Shop heating

[John Haylow]

Hello All.
I plan to move from my basement shop to our attached garage, as my wife needs more room for her work and will be taking over the basement shop space.

It will be great for me as well, I will almost be doubling my shop size. I plan to have it wired and then I will insulate,drywall and paint the floor.

I plan to heat it with propane and I had thought of a radiant tube style heater but I think it would be pushing the allowable clearances if I wanted to bring in a vehicle and also be in my way for dust collection.

So I am now looking at the Hot Dawg heater made by Modine, I see a few people like them and I was curious if the shop dust effects them or not. Also is there much difference in efficiency between the tube style and the Hot Dawg.

The shop is 24x32 x9' 6" to the bottom of the trusses and 2x4 walls.There are 3 insulated doors 2- 7'x10' and one 8'x8.' I was considering the 60.000 btu model heater.

Thanks for your help.
John

[lou sansone]

Is propane less expensive than oil where you live? Would an oil furnace be less expensive to run? I use oil in my 1200 sq foot shop and it seems to be pretty decent.

lou

[Mike Deschler]

John:


I have been using a propane fired 45KBTU Hot Dawg for two years now and love it. I investigated virtually all possibilities and settled on this heater.
We live in Northern Indiana and the winters do get quite chilly but not too severe and I generally use the shop for 3-4 hrs/day. My recent and only fill for the entire year for my propane tank cost $137.00 and that was for propane at about !.75/gal.

Modine also has a natural gas version and you may want to consider it as an alternative. My shop is unheated at nights and the temp rarely drops to less than 40 degrees. when I want to use the shop, I go out and turn on the system and return in about a half hour and it is nice and warm at 60-65 degrees. You should be able to install the heater yourself as it is fairly simple to do so and the instructions are very good. Have your gas company or propane guy do a leak check before you fire it up for the first time.

As far as dust problems, the Hot Dawg is very safe in that its combustion chamber is totally enclosed so that it presents no problem. The only time I even crack a door is when I am spraying lacquer and that is because of the smell.

Check around on the internet and you will be able to purchase one very reasonably. I got mine from a green house supplier and I have forgotten their name at the moment.

I am very happy with this unit.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

One of my friends has one in his detached 4 car garage. It is a very sweet unit! It sure does keep the garage nice and toasty!