Best heater for shop?

[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.

[gotohatteras]

Mechanic friend of mine has a furnace in his shop that burns the old motor oil he removes on oil changes, and it has ductwork with large fan to circulate it around shop.

[Stefrobrts]

Thanks for all the great advice! Clearly there's a lot of options, we'll be doing a bit more research before we settle on anything.

Catson4, those are some great ideas. We just worked with a local HVAC company to get our heatpump replaced, I think we'll talk to them and see if they have any used stuff that might do the trick for the shop.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Thanks for all the great advice! Clearly there's a lot of options, we'll be doing a bit more research before we settle on anything.

Catson4, those are some great ideas. We just worked with a local HVAC company to get our heatpump replaced, I think we'll talk to them and see if they have any used stuff that might do the trick for the shop.

Stefrobrts,

For our 36 x 80 shop I installed one used ($150) electric house furnace. Its installed overhead towards the end where I do most of my work. Here in Arkansas winter temps seldom drop below 30 degrees for long. Normal temps are in the low 30s to mid 40s. Typically the shop will stay in the mid 40s or higher during the day and high 30s at night. I can go down to the shop in the early evening and turn the heat on and within a half hour or so I'm comfortable enough to take my light jacket off and work in shirt sleeves. Used electric furnaces are fairly cheap, easy to install and if you get one that has cooling coils installed then you can buy a used condenser and have A/C for summer months.

May not be the best approach but probably one of the cheapest to implement and not all that costly to operate if you only use it during the periods you're in the shop.

Oh yeah, our shop is a metal pole building with insulation which is typical of most metal pole building construction.

Works for me anyway

Brad

[safari57]

What ever you buy, if you do get a used one, make sure you have it checked out before installing it, Stef.

That said, my buddy just bought an over head, gas unit, for his 50 x 60 x 12 shop for $100 at a govt' surplus auction. It was brand new, installed, then they realized it was too small for the area it was to heat so it was taken back down and put in a box and sat around for a while. (our government using our tax dollars judiciously).

I only heat the actual area I'm working around so a combo of my small electric catalytic heater and the two halogen work lights keep me quite warm. We don't get quite as cold as you do, but it does get darned cool. I can work in comfort in and around the trailer using this method. I'm only heating while I'm working, be it on the Airstream or the car.

Barry

[TomW]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Thanks for all the great advice! Clearly there's a lot of options, we'll be doing a bit more research before we settle on anything...

Copper wiring is getting expensive.

Tom