Small Shop Heater

[Tom Blodgett]

I'm sure this topic has been covered before but I did a search and do not find much. I have a small shop (14' X 14' approx) that is detached from my house and would like to know if it is safe to use a "quartz" type heater this winter season? I do not plan on doing any finishing out there (staining, poly...), that part can be done inside my house.

Thanks,

Tom

[David G Baker]

Tom,
I don't see any problems if you keep the flammables out of the shop and don't generate a lot of sawdust that gets onto the heater.
There are propane fired quartz heaters and there are electric quartz heaters. I would go with electric because propane can put a lot of moisture into the air. If your building is "very" well insulated it will surprise you how little it takes to heat and keep warm a small shop the size of yours.

[Chris Damm]

I heat my 25'x25'x9' very well insulated shop with a 1500 watt oil filled space heater set on low. You only insulate once! My walls have 3 1/2" of fiberglass + 1 1/2 of extruded foam covered by OSB painted white. The ceiling has 6" of fiberglass + 1 1/2" of extruded foam. I keep it at 50° and when I turn all the lights on it will warm it up to 60° (in less than 1 hour) which is very comfortable for me to work in.

[David G Baker]

Chris,
I keep my 30x40x10' pole barn at 50 degrees during the cold season and turn my heater up to 65 when I want to work in the building. The thing I have found with not keeping the building at a working temperature any hand tools I use are still cold and hurt my hands if I use them without gloves. My neighbor heats with a corn furnace and he can work on vehicles all Winter long in shorts and his hand tools are as warm as his shop.
The oil filled space heater is a great idea for a small shop. I use one in my computer room and it works great. I forgot how well they work.

[David Hostetler]

My shop is for now, pretty much uninsulated. 18'x20' garage. (Insulation pending a couple of other projects, and some $$ to do the work...). I use one of those electric oil filled radiators set on medium to get the temp up about an hour before I head out to the shop.

Mind you, in coastal Texas it does get down around freezing, but not the deep sub zero stuff you northerners have to deal with.

[David G Baker]

David H,
The sub zero temps may be easier to deal with than the coastal Texas freezing because in most cases we do not have much moisture in the air so it may be more comfortable on those cold days. We frequently get Sun shine on those cold snowy days and if the building has windows and faces South it can get quite comfy and save on the heating bill. I have a dark brown roll-up door facing South that gets so hot that I can't touch it on those cold Sunny days and it has foil covered bubble insulation covering it.

[David Hostetler]

David H,
The sub zero temps may be easier to deal with than the coastal Texas freezing because in most cases we do not have much moisture in the air so it may be more comfortable on those cold days. We frequently get Sun shine on those cold snowy days and if the building has windows and faces South it can get quite comfy and save on the heating bill. I have a dark brown roll-up door facing South that gets so hot that I can't touch it on those cold Sunny days and it has foil covered bubble insulation covering it.

Hadn't thought of that...

Yeah the radiator works really well. No exposed flame, sparks or anything of that nature to worry about. In an uninsulated garage on medium setting, I get the shop to 65 degrees on a freezing day in about an hour. On high I can get it to the mid 70s which is honestly too much. I'd rather it were a bit cooler...

[Mac McQuinn]

I heat my 25'x25'x9' very well insulated shop with a 1500 watt oil filled space heater set on low. You only insulate once! My walls have 3 1/2" of fiberglass + 1 1/2 of extruded foam covered by OSB painted white. The ceiling has 6" of fiberglass + 1 1/2" of extruded foam. I keep it at 50° and when I turn all the lights on it will warm it up to 60° (in less than 1 hour) which is very comfortable for me to work in.


Chris,
I'm also in MI and our shops sound similar except for the 1-1/2" of extruded foam. You can heat your shop with just a 1500 watt oil filled space heater?? on low? In the winter? Is this a converted 2 car garage or stand alone shop?

Thanks,
Mac

[Myk Rian]

I have 1 quartz and 2 fan element heaters. The quartz draws more power, and I worry about saw dust getting on the elements and catching fire. I only use it when it is very cold and only to help heat the garage in the morning. Then I turn it off.

[ROY DICK]

Tom,
I would not do any finishing in the house.
Unless you are single and no kids.
Good luck of what ever you choose to heat the shop.

Roy

[Bob Scott]

On the same note, will turning heat on and off create a sweating problem for the machinery? Seems like my table saw, etc start to sweat with the first few warm days in the spring.

[Chris Damm]

Chris,
I'm also in MI and our shops sound similar except for the 1-1/2" of extruded foam. You can heat your shop with just a 1500 watt oil filled space heater?? on low? In the winter? Is this a converted 2 car garage or stand alone shop?

Thanks,
Mac

Mac, the workshop was a stand alone garage but now is attached to the back of my new garage that is attached to the house. The garage is unheated but acts like a buffer on the north side of the workshop. The common wall has only 1" of foam on it. The foam makes the big difference. I read somewhere (I think it was FHB) that you can mulitply the R value of the foam by 1.6 to get the true value. All I know is that it really works.
I remodeled an old (1890s) farmhouse back it the 80s. It cost about $400 a month to heat. I gutted it, added 2" of Styrofoam to the inside of the walls, and new windows. I upgraded the boiler and got the heating bill for the same month of the year down to about $50.

[Mac McQuinn]

Chris,

Sounds good, I think I'll try one of those heaters. Any specific brand that works well?

Mac