worth an enquiry to WSA who can hopefully put you in touch with the table fitters that they use.

I was told that they use similar tubular style heaters by someone who worked as a table fitter for World snooker a few years back. I have heard problems with heating slates that they dry out quickly and tend to curve in or dip in the middle causing the tables to run off. He made a number of recommendations to avoid using the heaters as they caused quite a few problems with the table and how it played.

Personally for someone who just wants to have the table warm I would just get an electric blow heater or something similar and stick it under the table, this should be just as effective although you will have the noise to contend with.

[100-uper]

I just used a single 60W greenhouse heater on the floor under the table. Leaving it on all night during the winter, the slate was actually warm to the touch next morning and you certainly wouldn't want it any hotter. I preferred to let it cool down a bit before playing, the main purpose being to remove moisture from the cloth and keeping the cushion rubbers at a higher temperature than they would otherwise have reached.

I can see the advantage of mounting heaters directly to the slate for tournament tables, but for home use, I'd leave the heater on the floor. The heat will rise and gets retained by the structure of the table frame very efficiently.

[trevs1]

This type of heater is frequently used for heating tables, and as the poster above said, their main advantage is that the cloth will remain very dry, with the warmth also helping the pace of the table.

They are usually mounted on the timber slate bearers, as this keeps them near to the slates but not directly on them, therefore allowing them to warm fairly quickly (an hour or so).

Two of these heaters should be adequate for the job, but I have known three to be used. A good idea is to use a timer switch set to come on an hour before, if you know when you'll be playing, as this will stop the waste of energy when not needed.

I have known tables to become a little distorted through the use of these heaters, the timber isn't going to take too kindly to having 'LOTS' of heat stuffed into it day after day, so you might want to think on how many of them you use. A player who lives very close to me has just recently had to have these bearers I mentioned, planed slightly to level out the table again correctly, this was certainly due to the use of the heaters, but ultimately, they do make a huge difference to how the table behaves.

Best of luck anyhow.

[Nott]

Thanks for the replies. The reason I try to find out about this is because we are trying to figure out if we want heaters on Kurt Maflins new practice table here in Oslo to get abit closer to the conditions on "maintour tables".

Haven't decided on what to do yet but thanks still. Very helpful.

[Semih_Sayginer]

a cheaper alternative than actually mounting heaters is, as said, to use heaters underneath the table.

ive heard in the past of use of two small oil filled radiators on timers. maybe not ideal, but certainly did a job

[moglet]

Heaters on the floor are fine, but you will end up with hotspots.

Tubular heaters mounted a la TV tables make for even hotter hotspots and cause no end of trouble for the table frame and the comfort of the player. Having said that tubular heaters closer to the slate is the way to go, there is a way of doing it using tubular heaters so that the heat is spread evenly and using the same or less wattage.

Please PM if you are interested.

[checkSide]

I would mount an electric underfloor heating mat under the slate!

[ADR147]

Greenhouse Heaters Work Very Well. I Have A Friend Who Has A Table In An Outbuilding And Its More Than Enough To Keep That Playable.

[inevermissblue]

This is an interesting subject with what seems to be numerous solutions. I play for a local private club and also look after the tables prior to matches. We have 2 Aristocrats with good cloth. I am hoping that they will allow us to use heaters to improve the table speed, and am sure that this would improve the conditions no end. Our only problem is that we need to do this at a very low cost and with little inconvenience.

[john bird]

I would mount an electric underfloor heating mat under the slate!

Has anyone actually used an underfloor heating mat? I know the temperature can be adjusted so what would be a good temp? Don't want the table too fast as I am a relative beginner!

[moglet]

I believe that you should set yourself a target of 7 or 8ºF above ambient room temperature, this may need some clever adjustment as the climate changes. The important thing is that even if the room temperature is 60 or 75ºF the playing surface should still be that few degrees higher.

I have not tried heating pads myself, mine is an old table and has nine distinct sections under the slate and would need a fair amount of careful fitting to keep the pads close to the slate, they would also hinder me if I need to make any small level adjustments.

[oh and thats a bad miss]

What lenth green house heaters do i need for my table
and what wattage

[Geoff Large]

Direct heat placed just under the slate can cause the slate to distort , especialy open grained italian / chinese / portuguese and Brazilian slate , good old welsh slate is more dense and therfore is less likely to distort .
Heat will rise so floor mounted is ok , I am not fond of frame mounted heaters , under the table you will find three sections that are almost boxed in by side and end frame , plus the central cross sections from centre legs , three small wattage oil filled radiators is all that is required to send a gentle heat upwards , which is then trapped under the slate and is absorbed by the slate , which then keep cloth from damp and cushion rubber will also be kept at optimum bounce .
I have seen slate that has shailed due to excessive heat being placed too near the slate and kept on 24 / 7 , slate is like a porus wood , it has a grain , it also has grain air pockets on the lower denser type which when heated can have the same effect as water freezing , the air pocket expanding and forcing the grain open ,tubular heaters are normaly hung from the under frame and are not too close to the slate .

open convector heaters are a fire risk so please do not use these , green house heaters are meant for a greenhouse and should not come into contact with such things as carpet or soft furnishings , I know of one table with a greenhouse heater mounted on the floor that caused a club in derby to have fire damage ending up with the table and floor in the skip and a new replacement table after the club was refurbished , oil filled radiators are meant for indoor house use and have the advantage of staying hot even when switched off due to the oil retaining heat .

Tesco do a low wattage oil filled radiator 700w at just £24.99p each , three of these is more than capable of keeping the slate warm , green house heaters are rated at 80 watts per foot for comparison , so three oil filled rads = 2100 watts , 4 x 6 foot green house heaters hung under the frame = 1960 watts , not much in it wattage wise , but will the green house heater retain its heat when switched off or will it cool down quicker than the hot oiled rad ? , I think the greenhouse heaters will be hotter when on , but the oil rad scores more when swtched off due to its heat retaining oil .
I am biased towards the Oil rad because nothing is attached to the table and ease of use .

[oh and thats a bad miss]

Cheers thats just what i wanted to know
and think i will go with the oil filled raidiators