Technical Winter shop heat

Just run the gas line and get over it. I worked in my old shop for years with a shitty wood burner or no heat at all and it was goddamn miserable. My new shop has a furnice that a hvac friend of mine got me for cheap, now I cant wait to get down to the shop. I walk in turn the stat on and in 5 to 10 minutes its warm.

 

Wood here. No change to insurance as it is a detached structure. Lots of hoops to jump through for insurance to approve it though.

 

I use an overhead oil fired tube heater. Heats the objects, not the air. Very economic to run, no blower noise. I have little to no insulation, very comfortable. Used in Canada a lot, not so much here.

 

I had an old Gambles oil heater that used #1 oil, easily heated my 24x24 garage; but took up a little floor space. Friend gave me a 40,000 btu Reznor propane fired hanging heater; worked great and freed up some floor space. Took it with me when I moved and installed it in my new garage; used it for another
20 years or so; most of the time using small barbecue size propane tanks. I decided I wanted to heat the garage full time; but didn't want to deal with larger tanks, so I bought a new natural gas hanging unit and ran a gas line.
I would think a propane hanging unit would be a good alternative if a gas line is not feasible.

 

I have a 50 by 52' shop split in to a 30x52 and a 20x52 with an insulated wall. The big side has a propane 120,000 BTU tube heater down the center of the ceiling. The other part which has a spray booth in it is heated by a forced air propane furnace. I love the fact that I can flip a switch and be comfortable in 5 minutes. I originally had a wood furnace in there, but I would have to go out there and start a fire and wait for over an hour for it to be warm enough to work in. When I lived in the city and had a 2 car garage, I used a furnace out of a mobile home. Most mobile home furnaces are down flow so you set them about 2 foot above the floor and bend a sheet of tin to direct the heat across the floor. It dries a wet floor and makes it great to work under a car.

 

Propane, heat bill runs about $70 per month to heat a 30X60 shop with 16" eaves. Just flip a switch and in 30 minutes the shop is warm. The radiant heater is over the main work area and the hanging heater blows from one corner to another. I've tried wood and used oil, both are dirty and require a lot of time keep them going.

 

You've ruled out 220, gas, wood and oil.

That leaves propane. A hanging propane unit as suggested is very efficient. What is a gallon of propane going for in your area contrasted with the cost to run natural gas? Natural gas is usually way cheaper to run,unless your propane rate is cheap (but in the Winter prices always rise).

Natural gas; How far of a run are you talking to run pipe for natural gas? It's not that tough to run. Rent a Ditch Witch for a day and buy your pipe. It comes pre-threaded in lengths up to full 20' sticks. Your supplier or hardware can thread the ends for custom lengths. Pressure check it for leaks by capping it with a gauge and charging it with air. Next morning confirm the line has not leaked down. Shut off the meter and couple in to the output line.
Natural gas =just pay the metered bill. No bottles, wood, oil, etc to re stock, etc.

 

I have 32' X 48' two story shop. I heat the lower part with a natural gas hanging heater in one corner. It was free from an airplane hanger. I set the thermostat to 50 degrees and kick it up to 60 when working. The shop is well insulated 6" fiberglass plus 1" bead board in the walls, 18" blown in the ceiling.
My son put a 10' X 16' Paint booth on the second floor. It is insulated from the rest of that level. We ran a PEX line from the top of the water heater to 3 baseboard radiators in the booth, then returned it back to the bottom of the WH. Works by convection, no pump! Stays around 68 degrees and doesn't seem to make the heater run abnormally often. We shut it off in the warm weather and drain it.
I wish I had put PEX in the floor when I built it. I would likely have just used a dedicated water heater for everything.

 

I see natural gas suggested..again depending on locale you may require a Red Seal certified pipe fitter to connect gas lines or insurance will be null and void. If gas is at your house this is the way to go. There is little point trying to cut corners when installing heat in a shop and leaving your shop and contents at risk. Its not like the furnace will only get used once,,,winter shows up every year long as I can recall

 

i used these for years, about as cheap and safe, as it gets. my barn has heated floors now.it is the best no dust blowing around.

 

I'm a fan of corn stoves little clean up low emission if you have access to corn. The down side if it's 40 deg they produce to much heat just to keep the fire going and they are solid fuel to the insurance co.

 

For years I used a kerosene salamander heater, smelly and noisy. About 4 years ago I bought a hanging gas heater from the Menards store and put it in. That has been the best investment I ever made. I can keep the garage comfortable with little added cost to the gas bill

 

I have a 28'x30' shop with 9' ceiling and partially insulated. I have two, like new Roberts Gordon radiant heaters given to me. On is 80000 btu and the other is 40000 btu. I looked up a formula to calculate which size would be good. It seems to be the smaller unit. A few questions, would it be stupid to put the larger unit in and does it matter where these units are located? As far as the location, observing the specs, will they heat the whole space or mainly the area directly beneath them? Would it be better to angle them off at 45 degrees along the side of the wall or stay with having it face directly downward? Thanks.

 

My garage is 24' x 25' and jam-packed. It had a walled off insulated machine shop that is 10' x 16' with an electric heater. It warms up fast and is very comfortable on the coldest days.

The main garage is not insulated. I'm using a kerosene heater on the cold days. Below 20, don't even bother trying to warm it up. Above 30 and it warms up to 60. My main concern is fire, so I'm careful with it. Parts of last January and February were so brutally cold, I took about 6 weeks off. I have an engine to assemble, it will be done in the heated shop area.

Future plans, I'd like to go out the back of the garage about 12' - 15'. I would move all the machinery into there, take down my useless loft in the main garage and insulate everything. The new addition will have a heated floor. For heat, I could do with a 220v electric heat source. A wood or pellet stove is also a possibility.

 

My shop is 26' x 30' very well insulated with a non-insulated loft area for storage. I'm having a natural gas Modine heater installed soon and can't wait to try it out this winter. Prior to that i used a small wood stove from Tractor Supply. As long as i blocked off the entrance to the loft area i could easily get the shop up to 60 plus on the coldest of winter days. The wood stove worked well but i cant wait for the natural gas heater on the thermostat. At least that way its up and hanging out of my way and i get some floor space back again. Plus it'll be nice to not have to fight with the wood any longer.

-Chris

 

That's what SHE said....

 

Im an a/c contractor by trade and over the years I've gathered enough used equiptment to install a 5 ton heat pump in my 400 sq ft garage.. Here a 5 ton is enough to heat and cool a 2000 sq ft house. I have no insulation in the garage. I have a up draft air handler in the corner of garage no duct work coming off the airhandler she just runs wide open. Its kinda the Tim Allen approach as far as sizing and I hear why didnt you get a small window unit? Its so hot out there in the summer I pretty much go out there, take care of business and go back in the house. But this big old unit works so good you can hang meat in there in about 10 minutes.lol. IN the winter I flip it over to heat and its too warm in there real quick.lol. I love it. I didnt have 220 volts in the garage but had an overhead powerline running right overhead. Installed a 200 amp panel in garage which is handy for welders and other tools. The installed a second meter and I get two powerbills to the house. Kinda sucks but no power worries and I'm comfort and productive in the garage. Its not too bad If Im doing a big job in the summer with a/c, air comp. running I think the biggest bill has been like $35.00 and most of that is in taxes and all the little crap they tackon. Anyway Thats how we do it in Las VEgas.

 

I have one of these, mines nat. gas but you can get them for propane. 100 ft of plastic pipe hooked to meter.
Modine HD75AS0111 Natural Gas Hot Dawg Heater 75,000 BTU, Power Vented, Hanging Furnace

 

Our shop is an old barn. Usually colder inside than outside. Got a couple propane heaters ( the kind that make the woooooooooohhhmmm)
Sound when you light em up. But when it gets really cold ( in the 40's hahaha this is TEXAS!!) I put those air activated warmers in my boots, pants pockets, shirt pockets , tape one to my head and this is all under 2 layers of clothes and an old car hart insulated pair of coveralls. F&@k the cold!

 

Have a ceiling mounted vented LP Gas heater (new) Modine HD75AS0111 Natural Gas Hot Dawg Heater 75,000 BTU, Power Vented, Hanging Furnace
that works great, and an isolated 1,000 gallon tank, topped off for this winter @ $.89 per gallon, half of what it was last year, life is good here in Minnesota. Pictured is my grandson Grady, this will be his car.

 

I have a 19'x 25' double garage workshop (yeah I'm spoiled) and is heated by an Empire space heater, wall hung with optional blower, a thermostat and is vented to outside with a wall vent.
It meets my needs no complaints. It is powered by natural gas but I think it can also run on propane as well. It is safe as well due to the fact all open flame is contained within the chamber and all gases funneled to outside.

 

I bit the bullet 2 months ago and had a 5 ton heat pump( with 2 - 1500 watt heat strips)/ac unit installed in my 3200 sq ft shop, I have 1 area that I can curtain off (900 sq ft) when not in use. Shop is very well insulated (6" in walls, 10" blow in in ceiling) First time I tried it, turned on the heat (it was 45 in the shop 34 outside) took 10 minutes to get to 62 and only cycled every 30/40 minutes. Well worth the $3800 so far, we'll see next summer when it's 105 outside and usually 90 in the shop.

 

I have heated my shop with a wood fired boiler that I built several years ago. When I painted in the shop, it was safer because the wood fire was outside the shop, and there was no air circulating from the shop outside around the furnace. I was concerned that the fire might pull fumes into the fire side of a conventional wood furnace. The firebox was in bad shape and it needed to be replaced. I do not paint a lot anymore and it is not a great concern.

I have just built my own outside forced air wood furnace for the shop. I started with a firebox from an older inside wood furnace and fabricated all the rest. I have modified the furnace to recirculate and burn the wood gas that is produced during the burning process. It is covered in metal on the outside that is the same color as my shop. It should be operational next week.

I like to build stuff.

John

 

Propane is a lower cost choice and in event of power outage you can keep fan running with a little ingenuity.
A approved wood stove and chimney would run you $1500. I keep wood stove in shop for various reasons one of which is in the event of power outage i have somewhere warm to go...currently 2 days some without power in our area ,,temps are -15C. It is very unusual for power outages in our area but a Colorado low dumped wet snow in our area,,,we usually only get very cold temps and fluffy light snow..

 

Now that is a kool lookin heater. Like mine next to the fire place. Bruce.

 

Up here that's beach weather!

 

Any advice guys?

 

Bruce,
That's a nice shop,

Bruce

 

This type?


http://www.rg-inc.com/pdf/Manuals/170101NA GordonRay BH IOS RevL.pdf

PDF file, with installation manual, probably has "placement" info as well, but I didn't look.

 

Yes, that types well as the Caribe model. Again, in my 28x30x9 foot shopshouldI go with the 80000 btu or the 40000 btu unit? Should II try toplaceit near the centre of the floor or will it matter, and finally since the ceiling is only at 9' should I angle it at 45 degrees along a wall? Advice appreciated.