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Heating your shop

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 51 Leadsled, Jan 4, 2010.

  1. John "Gunner" Gunnell
    Joined: Dec 24, 2009
    Posts: 125

    John "Gunner" Gunnell
    Member
    from Iola, WI

    I use a propane radiant heating system. It heats good but we have had problems with it blackening the outside of the building slighty. I'm told that this should ne be a problem with propane but it is. The unit has been taken apart and serviced several times and the problem was never totally cured.

    The install vented the system to the unheated rear section of my building where 8 cars and 13 cycles are stored and I think this is the problem. If you ask me it should be vented to the outside, probably through the metal off. The installer said "not necessary," but I still think that is how it should have been done.

    The problem is not real bad anymore after a few tweaks, but I still think the install was done sloppily.

    I did post an album with shots of the place, as well as other gasrages I visit.

    Gunner
     
  2. bobkatrods
    Joined: Sep 22, 2008
    Posts: 756

    bobkatrods
    Member
    from aledo tx

    know what you mean about the price of kero, i started mixing mine with diesel 50/50 worked fine and this year found a 175000 btu that runs on diesel 2.50 gallon. Found it on craiglist:)
     
  3. kookee
    Joined: Jan 19, 2008
    Posts: 526

    kookee
    Member

    My garage was originally a house! So I have a gas furnace. Turn the thermostat to 60 or so and go back in the house for 10 minutes and all is ready to go.
     
  4. MichiganJames
    Joined: Dec 20, 2009
    Posts: 36

    MichiganJames
    Member

    24x24 garage thats well insulated. I use a 75,000 torpedo heater drinking diesel with a thermostat set for 70. But the floor still stays super cold. Can always see my breath when i get on the creeper. I wish I had heated floors.Still need to insluate the doors tho to help a bit more.
     
  5. allengator
    Joined: Sep 21, 2006
    Posts: 293

    allengator
    Member
    from Keller, TX

    125000 BTU... on sale at Northern Tool!
     

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  6. mgermca
    Joined: Mar 2, 2008
    Posts: 261

    mgermca
    Member

    Somehow I knew when I clicked on this that it would be a hot topic :)

    Oil fired furnace that was in the shop when I bought the place 17 years ago. 900 sq ft shop, insulated so-so. Biggest heat leak is the roll up door.

    I leave it at around 50 degrees to save the lathe and Bridgeprt and when I go out there I just crank it up and it's tolerable in about 20 minutes.

    Only thing for sure is that a cold shop = not much work getting done!

    Too old to work in the cold now...ha!
     

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  7. 72Mountaineer
    Joined: Jan 5, 2010
    Posts: 18

    72Mountaineer
    Member
    from WV

  8. carbking
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 3,715

    carbking
    Member

    Permanent individual electric space heaters, built into walls. Heaters have fans and thermostats.

    No sparks.

    Turn on heaters an hour before I want to work.

    No fuss, no mess, and least expensive form of heat in our area.

    Jon.
     
  9. Hyway Hauler
    Joined: Aug 31, 2009
    Posts: 670

    Hyway Hauler
    Member

    Good old wood stove...any other heat source (gas, propane, radiant, etc...) is just pure laziness!
     
  10. angeli rebeli
    Joined: Dec 6, 2005
    Posts: 30

    angeli rebeli
    Member

    propane radiant heater 90000 btu sits on the floor and cranks out lots of heat, 100lb tank lasts most of a winter in WI, lots and lots on insulation and a ceiling fan helps to
     
  11. Shifter
    Joined: Sep 26, 2007
    Posts: 91

    Shifter
    Member

    In floor radiant heat.
     
  12. 1 foot in the grave
    Joined: Oct 22, 2009
    Posts: 89

    1 foot in the grave
    BANNED

    our shop is 6500 square feet with aircraft hanger style ceilings that leak and no insulation. Heating it with the wood stove is hopeless. Especially now that the temps are down to 0 degrees and lower.
     
  13. 66Coronet440
    Joined: Oct 26, 2009
    Posts: 422

    66Coronet440
    Member

    I no longer have my shop, but I used to use a dual fuel torpedo that would heat 850 sq./ft. I don't remember what the BTU's were off hand. Said shop was a detached 2-car garage.
     
  14. blojectedj
    Joined: Nov 9, 2009
    Posts: 117

    blojectedj
    Member
    from oklahoma

    I have thought about mixing diesel with the kero, would help some with the price. I would love to have a used oil heater as I have lots of used oil but they are pretty expensive.
     
  15. Stefan T
    Joined: Sep 15, 2008
    Posts: 2,165

    Stefan T
    Member
    from Sweden

    I use a 5 kw elcetric heating fan in a approx 90 m³ big shop
     
  16. 5window
    Joined: Jan 29, 2005
    Posts: 9,517

    5window
    Member

    I use a wood stove. Works great-I have 6" of fiberglas all around, but it takes a while to warm up so I have to plan ahead to work out in the shop and I have to be even more careful than usual with flammable stuff.

    I'd love to add a set up to drip in and burn waste oil-anybody have a good,home-built set-up?
     
  17. pwschuh
    Joined: Oct 27, 2008
    Posts: 2,827

    pwschuh
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    My two car garage is on the smallish side (22 x24) and it has a six foot deep grease pit. Walls and ceiling are well insulated. Doors are supposed to be insulated but still leak a lot of heat. When I'm out there working, I use a small, ceiling mounted radiant heater that takes the chill off but never really warms the place up if it's below freezing outside. If it's really cold I will turn it on several hours before I want to go out. Also use a oil-filled radiator to just keep the garage from freezing when I'm not in it. Don't have any space for anything on the floor like a real stove or furnace. Obviously the pit is always cold, no matter what's on.
     
  18. czuch
    Joined: Sep 23, 2008
    Posts: 2,688

    czuch
    Member
    from vail az

    By 8 am its warm enough to take off the flannell. Kinda mind warping that in 4 months the temp will go up another 30/40 degrees.
    Its 72 now according to the weather channel.
     
  19. willburton7
    Joined: Oct 29, 2009
    Posts: 127

    willburton7
    Member

    A small wood stove, and the rest of the Heat is in the TOOLS!!! the more you do the warmer it gets.
     
  20. 53sled
    Joined: Jul 5, 2005
    Posts: 5,817

    53sled
    Member
    from KCMO

    Ceiling mounted natural gas and awesome insulation in the walls, ceiling keep it from freezing.
     
  21. 51 Leadsled
    Joined: Nov 23, 2007
    Posts: 960

    51 Leadsled
    Member
    from NC

    My A/C guy was talking about this type of unit. He said it more expensive but cheaper to run. And since it heats ups ojects in the shop the heat does not rush out when the doors open. Is that true?
     
  22. No Cents
    Joined: Feb 28, 2009
    Posts: 335

    No Cents
    Member

    I use kerosene salamander/torpedo type heaters to heat a three car unattached garage. It will keep it nice and toasty even down to single digit temps. Good clear kerosene is right at $5.00 a gallon. You can use fuel oil or diesel in it also which is a lot cheaper but.... It gets awfully fumy with diesel . The good kerosene is worth the money no fumes at all.
     
  23. 1934coupe
    Joined: Feb 22, 2007
    Posts: 5,051

    1934coupe
    Member

    I use a infra red radient heater 30' tube propane. I have had ALL OF THE ABOVE at one time or another. Now at age 60 it's finally my reward. NO fumes, NO air blowing around NO maintinence, NO splitting, stacking or carrying wood. It warms up everything it touches to the temp its set at. My building is 2400 sq.ft. w/14' eaves steel bldg. insulated and I keep it at 42 degrees when I am not in it and turn it up to 60 when I am. I go through about 300 gals per year. It may be a little expensive but in the long run no more than the other devises. Plus if you save money and die the next day do you take it with you.

    Pat
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2010
  24. CoolHand
    Joined: Aug 31, 2007
    Posts: 1,929

    CoolHand
    Alliance Vendor

    Fifteen years ago, we just used two giant jet engine looking space heaters. Big bastards, ran on diesel, but they'd run you out with fumes if you weren't careful. When diesel went above a dollar a gallon, we started using them less and looking for something else.

    Then about ten years ago, we put in a bigass forced air propane heater that hangs from the ceiling. I want to say it's like 1.5M BTU, but that could be wrong. I know it would empty a thousand gallon tank in less than a month if you ran it every day (with the T-Stat set around 65 degs F). When propane finally went above a dollar fifty a gallon four or five years ago, we started looking for a cheaper solution again.

    We saved parts and scrounged and finally, two or three years ago, we put in a commercial air handler with two (2) 25 kW heating elements in it. With electricity at around $0.11 kW Hr, it's a lot cheaper to use electric than propane.

    We've got a pretty big shop, 3,750 sq ft, with 16 ft eaves, so there's a lot of air in there to heat. It's got good insulation though, so that helps, but the one wall has two 16' x 14' roll up doors in it, and they leak air and heat like a sieve.

    It's ~4 degs F outside right now, and the t-stat is set for 57 degs F. The heater kicks on every fifteen or twenty minutes and runs for ten or fifteen minutes.

    I hope that the rest of Jan and Feb aren't this damned cold.

    Global Warming my hairy white buttocks!
     
  25. powdercoater46
    Joined: Oct 27, 2009
    Posts: 246

    powdercoater46
    Member

    My son and I built a new 28X48 garage last fall; buried 1000 " of pex tubing in the concrete. Use a 50 gallon hot water heater and circulating pump connected to a thermostat. The floor stays 67 degrees. And so does the garage.
     
  26. tom brown
    Joined: Sep 3, 2008
    Posts: 91

    tom brown
    Member

    dress is several layers-pick up some good military long johns.etc. put the cold out of your mind-once your into your project the love of the craft will override the cold.
    caution to all using open flame heat-what the fumes, ventalition wash your old oil soaked clothes. trust me - you can good poof!
     
  27. slik
    Joined: Jan 11, 2008
    Posts: 183

    slik
    Member

    same here. just put on the layers and a couple 500 watt halogen lamps. once i get working, i dont think about the cold.
     
  28. Lucky3
    Joined: Dec 9, 2009
    Posts: 652

    Lucky3
    Member

    High Effeciency Radiant Heat on Natural Gas.
    Absorbs 90+ BTU's generated.

    Looks like a long tube that extends the length of your shop. Looks just like the one in the picture on the post above of 51LedSled.

    Very energy effecient.

    I've had all kinds of forced air heat units and these radiant heaters use less than half the gas the forced air units do and don't blow dust and dirt all over everything.

    I'm in Okla and the temp is in 20's......
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2010
  29. chilimac
    Joined: Dec 31, 2005
    Posts: 127

    chilimac
    Member

    Prist isn't the healthiest stuff to breathe.I have used Jet A before and had better results with K1.I thought K1 burned hotter and cleaner than Jet A. The difference was pretty noticeable.Read the MSDS sheet on Prist and decide for yourself if you want to use it.
     
  30. terry k
    Joined: Jan 8, 2007
    Posts: 6,546

    terry k
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from toledo oh

    When I built my garage,I put in a ton of insulation,then drywall. I had a rooftop furnace/air unit placed next to the garage. It draws the air in from the garage heats/cools it in a air handler and blows it back into the building.This way there is no open flame to cause an explotion from gas,paint or other chemicals.Ductwork all goes thur the attic. Love it !!!
     

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