Best heater for shop?

[Stefrobrts]

Lets say you're lucky enough to have an enclosed shop/barn that you can fit your AS into and work on it in the winter. But no one wants to be out in a freezing shop handling cold tools in the middle of winter. So what's the best sort of heater to use to heat such a large area to make it comfortable enough to work in?

Any recomendations?

[Fyrzowt]

Wood stove?

[Silvertwinkie]

When I put an addition on my 2 car garage, I took the old furnace I had in my condo when I replaced it and put it into my garage, running a gas line out there. It's a detached garage, so I had to run a gas line out there.

Could it run on LP? I think so. I'm not a real big fan of electric forced air heat. In the end, I wired my natural gas furnace to the circuits in the garage and built my own plenum, connecting the flexible ductwork to it, with what I bought from Menards/Home Depot. My biggest cost was the gas line to the garage.

I was recently in some guys shop/garage and he had radiant heat put into the floor. It was really, really nice. Even in my garage, I could get it up to 90 degrees in below zero temps outside, but my slab is always bone cold...not an issuse with the radiant heat. I don't think the radiant heat is electric in the slab, but steam/hot water.

Either way you go, I think flame is your friend, be it forced air or hot water heat.

Too bad my garage is too small for my Airstream....it's a warm cozy place in the winter!

[2airishuman]

hi stef

given where you live and the temp range, there are lots of options...

mostly it's about btu-s, safety, comfort and cost in that order...

the comfort issue is what we notice most (after 4king over the cash), since floors (feet), tools(hands), trailers and other objects inside the space get cold too...

-a wood stove/pellet stove, properly vented would be nice and reasonably effective...

also good for fireside chats and refreshments.

-a portable patio stove (gas) could work and again multi task outside for the after hours party! but i'm joking here...

-2-3 wired electric baseboard heaters would also work. that is ALL i used to head my house in the northwet (it was only 1 step above a barn)...

IF you really are pouring a floor (which i doubt) radiant floor would be nice...

the cheapest, most bang/btu, safest approach would be what the commerical shops use...

like this...

Fahrenheat Ceiling-Mount Industrial Heater — 7500 Watt, Model# HUH724SA | Heaters | Northern Tool + Equipment

these get up to speed fast and heat LARGE open spaces well. can be had in gas, oil or 'lectric

a used one can be found IF you watch for auctions and shop closing sales...

a big blower is a real plus since MOVING the hot air around is important in an open shop area...

i would avoid ANY portable gas, kerosene, electric, radiant, catalytic, oil filled, ceramic whatever heater....

they simply do NOT have adequate btu capacity and really are fire hazards in a shop setting...

oh and did i 'forget to turn it off?'...

the great thing about overhead industrial shop heaters (along with the capacity) is they are OUT of the way...

all sorts of accidents are just waiting to happen in a shop setting....

here is a link with a spectrum of ideas, some better than others...

got to the garage/shop page...

patio heaters

cheers
2air'

[Stefrobrts]

I guess one other important consideration is that we do not have gas out here in the boonies. We'll be looking for an electric heater of some sort.

[InsideOut]

Another consideration when talking cost is insulation. It may be cheaper in the long run to put insulation up to hold the heat in so you aren't trying to heat the whole outdoors ~ probably not as big of a deal where you are, but humongous here...

Check a Habitat for Humanity store - they usually have insulation (and all sorts of new & some used building materials) for 1/2 price of Homey D. Sometimes they have heaters too...really deep discounts if they have what you need. And it supports a good cause ~

Shari

[mandolindave]

I had an overhead natural gas heater in my garage. The town inspectors said that it had to go because it wasn't rated for residential use. The inspectors
don't like to see open flames where their is going to be lawnmowers, gasoline, cars. I am planning a barn that will house my trailer. I want an attached room
that can be heated by a woodstove. The trailer and garden tractors will be in a non heated vented main section. Heated garages have a tendancy to rust cars and I would rather have the propane using trailer in a vented area anyway. If I wanted to heat a garage I would think about electric. Probably more expensive to run, but in my opinion safer. Some of my neighbors pump hot water from their outdoor incinerator to their garage as well as their house.

[markjoandall]

Stephanie,

I built a 36X34 timber frame barn. The barn has three bays 34ft long and 12 ft wide. The barn also has an up stairs that is 24X22. One of the bays is open to the rafters.

I use a small radiant heater upstairs in the woodshop. This heater is perfect because I stay in one place for some time.

Downstairs where the vehicles are parked, I use a torpedo heater. I find this heater better down stairs because it heats the surrounding air and generally heats up the entire barn. I like this better down stairs because I tend to be walking around working on the boats or the trailer.

I power both heaters off propane. I have even been known to take the 30lb bottles off the trailer and use them on the torpedo heater.

The torpedo heater makes a lot of noise and burns propane at a greater rate. One of my winter projects is to put disk brakes on the airstream. I'm kind of looking forward to the project because I know I won't be cold using the torpedo heater.

I hope this helps you in your decisions. BTW, the barn is not insulated at all, and there is sufficient air movement between the outside and inside that I'm not worried about carbon monoxide.

Mark

[overlander63]

You can get an electric-fired kerosene heater, also known as a salamander. They have wheels, a handle, a fuel tank and a cord. They crank out 50+ thousand btu's. If they run out of fuel, they, of course, turn off. Like if you forget to turn it off. And they are inexpensive.
Reddy Heater R50BT - 50,000 btu Low Pressure Kerosene Forced Air Heater with Thermostat - Reddy Heater R50BT - Every Generator - Genertaors, Portable Generators, Water Pumps, Space Heaters, Home Generators, Generator Transfer Stations, and more!

[bedfords]

The best and most $ is in slab radiant water heat. You can always set a LP tank outside or go with a outdoor wood boiler (very green). The next best would be infrared radiant heat, either tube or spot heaters depending on shop size. The theory behind infrared is it heats the objects then the objects heat the air. So you and the tools feel comfy. Home Depot stores use IR heaters in the front to heat the checkout lines.

Above all insulate.

Enjoy your shop!

[Fyrzowt]

Just like in the A/S or house, be aware of the hazard that may exist from Carbon Monoxide if you are using a fuel fired (propane, kerosine, etc) heater indoors.
2air posted some very good safety comments above. Be safe, whatever you do.
Dave

[TomW]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

... We'll be looking for an electric heater of some sort.

Most of my shop work, in cold weather, is woodworking and I only use heat when the glue might freeze before drying.

My solution was to recycle two old wall heaters, and one space heater. The left-hand heater came from the house I grew up in when my dad converted to central; the middle heater was purchased at a recycled appliance store for $5, and my FIL gave me the right-hand heater.

The whole conglomeration puts out 7500 watts of heat, and plugs in to my stick welder's power outlet.

I guess you might need a "Ford" sign in YOUR garage, though.

Tom

[2airishuman]

nice job towW!

(even with the chevy sign)

it's interesting that both 'dads' in this case had nearly equal size units to contribute....

there are common threads in every generation...

and i agree md'dave electric overhead is safer...

i think stef has a big ol' hydroelectric plant near by too!

or is in nuc-lee-ar?

cheers
2air'

[mojo]

Originally Posted by bedfords

The best and most $ is in slab radiant water heat.

I agree with bedfords. Radiant heat is wonderful, even set at 60. I have it in Colorado and it keeps everything constant. Add a space heater for those short visits.

[Beginner]

I'm saving for an OMNI waste oil heater. The smallest one they make will do just fine.
Beginner

[thecatsandi]

Anything that burns Kerosene gives me a headache. They are noisy as well.
We have a propane construction heater in our hangar but that requires ventilation. any heater you get should vent combustion exhaust outside and just he heat inside.

[garry]

It depends on how much time you plan to spend in the area and how much money you want to spend.

I use a 50,000 btu kerosene Reddy Heater I bought from a tool supply outlet for around $100.
I also use an additive that removes all odors, they also have some that put out a pine smell.
The thermostat is an option and you will need one. It has electronic ignition and it only pulls a few amps.
Only draw back is it is kind of loud but not as loud as the propane model

It has never set off a carbon monoxide detector in my 21X21 shop and it takes less than 10 minutes to go from 40 deg to 70 deg.

It has a 4 gal tank that last me a week or more at 70 deg using it 2 or 3 hours per day.

Garry

[malconium]

Stephanie,

I am a big fan of radiant heat and suggest that some form of it would be what you would like to have for a workshop. I agree that hot water radiant heat installed in the slab would be the ultimate way to go. It would not have to be all that expensive either if you are going to install a slap anyway. You can heat the water using a more or less conventional electric water heater too. A tankless type would be a good bet. You could also create an array of tubing external to the slab something like a large towel warming radiant heater.

If radiant heat in the floor is not an option then you could try some of the following:

If you do need to stay with electric and don't mind moving the heater around to the area you are working I think the following type of electric radiant heater would be great:

homedepot.com enter sku# 866581

In looking for the type of electric radiant heater I was thinking of I stumbled across the following electric garage heater that seems to have received good reviews and could be just the ticket:

homedepot.com enter sku# 344117

If you want to go the route that would be more typical in comercial garages and shops you might take a look at the following type of propane fired radiant heater. You would have to make sure you had enough ventilation but I think all you would have to do for that would be to pick a ventilation fan with the coresponding amount of CFM and make sure it is turned on when you use the heater.

Grainger Industrial Supply: Heater,Infrared 3E460

Grainger does have a lot of other types of heaters too by the way.

Are you indeed thinking of building a workshop garage? I have been wanting to do that myself for some time now and will one of these days. As you may recall when you paid me a visit to look at my floor replacement project my Airstream is not only entirely outside it is also parked on a sloped driveway. I have been looking at a lot of different construction options and may be able to help you figure something out if you like.

Malcolm

[catson4]

G'day,
Stefrobrts, As you live just north of Vancouver near Battle Ground your weather is much like mine. So maybe this will help. Hope so.

I have a 40' X 40' X16' shop. I have used a wood stove for years. When I was building parade floats ( up to 10) a year I used about 8 chords of wood. Now that I have retired I use the wood stove to "recycle" the junk mail and the household paper that would go to the dump to get buried. I just installed a new heat pump in my house and am now installing the old electrical furnace in the shop.
I will be placing the furnace on a platform suspended from the wall so the "air box" on the bottom of the furnce will be at 7 feet above the floor & in one of the shop's corners. This will allow the air from the furnace to blow in 3 directions. It will also allow the furnace fan to circulate the heat from the wood stove if the junk mail gets to darned heavy by just using the "fan cycle" on the thermostat.
As I only want to take the -FROST out of the air, I do not think it will cost to much to operate. I only want the temp at about 60 deg. F. unless I am painting or some such thing.

As I just had knee surgery last week, all projects are on hold for one more week.
Then it is "look out shop and AS".

I will post some photos when I get it up and running.

I am using the old electric furnace over a propane fired furnace for 2 reasons.
1: I already have it
2: Propane cost is higher than electricity . I filled up my propane tank for the house hot water heater in July and it is costing me $75.00 per month for a total of 11 months total. And that is just for hot water. I am looking at a new electric hot water tank soon. When I built the house I wired & plumbed it for both electric and propane water heater, kitchen range, furnace. And a free standing stove for when the power is out , maybe 2 times a year.

My power bill , even when the shop was running was only $250.00 at the highest. Now only $130.00 and under. Summer months only $80.00 or so. And I have a 2500 gallon pond system that runs 24/365 and runs about 3,000 per hour through the filters. The pond's cost is $8.92 per month now.

Check with some of the HVAC shops in your area and see if they have taken a furnace out of a home that is getting a new heat pump. One that will meet your needs. A lot of the time' if you say please, they will give you one that can be had for next to nothing. Remember that they are going to have to send it to a scrap/recycleing yard anyway.

Just some ramblings of an ol' fart

[doorgunner]

try BuildItSolar: Solar energy projects for Do It Yourselfers to save money and reduce pollution for some good ideas. I use a convective loop heater.works great for heat when the sun is shining.