I just built a new shop and can't decide how to heat it. I know, I shoulda built it in Florida, Southern California, Mexico, or some other WARM climate then I would'nt have to be ask'in. I've kicked around gas over electric, then a power company guy said elec is cheaper now. I've kicked around radiant, forced air..I dunno..I'm stumped. Any ideas??? What'er you heat'in with? I DON'T WANNA CUT WOOD....I'm a wus and my skin chafes easily. Besides the bad back, cold allergies, sleep disorder, and be'in backed up. -slacker
I'm in search of a central heat/air takeout maybe that was upgraded recently. I want electric since I don't have natural gas where I live.
I'm supporting the oil industry. I picked up a Trailer furnace from my oil guy that he replaced because of a craked heat exchanger. Paid $50 bucks but added another $100 for a 250 gallon tank. My Barn is 24 x 24 and not very weather tight but this furnace does a good job till it gets to be 0 or below. Winter sucks.
well i made a portable heater .....its a gas style heater on rollers hooked to a small lp gas container...even put some old pipes coming out th back....works well and you can move it around with ya...ill try to get some pics of it on here....
I used a 24000 btu window unit air conditioner with a 1500 watt heat strip. I installed it through an opening i framed in the west wall while the shop was being built. It heats and cools my shop adequately. actually can get it to warm in there. My shop is 24 x 30 with three windows and a single overhead door. If the unit ever gives me any trouble, i am going to use one of the units similar to those used in motels.
Nothing is going to be cheap.Oil,elec., gas. all costs a lot. I'm looking for a pellet stove for mine.I heat part of my house with a pellet stove and since I have to buy them anyway, it will be more cost effective. I burned wood to heat my old garage and it was cheap but dirty,but like you, I'm not into cutting wood anymore.
If you are a real do it your self type, Do a web search on Babington Burners. I'm setting one up to exhaust through an old gas hot water heater and running a pump and radiator with a fan. The price was right and I burn old engine oil, tranny fluid and......french fryer grease.
I have a pellet stove in my shop now. It won't heat it if you have tall sidewalls. It wouldn't heat my last shop either. It was a 24x40, with 11' sidewalls.
Thanks for the input so far...... My shop is a 27 X 39 foot main part with a 24 X 30 L'd off of it. All open span. I think I'll drop a curtain between the two parts and see if I can heat just the 24 X 30 in the winter time. I'm thinking of suspending an electric forced air from the ceiling so I won't take up floor space AND I won't hafta knock a hole for a chiminey. Of coarse all this changes from minute to minute, like I said before...I'm stumped. -slacker
Root.....I gotta pellet stove that I had in my old shop, but I think it'd be like pissing in a swimming pool and I'm not wanting to cut a hole for a chiminey too bad, wait'll the 'new' is gone first. Thanks for the input. WINTER DOES SUCK!!! -slacker
If I had heat in my shop(barn) I'd be out there right now,not only don't I have room for a heater but the walls are uninsulated and it has a uninsulated tin roof. But I heat my 1900sq ft home with wood for around $300 a winter
<font color="green"> My shop has one of those fanforced gas warehouse heaters. It hangs from the ceiling. Heats the 30X40 with absolutely no problem. I can actually feel the air at the opposite corner. The only problem I have with it is that the thermostat is a 110V and only goes down to 65. I tweaked it and got it down to 60 but am going to have to replace it as I don't need to keep it over 50 if I'm not out there. </font>
We have two regular house heaters in our 3600 sq.ft. shop and it gets hot inside.... and since we only run it 8 hours a day, it seems to be cheaper than our house that stays at a constant 78 degrees. -Jason
My shop is 24' x 48' with 10' ceilings. Pole barn construction with 26 gauge metal outside and 28 gauge metal walls & ceiling. Wall insulation is 6" thick and ceiling is 12". I installed two the radiant "U" type propane suspended heaters in the shop. The "U" assembly and burner head are about 8' long and hang about 16" down fropm the ceiling. Last years heating costs, here in Ohio, were about $1000.00 but I leave it set on 68 degrees all the time. Hope this helps!
[ QUOTE ] Went to this. Quicker initial heat, and no feeding....... Both work great.. [/ QUOTE ] I also run this type... someone sell me a oil burner so i can burn used oil too hahahaha Somehow I collect gallons of that shit over the course of a summer... It would rule for the COLD month when it gets -20 Tuck
I have a 30'x50'shop.I use a big kerosene salamander heater,to take the initial chill out. Than shut it off, close the doors and turn on the electric unit. When we replaced the ac/heat unit on our house,the ac was shot ,but the heat unit was good. so I gutted it out now, I have a semi-portable unit2'x3' that blows enought heat for a fairly pleasant day in the shop. Yes winter sux!! I miss Cali!! Sparky
I use propane forced hot air. I often go out in the garage for only an hour or two. Wood stoves take time to warm things up. If I were wealthy I'd have radiant heating in the concrete slab...simply the best but you have to keep it on all winter.
I use a pellet stove but burn corn. I start it with pellets then add the corn to the hopper. It's super cheap and for some reason you're always hungry! Plus there's a corn field about 25 feet from the garage, so if I ever run out, I know where I can find some cheap!
Like Tommy stated, radiant floor heat is the best. the floors stay nice and warm (unbelievable while working on the floor in the winter) and when you open the door and close it the heat is replaced almost instantly. The initial cost is quite high but my heating man tells me you will recoupe the extra cost in about 2 winters here in Michigan. In my shop (40X80X14) I've got a high efficiency ceiling mounted unit. I never let it get below 55 degrees in the winter. I've got a lot of machinery which means lots of iron. It's a fact that if you turn down the heat more than 10 degrees with whe amount of metal I've got in the building you are not saving any money because when you turn the heat back up the amount of time the furnace will run to heat all of the steel back up will more than offset the savings you gain by turning it down at night. Frank
When I bought my new shop, I installed 2 Black Gold waste oil furnaces. My building is 60X150 & it only takes 1 of them to do the job. Tuck, You can use the other one if you want. DAVE
warm shop = prolonged beer and whiskey drinking sessions = silly drunken tests of your manhood = ridiculous half naked stunts out in the snow for the losers A warm shop provides opportunities for things other than working on the car
Tuck and all you other painters, what about vapors, pilot lights etc.? Would electric be safer? They have elements that have to heat up.......the newer systems are pilotless.
I was gonna suggest corn also. I looked at one at the local fair this past september. I think it said it would take 25 bushel to heat a house all winter. They had one running there and it put out quite a bit of heat. Also wood pellets are good source also. If you have a local tractor supply or feed mill you can get them there and I believe it is relativitly inexpensive. later plmczy
I use a forced air electric furnace that was in the shop when I bought the place. Shop is 30'x40' with 12' ceilings, so it takes a while to warm it up, but the walls are insulated and I have 24" insulation in the ceiling, so it holds it in pretty good. I put a switch in the house, so I can turn the heat on/off and have the shop warmed up before I walk out to it. Now if I could only have an enclosed, heated passage way, I wouldn't ever have to walk in the snow again !
When I built my house and large attached garage I installed in the slab hot water heat propane fired. Only problem is that when I'm laying under the car it's hard to not get too comfortable and take a little nap. lol Fourdy
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