Hotwire - Keeping the Bed Warm!
Justin Greatrix is a snooker enthusiast who has developed one of the best and yet most obvious innovations to enter the snooker market for years.
If you want your table to run quicker and the cloth to last longer, then read on…
For the past twenty years, under table heating has been used as a method of getting the optimum performance from a snooker table.
Traditionally though, the equipment used to achieve this, is more closely associated with warming flower beds than the slate bed of a table. The greenhouse ‘tube’ heaters were always seen as an improvised solution by Greatrix who used his experience of fitting suspended ceilings to help invent the Hotwire system.
"I was based in Germany a couple of years ago and playing on table four in my local club when I had the ‘Eureka moment’", said Greatrix.
"At the time, I was fitting ‘cooling ceilings’ into luxury offices, as a greener and healthier alternative to air conditioning. The system involved a series of cooling pipes and foil backed insulation located above the ceiling panels which reflected the cool air back into the room below".
The best inventions are often considered the simplest and most obvious, and both boxes seem to earn a huge tick with Hotwire.
Justin said, "It was simply a case of reversing the concept of the cooling ceiling, so that a series of wires and reflective material underneath the bed of the table would more effectively heat a larger area of the table, creating a better and more consistent playing surface".
Not only is the system more effective in playing performance but can also reduce running costs. "Most of the tables I have fitted with the system were using a 900 watt tube system. The Hotwire pad is 750 watts and combines a thermostat to control the amount of heat required to maintain a constant temperature of the playing surface.
An idea is one thing, but the design and production stage were next on the to-do list for Greatrix, himself an accomplished player with a highest break of 123.
"I designed the system and sourced a supplier and then set about spreading the word."
The word began to spread thanks to a meeting with world number 21, Stuart Bingham who whilst playing an exhibition in Germany, complained to Justin about the speed of his practise table in Essex.
Months later…
Greatrix explained, "Stuart was the first big name that bought into the Hotwire concept but it wasn’t long before others followed.
Since then, I have installed the system on tables for Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ryan Day, Mark King and Michael White.
And recommendations cannot come much higher. Higgins claims, it is the best money he has ever spent on my table",
Bingham believes his is the fastest table he has played on away from a ranking event final venue.
White said that the cloth on his table would normally be changed every four months but the current one has been on nearly six and doesn’t need changing".
So, if you want your table to run faster and your cloth to last longer, perhaps you should get Hotwired!
For more information you can email Justin directly here...
