Electric Heater

[Adam Cormier]

Hey all,

I have a 20' x 20' x 10' insulated garage (that I have converted into my workshop) and I am looking for a heater to allow me to keep working throughout the year (glueing, etc). The cold end of the temperature spectrum in Vancouver is -10* but even that is unusual, its closer to 0* - 5*.

I have looked at natural gas/propane/kerosene units but I don't like the extra vents required or the open window to allow fresh air, etc.

I have decided to go with an electric unit but now I need some assistance. I will obviously have to go to a 220v system but I am trying to determine which one will provide the proper amount of heat and draw the least amount of electricity. I do not know much about electricity so that is why that last sentence may not make sense.

Bottom line, I will pay more money up front to pay less month-to-month during the winter.

Could you guys provide some make/model/BTU recommendations? Any links/info is much appreciated. Also, I would prefer a ceiling/wall mount

Cheers,

Adam

[Caspar Hauser]

Just for clarity would those be degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Centigrade?

[Joe A Faulkner]

Adam, I have a 20x20 detached buliding, that I've insulated. I haven't done much with the overhead garage door in terms of insulation, but the rest of the building is reasonably well insulated. I have 10' ceilings more or less. I used two 110 v, free standing, oil filled radiator type units that are 1500 watts each (Delonghi). I keep them on the lowest setting when not in the shop. They maintain the temp at 40 degrees or so on this setting when we are at zero degrees fahrenheit outside. By cranking them up to high, I can get the shop comfortable in less than an hour - I supplement when in the shop with a small 1500 watt milk house heater. During a pretty cold January, I estimate that these added $3 per day to the electric bill. I've read a couple of other creekers who use similar units with similar results. These units only run at $40 per. Hope this helps.

[Myk Rian]

I use one of these. Does a great job in my garage. Gets it to 70 or more if I want it.
I keep it set at low during the winter. Keeps it above freezing. I'll turn it up if I'm going to be in the shop.
Requires 10 gauge wire at 220 volt.
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/electric-utility-heater/garage-residential-heaters

[Adam Cormier]

Just for clarity would those be degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Centigrade?

Hey Caspar, it's degrees centigrade.

[Adam Cormier]

Adam, I have a 20x20 detached buliding, that I've insulated. I haven't done much with the overhead garage door in terms of insulation, but the rest of the building is reasonably well insulated. I have 10' ceilings more or less. I used two 110 v, free standing, oil filled radiator type units that are 1500 watts each (Delonghi). I keep them on the lowest setting when not in the shop. They maintain the temp at 40 degrees or so on this setting when we are at zero degrees fahrenheit outside. By cranking them up to high, I can get the shop comfortable in less than an hour - I supplement when in the shop with a small 1500 watt milk house heater. During a pretty cold January, I estimate that these added $3 per day to the electric bill. I've read a couple of other creekers who use similar units with similar results. These units only run at $40 per. Hope this helps.

Wow, seems like they work not too bad and at only a few dollars per day, that is manageable.

[Adam Cormier]

I use one of these. Does a great job in my garage. Gets it to 70 or more if I want it.
I keep it set at low during the winter. Keeps it above freezing. I'll turn it up if I'm going to be in the shop.
Requires 10 gauge wire at 220 volt.
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/electric-utility-heater/garage-residential-heaters

Hey Myk,

Do you know approximately how much this unit costs to run?

[Neil Brooks]

I'm with Joe.

My SHOP is in the basement, with rigid foam insulation on the exterior walls.

But my 2-car garage -- insulated and drywalled, and with foil-backed bubble-wrap on the garage door -- stays happily above freezing, with my DeLonghi oil-filled radiator, set at its lowest setting, and without a noticeable dent in the utility bill.

And it gets mighty cold 'round here !

[Don Jarvie]

Bunch of us have the Dayton model that Myk speaks of. It works great. There have been a few of us that have models with a bad thermostat that have required replacements. To correct mine I swapped out the bad wire with a piece of 10g and I've had no issues. I do plan to put a wall thermostat on mine so I don't have to go up and down a ladder to turn it on and off. Even though I had a problem I would buy it again.

I have the same size shop as you and it gets in the teens around here and it will warm the shop up from 40 to 60 in an hour. My shop is insulated and holds the heat well. It takes about 6 hours for the temp to go down to the 40s so its plently of time for the glue to set and dry somewhat. I haven't had any issues with glueups or finishes going bad.

As for cost of the electricity. Its not much, maybe 10 to 20 bucks a month but I have been out there quite a bit this winter. The cost isn't crazy or I would have heard about it from the CFO of the house.

If you have a concrete slab floor add an insultated wood floor. On those cold days it takes a bit longer to heat up because of the cold floor. If I had a floor it would take 30 minutes tops to heat my place up.

[Jim Neeley]

Adam,

As a side-point, with electric heat you are paying by the kilowatt-hour (about $0.12 here). As a residential user it costs me the same $0.12 to run a 1,000 watt heater for an hour, a 4000 watt heater for 15 minutes or a 250 watt heater for 4 hours.

You are only paying that money when the thermostat is kicked to "on" so from an electric cost perspective you might as well use a larger heater to get your shop warm quickly. It will then run for shorter periods when it does kick on. This is of course limited to your electrical power panel capacity and your desire / cost of heaters.

I used this approach for about 10 years in a little 12x16 (generally unheated) shop I started out with. I had lots of circuits available in there so had the ability to plug in four 1500-watt heaters to warm up the place when I'd first go out. It could be down to -30F and in a matter or 5 minutes the gloves were off, in 10 the coat was off and about 20 I'd start switching some of the heaters to "fan" to keeep the air circulating. Once warm, one heater turned on and off (mostly off) with the other fans keeping the temperature even in the shop. It was downright comfy!!

If you're like me you'll want some kind of a box fan to help keep the temperature at the floor near that at your head.

[Myk Rian]

Hey Myk,

Do you know approximately how much this unit costs to run?
January was the coldest month this winter. Added maybe $30 to the electric bill.

I also had to replace the thermo switch. Bought one at a local electric shop.
It was a baseboard heater switch.

[Adam Cormier]

Adam,

As a side-point, with electric heat you are paying by the kilowatt-hour (about $0.12 here). As a residential user it costs me the same $0.12 to run a 1,000 watt heater for an hour, a 4000 watt heater for 15 minutes or a 250 watt heater for 4 hours.

You are only paying that money when the thermostat is kicked to "on" so from an electric cost perspective you might as well use a larger heater to get your shop warm quickly. It will then run for shorter periods when it does kick on. This is of course limited to your electrical power panel capacity and your desire / cost of heaters.

I used this approach for about 10 years in a little 12x16 (generally unheated) shop I started out with. I had lots of circuits available in there so had the ability to plug in four 1500-watt heaters to warm up the place when I'd first go out. It could be down to -30F and in a matter or 5 minutes the gloves were off, in 10 the coat was off and about 20 I'd start switching some of the heaters to "fan" to keeep the air circulating. Once warm, one heater turned on and off (mostly off) with the other fans keeping the temperature even in the shop. It was downright comfy!!

If you're like me you'll want some kind of a box fan to help keep the temperature at the floor near that at your head.


Hey Jim,

Thanks for that explanation. It makes sense and its easy for me to calculate potential costs when looking at different units now. I think I will be going with a unit similar in style as Myk. I am not sure if I will be able to install it before it warms up here (it is already about 6-8 degrees centigrade) but I will definitely have it ready to go by this fall! Thanks for the input guys.

[Dan Friedrichs]

With electricity, there really is no such thing as a "more efficient" unit. For instance, with a gas-fired heater, you burn the fuel, and some of the heat gets blown off a heat exchanger into your shop, and some of the heat gets vented outside with the flue gases. Thus, a heater that puts more of the heat into your shop (than outside) is more efficient. But with electric heat, ALL of the energy drawn by the heater turns into heat. There is no vent to outside, so there is no place else for the heat to go. So, every electric heater is equally efficient - 100% efficient, actually, as all the energy it draws gets converted to heat.

[Norman Hitt]

I agree with your electrical usage explanation Dan, but even with the ineffencies you mention about gas heaters, (of which they do vary in effeciency levels) it is sure cheaper to heat with "Natural" gas (not propane which has gotten real expensive) than with electricity, at least here, where our electricity is about $0.125 / KWH, and they have ALWAYS charged us more for gas than they do in the north, even though they have to pipe it all the way up there. (Has something to do with some interstate commerce deal that was cut when they put the first large gas transmission line from the south to the north). :rolleyes:

[Lee Schierer]

With electricity, there really is no such thing as a "more efficient" unit. For instance, with a gas-fired heater, you burn the fuel, and some of the heat gets blown off a heat exchanger into your shop, and some of the heat gets vented outside with the flue gases. Thus, a heater that puts more of the heat into your shop (than outside) is more efficient. But with electric heat, ALL of the energy drawn by the heater turns into heat. There is no vent to outside, so there is no place else for the heat to go. So, every electric heater is equally efficient - 100% efficient, actually, as all the energy it draws gets converted to heat.

Actually, A heat pump, particularly a geothermal heat pump will cost you less to run than any resistance type electric heat. I initially had baseboard resistance heaters in my house. We would turn them down to 60 at night and 68 by day. 30 years ago I added 1/3 more heated area to the house and switched from baseboard heat to a geothermal heat pump and decreased my heating bill by $50 per month. My geothermal unit actually costs less to run than many high efficiency gas heaters for the same BTU output. I heat and cool (69 degrees in winter and 74 degrees in summer) 2200 sq ft in NW PA for about $120 per month. That includes electric hot water, dryer and stove. I have no other utility bill nor do I supplement the heat in any way with wood. In 2008, we updated our unit to include A/C. I ran the A/C July, August and September and used exactly the same KWH as I had the previous summer running fans and a dehumidifier and the house was a constant 74 degrees and the basement was the driest it ever had been.

[Paul Stoops]

I also use an oil filled DeLonghi 1500 watt heater. My shop is very small (~200 sq.ft.) and insulated, so it heats up very well. I like the safety of not having exposed heater coils. Another woodworker I know uses a similar heater in his double car garage shop and it does a good job of taking off the chill. But of course our temperatures here in the Seattle area are much more moderate than other places.

[Bryan Rocker]

I have a Lowes brand of a Dayton heater, it is 220, 4K watt heater. I set it down on its lowest setting and its keeps my 2 car garage at somewhere between 45 and 50. When I want to work out there I just turn it up and with in 30 mins or so its very comfortable at around 65 degrees or so. I don't know what the damage is. I am so comfortable with this heater I may just use 2 of these when I build my shop. I do set mine on the floor as opposed to hanging it from the ceiling. I would recommend it in a heart beat.....