For those with infrared tube heaters. Do they really cover as much as the charts say? I am looking at a "u" tube infrared heater (NXU85) Doing the math it would provide primary coverage area of 31' wide x 48' long. Shop is 40x40. So with secondary radiation added, one heater down the middle should cover the entire shop? Sorry, first post and not sure where to post this.
I thought Infra red just heated an object, not an area? Ie I guess would heat yourself, but probably not walk into a warm room.
I've had customers with infrared heaters and if the ceiling is very low they cook your noggin. If it's too high the heat has a tough time reaching the ground level. From what I've seen best to have a ceiling height of 15'-20' to work best. Even then it's tough to not have heat accumulate at ceiling. Not the most efficient way of heating in my opinion. I'd rather have forced air gas or propane heaters.
They work wonderful, almost every shop up here has them. Yes the shop is warm when you walk in. They are what I would use in a heartbeat if I build a shop.
I might add, here in Canada ceiling fans in shops are common. Otherwise all your heat rises to the roof and your floor is freezing. A ceiling fan will circulate the heat back down.
We are in Canada. My two sons have them and they work great. Both are the straight style with about 15 ft of tube. The U tube may work but the straight tube coverage is more spread out. One has the modulating burner that varies heat intensity. It usually is running at a lower level unless the garage has been opened. Could be more economical to operate. Both have the outside air kits for their heaters that way the burners are not using warm air inside the building that cause cold air to make up for combustion air through building air leakage therefore less heat demand and keeping it more comfortable. The amount of insulation may be a factor in sizing the heater output. In a big space you may want a couple ceiling fans as previously. My friends shop has 16ft walls with a ceiling fan. The ceiling fan mixes the air to make it more comfortable at the floor level.
Thanks, I appreciate the response. I am looking at a dual fire unit so it can run on high if the door has been open or when first turned on and then shift to low. Not sure about the fans. Unless they were running really slow I think the moving air might make me feel colder? Thanks
I have reversable ceiling fans in my shop. They blow down in the winter and blow up in the summer. I wouldn't be without them. They are also three speed, but I always seem to have them on "low".
As mentioned the fan usually runs at a low speed. The big blades move a lot of air. If you get a couple feet off the ground it is like another climate and is too warm. We were using a 3 step platform ladder at my friends shop and the difference from the floor to the top rung is very noticeable. Thermostat is at eye level and if all the heat is going to the upper building then mixing the air keeps it more uniform so the thermostat is happy too.
What kind of heater? Forced air or infrared? My other shop has a hanging forced air heater. If you get on a ladder to change a bulb it feels 20 degrees hotter. Since an infrared heater is mainly supposed to heat objects I hope that most of the heat stays lower. Thanks
Unless you've got a fairly high ceiling most ceiling fans need some space down from the peak to allow for blade clearance. But the average ceiling fan has enough speed choices to not move so much air at low speeds to make it feel chilly at the ground. With a shop that's pretty large you may need a few of them to really be efficient.
I rented a 40' x 60' with 20' ceiling steel framed metal building with (4) 18' x 24' garage doors (2 facing north, 2 facing south). The building was old, I suspect there wasn't much insulation. The building was equipped with two large forced air over head furnaces (one pointing towards the north from the south end of the 60' span, and the other pointing south from the north end of the 60' span). Even with the thermostat set at 60 degrees, it cost a fortune ($500 a month, all year around, and it wasn't enough) to heat that building for the winter, up here in the north west corner of IL, 25 years ago! When ever a door was opened, it took a good hour to warm back up to 60 degrees after the door was closed. If it was open for a while, it took longer to warm back up. The floor and everything in the building was always cold to touch. Before that, I worked in a fabrication shop building with the tube radiant heat, also a large metal frame metal building (much larger then the one I rented) with several large over head doors. I was not paying the heat bill for that building, so I can't talk about the cost, but I can tell you the tube radiant heated building felt much warmer, all the time. The floor was warm to walk on, all the machines were warm to touch, and even the metal in the storage rack was warm. As you got closer to the tubes, things got warmer. When one (or more) of the doors opened, and the cold air rushed in, it was chilly while the doors were open, but as soon as they closed you could feel the heat instantly return. The cost to heat that building I was renting and being cold all day in, made me look into paying to install a tube radiant heat into the building, the suggested tube was a 30' long U tube with fresh air intake and two in tube heaters. At that time, the tube radiant heat system would have paid for itself in the gas bill savings alone in less then a year. I was willing to do that, so I approached the building owner. I was on an annual lease. I asked for a 2 year lease at the same rent I was paying, if I could have his permission to have the tube radiant heat installed, at my cost, then I would leave the tube there there if, or when I moved out. He did not give me permission! I was moved out at the end of that lease. My garage at home does not have a high enough ceiling for the tube radiant heat, or it would have been there 20 years ago. I am on my 3rd forced air hanging heater in 22 years, and the current ceiling hung FA heater is on its second blower fan. They don't live long in a small sq ft welding shop with 8' ceilings. At least the heat recovery after the door has been opened and closed is pretty fast, but the floor and everything in the building is cool to the touch. This garage isn't too expensive to heat, but its not 40' x 60' either.
Thanks, I appreciate the response. I definitely hate cold concrete. I don't have a lift yet and any time I lay on the creeper I feel the cold.
If you invest in a lift in that shop with the tube radiant heat, be careful how you position the hoist. Most two post hoists have the hydraulic hoses and lift roller chains run across the top of the hoist. If those hoses and roller chains happen to be under the heating tube, they may well bee too close and the heat will cause them to deteriorate faster then normal. My buddy had that with his hoist and he had to replace the hoses in about 5 years and the chains were starting to stretch after 7 years where they normally last nearly 2x that time frame. A bit of fore planning may cause you position the heat tube, or the hoist differently to solve that problem.
You can also angle the reflectors to aim the heat to where you want it, or away from where you don't.
I built this shop 25 years ago, and I mounted it according to the manufacturer's instructions with regards to distances from ceiling and wall, and because it is power vented, you can see the vent going slightly downhill and out the wall. I did have to replace the vent pipe once several years back, but other than that, it is warm as toast. Shop is 24 feet wide where the heater is mounted, and 30 feet to the 16 foot wide door. When it's 30 below or colder, it is a bit cooler towards the big door, but it stays toasty warm. The shop is very very well insulated and sealed though. Next spring I need to replace the fan motor I suspect, as it is beginning to make a bit of noise. Other than that, it has been totally trouble free. I keep it about 60 degrees in there all winter.
One of my customers was a machine shop with infrared tube heaters all over the ceiling every 20 ft. A two story building that was over a city block long, and had two 40 ton bridge cranes that ran the length of the building. I did all their electrical work and had a lot of heat related issues from workers parking cranes directly under those heaters and cooking the crane control boxes! I constantly told them after every repair to not leave the cranes under the heaters or they'd continue to have problems, but it just didn't work. I finally talked the manager into painting double yellow lines 2 ft wide on the concrete floors directly under the heaters, with big letters reading, "No Crane" inside the yellow lines. Once the lines were on the floors where guys saw them at their feet we had no more cooked electrical components from the heaters.
I have a 24' tube heater as a booster and 2 high efficiency FA gas units. I plug in the radiant tube for about 30 min in the morning. It does indeed warm the cars, cabinets, etc. I leave 1 furnace at 45 degrees in the other side, it drops to only 40 on really cold days. On really cold days (Michigan, go figure) I've plugged in the tube an extra time or 2 to help the FAs. Ceiling fans? You bet yer finned aluminum valve covers. I have 1 going up, 1 down to circulate the whole area, another in the other room runs down all winter, which keeps all of it nice overnight. My main area is about 35 X 60. The other side smaller and I tarp the back area for less space to heat. Don't need it back there. My gas bill runs about $240/mo or less. I heat it about 10hrs a day. Tubes work. The more BTUs though? Not really cheap, but better than big FAs. My .06...
If I store a motorhome in the shop and leave the thermostat set on 45-50 (not sure how accurate an infrared tube thermostat is) will the motorhome me warm inside so the pipes don't freeze? I guess after a certain amount of time everything in the shop will be the set temp?
Yes, just make sure the motorhome is the proper distance from the tube heater, otherwise it will be flaming red hot inside and out. Been storing my motorhome inside since 2009 without winterizing it. The boxes in the picture are outside the danger area and only get to room temperature. I'm in the process of adding some safety measures to hold the insulation up better until I finish getting the drywall up.
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