Shop heating

[suzuki2stroker]

It gets fairly cold here during the winter. Nothing like igloo hosing though, eh? The shop I have to work in is 16 X 20 X 12, concrete floor and detached from our house. There is no heating system in there. So my main question would be: what is the best way to heat it? A wood burning stove is out, so that leaves space heaters or something along those lines. What would be best for that space, and heating it within 30 mins - an hour, to non-coat temperature ?

[Jeepermat]

Is it insulated? If not start there.

[brewchief]

Is it insulated? If so how well?
What is available for fuel? Nat. gas, propane, oil, electric?
Where are you located, how cold is cold?

Brewchief:D

[latest project]

We just picked up a forced air heater for our shop for about $400 from granger(home depot had them too) it burns diesel, heating oil, kerosone, and jet fuel it heats our shop that is 10 times the size of yours fairly well so i'd imagine it would have no problem heating yours up in a hurry.

[92toy21]

I like to put on 2jeakets and drink beer and an energy drink and move real fast that usually keeps me warm. also try to do a lot of welding that keeps me warm.

[brewchief]

I like to put on 2jeakets and drink beer and an energy drink and move real fast that usually keeps me warm. also try to do a lot of welding that keeps me warm.

Didn't Budweiser come out with an energy drink/beer? might be the way to go:flipoff2:

Brewchief:D

[85blue4runner]

waste oil heater will burn almost anything, thread on here not too long ago if you are interested you can make one for a few hundred bucks and it will run you out of your shop on high...

[Mechanos]

IMO, the best way to heat a shop is hydronic radiant floor heat. Of course that would mean ripping out the existing slab and replacing it to install. :flipoff2:

[crazrunner]

I have hydronic radiant floor heat in my garage and it sweet except you can't drill holes in the floor for stands and such.

[MT4Runner]

Hang a unit heater from the rafters--either a fuel oil/diesel/kerosene heater like latest project recommended, or a nat. gas/propane. I have a nat. gas/propane heater, but usually use my wood stove.

If you can't do wood, I'm guessing that a waste oil heater is out due to pollutants?? A good waste oil heater is clean, but not that clean burning. A great waste oil heater that burns as clean as "fuel" oils is probably too expensive.

Where are you located?

[fj40guy]

One of the hangers is heated with force air oil heat.... I hate it! Damn heater gives me a headache after one hour.

One thing you might look at is hanging InfraRed Heaters. They work great is you are in one local spot (i.e. over a work bench, or lathe area). Very least if over the workbench it gives you a chance to warm up a little before returning to the rig.

With ANY heater and rigs... just take into account flash points and fire dangers. A few folks on the list have had their workshops burn to the ground due to accidents.

How well insulated is the shop? Draft Free? 12' ceiling means it is hard to keep heat down at the working level. If open rafters, with a 8' or 9' base height just adding a ceiling will help retain the heat. My old house had a pretty decent sealing door, so an electric (115V) oil filled heater worked nicely. Still took four hours to warm up, but on a 30F day having the garage at 65F made it much nicer to work out there.

You could also take up oxy/acetylene welding. :flipoff2:

[PTSchram]

I'm having to deal with this as well as the temps are falling.

My shop is not insulated and has two overhead doors and two sliding doors, none of which seal very well. I also have three stories, the upper two of which are sure to suck all of my heat away.

At this point, I'm trying to find a used gas forced air heater that I can generate enough heat that the losses won't really matter. As my shop is also at least 100 years old and wooded (read, VERY dry), I'm thinking of building a drywall box around the furnace to ensure I don't burn the barn down!

I know it won't be at all efficient, but I might be able to warm up my shop! A buddy of mine keeps coming up with these fantastic ideas, but I need heat, not ANOTHER engineering experiment!

PT

[Proeliator]

If its like a steel building with no insulation use a waste oil heater. If its actually insulated construction you can use a hanging propane unit.

I built my shop using 2x6 construction, R19 walls and R37 ceiling, sheetrocked, and keep my shop at 50 degrees year around. Runs me about $85 in propane a year is all just because its so well insulated. Granted, our winters don't get TOO cold here in the NW.

[PhantomEB]

Yup thats my plan too, 2x6 walls, minimal window space, insulate the fawk out of it to keep the heat bills down.

[nissancrawler]

When I bought the place, the garage (20x24) had a gas space heater mounted on a wall. It's no different in size than the old electric ones. It'll bring my garage from 40 up to 70 in 20-25 minutes. I was going to tear it out and install a ceiling unit, now there's just no need.

I came home from work one night, went out to the garage, fired it up (43*), went back in the house to putter while it warmed up, and spaced it out. I remembered 1.5-2 hours later, went out there and it was 82*, I had to work in shorts and a t-shirt.:shaking::laughing:

There's no vent needed, either.

Something like this:http://dev.obatadesign.com/clients/Empire/images/BF30.gif

http://www.empirecomfort.com/

[all_atv]

Whats a garage? I only have a gravel spot on the side of my driveway to work on stuff!

I have a forced air heater, It was $3 or $400 i think and is 65,000 btu, runs off 4 types of fuel, I always run diesiel cause its the cheapest. It will heat up a small garage quick and is portable so I can use it outside in my "garage".

The other night i was working on my atv when it was about 20 degrees and with it blowing right on my work area and just wearing a coat and hat it was bearable.

[brewchief]

I'm having to deal with this as well as the temps are falling.

My shop is not insulated and has two overhead doors and two sliding doors, none of which seal very well. I also have three stories, the upper two of which are sure to suck all of my heat away.

At this point, I'm trying to find a used gas forced air heater that I can generate enough heat that the losses won't really matter. As my shop is also at least 100 years old and wooded (read, VERY dry), I'm thinking of building a drywall box around the furnace to ensure I don't burn the barn down!

I know it won't be at all efficient, but I might be able to warm up my shop! A buddy of mine keeps coming up with these fantastic ideas, but I need heat, not ANOTHER engineering experiment!

PT

Your shop sounds like it would be a good candidate for a radiant tube heater. Rather then trying to warm the air it will warm the objects, this means you can walk in at 7 o'clock in the morning to a cold shop and in a 1/2 hour or so be pretty comfortable:)

Brewchief:D

[Mud Slayer 2.0]

if i had brechief's avatar i wouldnt care about the temp ! lol
But we use one of these... http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_10551_10001_43380_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1
in our 2 car garage and it keeps really nice.. when its like 10degrees outside.. and our garage isnt insulated THAT well.

[nate379]

Why can't you? Are you running your bolts all the way threw the slab??

I have hydronic radiant floor heat in my garage and it sweet except you can't drill holes in the floor for stands and such.


I use a heater like mudslayer, only it's multifuel. Cheapest stuff around here is fuel oil at $3.25 gal though, but it's better than being cold, eh?


Insulating helps a TON (derr!). My Dad's shop is about 25x30 and very well insulated. If you make a fire in the stove and get it up to 70-75*, it'll stay warm in there 2-3 days. Now by the 3rd day it'll be maybe 35*, but still better than below 0.

[brewchief]

Why can't you? Are you running your bolts all the way threw the slab??

The tubing is often in the middle of the slab, even with 6" concrete the tube can be within 2-3" of the surface.

Brewchief:D

[PTSchram]

Your shop sounds like it would be a good candidate for a radiant tube heater. Rather then trying to warm the air it will warm the objects, this means you can walk in at 7 o'clock in the morning to a cold shop and in a 1/2 hour or so be pretty comfortable:)

Brewchief:D

Only if I could find a couple used. I'm the Original Cheap Bastard and I really like the idea of a $50 used forced air furnace.

Years ago, I had a used fuel oil furnace that would heat up my old shop in five minutes, IF it was below zero outside. I think that even given the poor insulation, etc of my current shop, I only need to heat it a little and only a coupla hours a week.

PT

[87YJ]

With the cost of fuel, consider a couple of these.

http://www.tpicorp.com/01-MenuSystem-CatalogPages/04-FostoriaInfraredHeaters/e-SingleElementQuartzTube/ProdDisplayPage.htm

A 3000W unit costs about $1 / hr around here.

[crazrunner]

Why can't you? Are you running your bolts all the way threw the slab??

I do not know how deep the lines are and I am renting the place from my parents while I am at school and they would kill me if I drilled through one. Also gives me an excuse to make my bender hydraulic.

[oldjeep]

Just got one of these for my shop (2 car garage). Seems to work fairly well, although it's only been down to the teens and 20's so far.

http://www.cadetco.com/show_product.php?prodid=1012
http://www.cadetco.com/support/products/x_large/1012.jpg

[82F100SWB]

What works very slick, if you're using oil fired heat, is one of these little guys:
http://www.toyotomiusa.com/products/laserventedheaters/OM-22.php
http://www.toyotomiusa.com/products/LaserVentedHeaters.php

They're not cheap, but, they're dirt simple, work great, and are extremely easy on fuel.
The gas fired ones work pretty well too, but, I have no first hand experience with them.
Personally, there's no way in hell I'd build a shop that didn't have in floor heat....

Fj40guy: If you're getting a headache caused by fumes from the heater, something is wrong with the damn thing, could be a cracked heat exchanger or something equally unsafe.

[rcurrier44]

Whats a garage? I only have a gravel spot on the side of my driveway to work on stuff!


That reminds me of working on the girl's car last winter. I rent a heated shop but it broke down outside my house and I coulden't get it over there. It was -20 out that night and I had to do some engine work. I rolled the propain BBQ up behind me with the lid open and threw a large tarp over the open hood of the car and the BBQ to make a tent. It was amazing how warm it got in there. I was able to take off my coat and work comfortably on the car.

[nate379]

Ah, I thought the tube was run under the slab.

We have the in floor heat at the shop (like 100x100 building) and it's pretty nice. You have to use a pad if you need to kneel on the ground though, as the floor is HOT!

The tubing is often in the middle of the slab, even with 6" concrete the tube can be within 2-3" of the surface.

Brewchief:D

[zukibrothers]

When I bought the place, the garage (20x24) had a gas space heater mounted on a wall. It's no different in size than the old electric ones. It'll bring my garage from 40 up to 70 in 20-25 minutes. I was going to tear it out and install a ceiling unit, now there's just no need.

I came home from work one night, went out to the garage, fired it up (43*), went back in the house to putter while it warmed up, and spaced it out. I remembered 1.5-2 hours later, went out there and it was 82*, I had to work in shorts and a t-shirt.:shaking::laughing:

There's no vent needed, either.

Something like this:http://dev.obatadesign.com/clients/Empire/images/BF30.gif

http://www.empirecomfort.com/

i heat my shop with one of them also. heats my shop to 70 degrees without any problems. it has really suprised me. my shop is very well insulated. 2x6 walls, and no windows. it is 30x40 inside a 100x40 machine shed.

[Landslide]

I guess the orig poster forgot about his thread huh?

I insulated my pole barn/shop several years ago a little at a time (not easy to do when your shop is already somewhat arranged and full of crap). When I bought my house the out building was already there 24x35 but it was just the building. I had a concrete floor poured and ran better electric down to it. I which I did floor radiant heat but didn't know about it at the time.

In the basement of my house there was a wood burning furnace tapped into the heat duct system. I wouldn't use it in the house so I moved it down to the shop. I ran some duct work up around the ceiling and reduced it down into fingers down the walls in the corners of the shop. When it's 10 deg outside, I'm a comfortable 60 to 70 deg. I love wood burning dry heat too. It takes a bit to get started though. If I know I'm going to be working on something for a few nights after work and through the weekend, I'll keep it going. It'll burn over 12 hours without restoking once it has a bed of coals in its tummy.

I got to get my ass out there this weekend and split some wood, I'm about out :(

Plus I'm rerouting the flue pipe from the black heat exhaust crap out the wall and up the side of the building to SS welded seem straight up through the roof. This weekend:)

[Grayguy]

I have about a 30x24 garage, and there is an oil burner in it. I'm having issues with it though. I plugged it in, and it ignited right away and started putting out heat, but then it back fired or something, and now I can't get it to ignite anymore. Anyone have any clue as to how I fix it? My place isn't insulated, but I think it'll still heat it up ok since it's a house furnace in a small garage.

[Todd W]

Good Deal from amazon on this Mr Heater (http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Propane-Forced-Air-MH125FAV/dp/B0000C6E3K/ref=sr_1_48?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1196534897&sr=8-48)

I think I may be getting one of them for my garage. It's def. over sized for a 2 car garage but that means I'll be nice and toasty in no time and can turn it off :D Not like it's getting under 40 here in CA during the day :flipoff2: Nice to remove the chill ;)


EDIT: This unit just went up in price, it was $12 5 now it's almost $200!

[nate379]

40* I wouldn't even bother with a heater. It's like 25* out right now and my neighbor through I was on crack being out there with a sweatshirt :confused:

[MC]

You really want a efficient burning heater so your not sucking fumes. In floor heat is the best but its too late for that now. I would look for a propane heater...one that takes in fresh air if your looking at a long term solution. Fuel prices are on the rise so some fuels are VERY expensive.

[Todd W]

40* I wouldn't even bother with a heater. It's like 25* out right now and my neighbor through I was on crack being out there with a sweatshirt :confused:

40* is still cold enough to make it suck when you smash your knuckles, etc. ;)

I got my heater setup today.

I got this unit (http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-000-85-Propane-MH85FAV/dp/B000UPR5OO/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1196543791&sr=8-19) + 100lb tank (21 gallons) for $120 used on CraigsList. Not to mention the guy gave me a bunch of free steel :smokin:
(FWIW: The picture is totaly misleading the 50-85k BTU unit can fit on your work bench, it's only about 2ft long 1ft tall... I wouldn't put it on your work bench, more like 8ft away, but just though tI'd let you guys know since the bigger ones are 3ft+ long and the pic is misleading)

I tested it out in my garage, and it looks like I'll only need to run it ~10-25 minutes to raise the temp to T-Shirts and comfy.

My tank should last me all winter, and i'll probably buy the shit to fill my BBQ tanks, and my coleman lil camping tanks too. (I have the adapter, just need hose)

Can't go wrong for the price.

[justin_tractors]

Dad uses an old mobile home heater. They blow the hot air out of the bottom instead of the top and it keeps the shop nice. He doesnt keep it on all the time but it doesnt take long to warm it up either. The garage is a 20x30.

[roverjohn]

I got one of these from TSC for $99 that was scratched. $129 normal price.
(http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_10551_10001_43973_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1)

Really nice, you just point it at yourself and you're warm. Uses the same tank your BBQ does. I wanted a blue flame heater but no NG to the garage yet.

[PTSchram]

You guys successfully heating your work area with space heaters make me envious!

My 115,000 BTU salamander that burns just about anything that flows, barely takes the chill off the shop. The old shop was much more airtight and the salamander could heat it up to "take your shirt off" temperatures. In the new shop (and yes, I recognize the inappropriateness of complaining about not being able to heat a bigger shop located at the house :flipoff2:), the salamander does little more than raise the noise level and waste diesel fuel.

PT