120 V heater for shop.

[paul cottingham]

I have a 9 by 20 (I know, I know) shop space, and can't get 240 or gas into it. Can anyone suggest a decent way to heat it? I am currently using a radiant heater that is very directional, and not all that effective, but is better than nothing.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, if you have a standard 15 ampere 120V circuit, you're limited to 1,500 watts.

How many watts is your radiant heater?

Regards, Rod.

[paul cottingham]

about 1500 watts or so. It ain't great.

[Andrew Joiner]

I use 250 watt incandescent heat lamps for heating and lighting. I have some fluorescents too for warm days. I'm about an hour east of Portland Oregon so it's usually 40F all winter but this week it's been 15F.

I have 20 heat lamps above my benches. My shop is 20x30 with 11' ceilings and uninsulated. When it's 40F outside,it gets to 70F around the bench area's in 1 hour. Then I turn off every other lamp and it stays around 65F. At 10F outside I keep all 20 on and it's only 60F, but still warm enough to glue.

The corners of the shop stay cool but that's where I'm most active and need less heat. The heat is mostly for glue drying and comfort at the benches. You will want to wear a cap if you stand directly under a lamp to long.

An added plus is the heat lamps last much longer than standard incandescents and you get light and heat for the same dollar. Another thing I like is all the cast iron tops are warm. It's a nice color light too, I like it more than fluorescents alone.

[Ken Shoemaker]

I was VERY skeptical when I picked up this heater -

http://www.spendlessonheat.com/shop/category/7010

I have a 20X24 shop with a drilock floor from Lowes.

A great investment!!!!! My shop stays at any temp I set and it got down to 16 degrees last night.

Good luck...... Ken

[paul cottingham]

Thanks, I will look into it!

[Rod Sheridan]

Paul, all electric heaters are 100% efficient, since their losses are heat.

Whether the heater is a conventional baseboard unit, an oil filled heater, a construction heater or a quartz heater, the result is the same number of watts of energy, period.

Select a heater that gives you the type you want, however fan forced is ideal for mixing the hot air with cold shop air.

You can buy different qualities of heater, however the energy output/use is identical if they are the same wattage.

Regards, Rod.

[Chris Damm]

Paul, all electric heaters are 100% efficient, since their losses are heat.

Whether the heater is a conventional baseboard unit, an oil filled heater, a construction heater or a quartz heater, the result is the same number of watts of energy, period.

Select a heater that gives you the type you want, however fan forced is ideal for mixing the hot air with cold shop air.

You can buy different qualities of heater, however the energy output/use is identical if they are the same wattage.

Regards, Rod.

QFT The best thing to do is insulate to keep the heat in. I heat my 25x25x9 shop here near the shores of Lake Michigan with a 1500 watt oil filled heater set on low and only 2 on the dial (out of 9). Remember that you only have to pay for the insulation once!

[Nick Mastropietro]

Paul; take a good look at the unit's Ken suggested. I have been heating a 20 x 23 ft garage shop with a similar heater, an Edenpure 1000 and it has done a fair job, now it isn't quite enough but I'm sure in your shop it will work very well. So +1 on Ken's post.

[Jeremy Treibs]

SORRY, not trying to hijack this thread.

Do you just use standard lighting fixtures to install the 250w heat lamps into?

I have a finished garage and would like to add heat lamps at various places to keep the chill out. Does anyone have any fixture suggestions for placing these heat lamps externally to a finished ceiling ?

[Richard Andersen]

Paul; take a good look at the unit's Ken suggested. I have been heating a 20 x 23 ft garage shop with a similar heater, an Edenpure 1000 and it has done a fair job, now it isn't quite enough but I'm sure in your shop it will work very well. So +1 on Ken's post.

Can you elaborate more on this heater? Does it really do all that EdenPure claims? I went to the website for both the EdenPure and the one Ken mentions. I was looking into a vented natural gas like the Hot Dawg or similar, but one of the above mentioned electric heater options would greatly simplify getting heat into my garage.

[Andrew Joiner]

Porcelain incandescent fixtures will work for heat lamps. Use a pull CHAIN not a flammable cord if you need a switch.

I use hanging brooder lamps now.

[Ken Shoemaker]

Richard,

FWIW, I just came out of the shop. Today it's showing 27 degrees here in Chicago. BELIEVE ME, the nights are far colder than that. I walked in the shop at 7am and found the temp at 65 degrees just as I had left it.

Granted my shop is just built (pictures are pendiing)and highly insulated, but I am very comfortable and it sure is cost effective to rub this small heater.

One note about the Comfort Furnace, if you have even a slight power outage the heater will not come back on with the power. It must be manually turned on again. I have put a UPS - uninterubted power supply - for those short power glitches.

Ken

[jason lambert]

Electric is the most expensive heat, look into insulation. The above is correct a watt of power is directily converted into heat there is close to 100 efficiency so I don't know how they are getting more. I look at the site quickly and am still clueless. It looks like Ken leaves his shop heated which will help alot but I am not sure I would run a 1500 watt heater all the time $$$. The trouble is getting the shop up to temp once it is there and well insulated a small heater may do it. If you can do it safely maybe a small karacen (sp) heater to get it up to temp.

I have a 2 car gurage I use an to bring that up to temp it takes my 50,000 btu heater some time and then it cools fast since all the metal in the machines is fighting the heat it takes a good couple of hours to stablise.

[Chris Stolicky]

My detached shop is 12'x16', walls insulated with R-13 and ceiling with R-19, and all I use is one of the oil filled radiators (space heater). I typically leave it on the low setting (low/medium/high) and the lowest temp setting (range from 1-7). Its also nice that its on casters and I can just kick it out of the way when I don't need it.

Even with the cold weather we have had lately, the shop is in the mid-50's when I go in there.

Its tough to rapidly heat any space when everything in the space is cold and takes a lot to warm things up. I think that's why a constant lower heat tends to work better.

Good luck.