Shop Heating

[Joe Leroy]

This is my first post on the Creek and thought I would start with a general question to see what others have done or would do in my situation. I am working on (very early stages) remodeling an old out-building on my property so that it can become my woodshop. I currently work out of one-half of a large unheated tool shed so heating options are new to me (but very much needed in Central IL).

Here is a little about the space I will have:
- concrete slab is already in place
- size 18' x 42'
- the walls will be foam insulated with plywood paneling
- surface mounting of the electric with 100 amp service
- the floor plan is pretty open when two divider walls to make a larger room in the middle with 2 smaller rooms off to the side (one on each side of the larger room)

I will be digging a trench from the house where the utilities are located to the shop. I figure since I will have the trench that I might as well run a gas line in addition to the electric, but not sure if I will use a gas or electric heat source.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Joe

[Matt Meiser]

Check with your local authorities, but in my township, I couldn't put conduit, even for low-voltage purposes, in the same trench as a gas line. Still, doing a second trench while the trencher is there doesn't take much.

With multiple rooms, it seems like you'll need some kind of ducted system or multiple heaters.

[Joe Leroy]

I didn't think about the trench issue. I will have to look into that. As for the rooms, they will be one big space like an open floor plan. No interior doors to close off the spaces. The walls will be there for functional separation and to have extra wall space (plus the walls are already there as part of the original structure and I don't want to remove them).

Some of the options I have thought of would be electric radiant ceiling panels, electric baseboard, forced air gas heat, multiple space heaters (like the EdenPure heaters), or somehow doing any radiant floor system (on top of the concrete and under a wood floor).

Joe

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Joe......Welcome to the Creek. I ended up going with a hanging overhead gas furnace. I looked into radiant heating and the local code required a water source in the building OR...a special safety circuit designed to monitor heating liquid levels in the system to shut the heat source off in the event of a leak. In short, radiant became more expense than I wanted to pay.

Check with your local utilities and see which is cheaper......gas or electric. I went with gas as it is cheaper here at the time I installed it.

[Jim Finn]

Forced air gas furnace or a few gas space heaters is what I would do. Underfloor heat is slow to heat up a space so unless you are out there all day long I would stick with gas heaters or furnace. Lots of insulation is a must and in my small shop I installed a wooden floor over the concrete. I put no insulation under the floor though.

[Don Jarvie]

Gas, since you will have multple rooms you will probably need to have some ducts to distribute the heat like suggested above. You will probably need a heater in each room sized for the room just to keep it fairly warm.

If you want to get crazy you can get a gas heat/AC unit. Nice in the summer and winter.

Price each out and see what you come up with.

Also, +1 on the wood floor with insulation. I don't have one but its on the list for this fall. My 20x20 shop gets pretty warm with my Dayton heater but you can feel the cold coming through the slab. It should be even warmer with the floor.

[Kevin W Johnson]

Whatever heating type you decide, you'll want to consider whether you keep the shop at a selected minimum temperature during the winter or not. My main shop area is 12' x 20', with a 6' x 20' add on for storage. In the winter i keep an elecrtic radiator going so that the shop stays in at least the 50's, and if its not terribly cold outside, it'll stay warmer than that at the lower setting. I then supplement with a propane heater to quickly bring the temp up to about 70.

Keeping the shop temp from getting too cold prevents condensation that rusts all your equipment when you bring the shop up to a comfortable working temp.

[Joe Leroy]

The input is great. Putting a wood floor with insulation above the concrete is a definite. I am tired of working on concrete in my current shop. I also agree with keeping a constant temperature in the winter. With my current shop being unheated with no insulation, I basically have 3-4 good months to work in the shop out of the year (losing time in the coldest of winter and the warmest of summer). And with only being able to get a few hours in each week it sure doesn't give me as much time as I would like. I hadn't thought much about a ducted system to this point but I may have look a little bit more at this. It is nice being able to take my time and get all of the info I need and set everything up just how I would like it.

Joe