How do you heat your shop?

[John Lankers]

Could there possibly be a better way to heat a woodshop?

[Bruce Page]

Well yeah, natural gas. It's up out of the way and no maintenance. Insurance companies favor it too.

[Darcy Warner]

180,000k btu hanging furnace. Like to add a blast furnace next year to supplement my furnace during the day. Probably won't get around to it though.

[John K Jordan]

Could there possibly be a better way to heat a woodshop?

Since you asked, a better way might depend on where one lives. Around here a heat pump does the trick - warm in winter and cool in summer. But heat pumps don't work so well, I understand, in colder climates.

The thermostat keeps the temperature in my shop where I set it, always comfortable when I decide to pop into the shop, 2am or noon. When I heated my garage shop with kerosene spontaneity was difficult.

JKJ

[jack duren]

Motel heating/cooling unit. But depending on the size of your shop....

[Wayne Cannon]

Heat pump here too, for both winter and summer, and for no question about fine dust creating a fire hazard.

[Jim Becker]

While there is certainly an appeal to burning wood for heat in a woodworking shop, including no "wasted" scrap, there are other factors these days that sometimes make it less attractive, including, as already mentioned, insurance issues. I use electric, but if I was able to extend the natural gas supply we have out to the shop building, that's what I'd be using. (extending isn't practical at this point)

[Mike Heidrick]

Hanging gas heater in 3-car garage, hanging gas in detached shop (1000sq 9.5' ceiling), and radiant floor in new shed (2560sq and 16' to bottom of trusses).

[Malcolm McLeod]

While there is certainly an appeal to burning wood for heat in a woodworking shop, including no "wasted" scrap, there are other factors these days that sometimes make it less attractive, including, as already mentioned, insurance issues. I use electric, but if I was able to extend the natural gas supply we have out to the shop building, that's what I'd be using. (extending isn't practical at this point)

USA has proven reserves of natural gas that are staggering (incld Utica & Marcellus shale). If you have access, it will probably be the most economical in the long term (barring a quantum shift in cost of renewable sources). ...Obviously, we will each have to determine what defines our version of 'long term'.

[jack duren]

Could there possibly be a better way to heat a woodshop?

Better answered if you would tell us the size and if insulated.. Exterior shop,garage,etc...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

75,000 btu Lennox hanging gas furnace.

[Tim Bueler]

Since you asked, a better way might depend on where one lives. Around here a heat pump does the trick - warm in winter and cool in summer. But heat pumps don't work so well, I understand, in colder climates.
JKJ

The first question my insurance company asked was "What is your heat source?" with a HUGE frowny face (and increase in premium) if the answer is "wood".

The newest heat pumps will work exceptionally well down into the teens and reasonably well into the single digits. One of the new Inverter driven pumps is advertising full capacity @ 5* and 73% capacity @ minus 13*. I'm sure some of that is hype but I had a first generation model in NW WA and it worked surprisingly/remarkably well down into the teens which, at the time, was below the advertised operational temp. Now in central ID I'm putting one in to heat/cool both my house and the shop even with a whole forest of firewood available. Insulation and air sealing are at least as important as the HVAC system though regardless of climate.

[William Fretwell]

In concrete floor heating. Gas water heater circulates hot water. Economical, efficient, great reserve mass. Only down side is no cooling in summer. You can turn the heat down 5 degrees when you leave and recover quickly when you return.

[Ray Newman]

Modine propane fired Hot Dawg heater.

My shop is very well insulated and has double pane windows. Without more than adequate insulation, even the best heating system will have difficulty keeping a shop/garage warm enough to work in.

[peter gagliardi]

Having been in a shop with a gas fired Modine style ceiling mount forced hot air system, I can say with confidence that it is probably about the last choice I would pick if I had choices.
The best in my opinion, is wall hung gas boiler hooked to radiant tube In concrete WITH insulation under it.
It is silent.
It moves no air.
It is virtually maintenance free.
It is extremely even heat, and has great recovery speed.
It is extremely efficient- water usually circulates at only 85-90 degrees.

No air blowing around with cold and warm areas, no dust blowing around.
No danger of fire at beginning of heat season due to dust settling on the heat exchanger tubes in the unit in the off season!

[Dave Cav]

Ceiling mounted propane furnace (we're rural, no natural gas). It heats my drafty, poorly insulated pole barn shop just fine. Flip a switch to turn it on or off and in 20 minutes it's plenty warm. If I need to use solvent or spray something, I just turn it off. Consumes no floor space.

My new shop has R50 in the attic and 6" of spray foam in the walls (probably R30-something) and triple pane windows (builder got a good deal). It will probably get a split system heat pump.

[Bruce Page]

Having been in a shop with a gas fired Modine style ceiling mount forced hot air system, I can say with confidence that it is probably about the last choice I would pick if I had choices.
The best in my opinion, is wall hung gas boiler hooked to radiant tube In concrete WITH insulation under it.
It is silent.
It moves no air.
It is virtually maintenance free.
It is extremely even heat, and has great recovery speed.
It is extremely efficient- water usually circulates at only 85-90 degrees.

No air blowing around with cold and warm areas, no dust blowing around.
No danger of fire at beginning of heat season due to dust settling on the heat exchanger tubes in the unit in the off season!

I would love to have radiant heat if I were building a new shop from the ground up. Unfortunately it is not practical to retrofit the existing 2 car garage shop that many of us have.

[Jim Tobias]

Radiant floor heat here. Hot water tubes run under floor(in between floor joists with insulation under tubes keeping heat in). Gas hot water heater keeps it comfortably warm. No moving air is a big plus.
I use a 24,000BTU window unit AC for hottest times in Summer.

Jim

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I did my best to put in the floor radiant heat in my shop but with no water in there, the city was going to require some serious safety devices that local hvac indicated would cost $20,000. That's $4,000 more than my empty shell 30x24 shop cost. I really, really wanted radiant heat!

[Ray Newman]

My previous residence had radiant heat. Great system if part of initial/original construction. Expensive retrofit. Wonder what the life expectancy of the PEX/plastic tubing is? The older systems had copper tubing/pipes which deteriorated and leaked. Luckily we 'nevva' had that problem.

[Matt Mattingley]

My basement shop, has just outside the shop door a airtight stove. It heats my whole house. My basement shop is only 350 ft.². I'm not too worried about my neighbours complaining about smoke as I live on a pretty high Ridge.

I have a metal shop in my 2 car garage. I have a 30,000 BTU overhead radiant NG tube heater (and a 5000 W electric which is seldom used). I am pretty well insulated in the garage shop and I keep it at a minimum of 64°F when I go out there to work I turn the thermostat up to 68°F.

My airtight burns all my scraps, sawdust and I have set up for my neighbours (who wish to be involved) wood disposal. My typical outside temperature in the winter would be 32°F to -4°F (hitting a maximum of -22°F) . I don't mind pumping up my chimney a little bit of OSB or MDF. At these temperatures my neighbours will never have their windows open, so I'm not worried about complaints.

[Sam Layton]

Modine gas fired Hot Dawg ceiling mount furnace, 125,000 BTU's. My shop is 1750 sq ft, well insulated with double pane windows. The center of the ceiling is 16'. I keep the shop at 45 when I am not working, and 60 - 65 when I am in the shop.

Sam

[roger wiegand]

I've also got the Hot Dawg, a direct vent model so that I'm not sucking sawdust into the combustion chamber. I don't like the wind it generates while running, but it's cheap and efficient.

If I had wood I'd have to be out there stoking the fire to keep things from freezing overnight, don't know what I'd do when I'm away. The gas heater keeps things at 40 degrees without attention.

[John Lankers]

Wow, I never expected to get that many replies (I've only received 2 email notifications). It is interesting to read how many of you guys get away with a heatpump in the winter.
Some of you asked about climate, building size and insulation. We are on the eastern slope of the Canadian Rockies, a high precipitation, forested area between farm country and mountains with cool, wet summers and cold, snowy winters. We only had very few days with above freezing temperatures since the first week of November and more than our fair share of -35* - -40*C (-30* - -40*F) weather in December.
The shop measures 960 sqft. plus 720 sqft. garage area (1680 in total), and is constructed as a post frame building with insulated concrete slab floor on grade, R20 insulated walls and R40 insulated ceiling, dual pane windows and no overhead door in the shop. Natural Gas and electric heat are no option, the one is not available and the other is not affordable, the shop has a 60,000 btu forced air propane furnace and the garage has it's own 40,000 btu heater, the main heat in the shop however is coming from the wood stove and gives up the most comfortable heat IMO. Firewood is basically free if you're willing to do the work. And yes, the stove eats all the sawdust (and screwups :D) too.
I have to heat the shop even when I'm not working since the water pipe from the well, the pressure tank and distribution system is in the shop. Relying on the propane furnace alone would probably cost $300 monthly, I guess.

P.s.: Wrap a cored apple in aluminum foil and bake it on the stovetop (not on the hottest part) for a few hours then serve it covered with vanilla sauce, you can add raisins, rum, cinnamon or whatever the heart desires :).

[Mike Kees]

John I use two overhead radiant tube heaters, I think they are both 125000 btu. When I built my shop I started with a four foot frost wall using Superform (ICF) and framed my walls with 2x8 and insulated my walls with R-28 fiberglass batts. The ceiling has fiberglass loose fill insulation to R60. Also insulated under my concrete slab with door cutouts basically 1.5 inch urethane foam. Shop is 40'x70' with 16' walls and stays very warm in winter and cool in summer. I have a wood stove sitting in the shop that I would love to use but insurance killed that idea. However I am looking at a outdoor wood fired boiler. I did roughed in for in floor heat during construction,so far though the radiants work so good I may never change.

[Jim Andrew]

I built a 6x6 steel building, 4' from my shop, and installed a Daka wood burning furnace in it, and ran ducts for return and supply from the furnace into the wood shop. Did not want to chance a wood fire in my wood shop. The first year, I could hardly get enough heat for the shop, so I wrapped the ducts with fiberglass insulation and another duct over the top. Really helped. Also helped when I added a wood floor and 1" dow board insulation over the slab. The shop is an old pole building, it is retrofitted with r13 wall insulation and r30 ceiling insulation.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I have a 24 X 28 shop with 9' ceilings. Two insulated roll up doors and personel door. Ceiling has R-30, and walls have 1" styrafoam sheathing. One day (most likely not,) I will add either R-13 or R-19 to walls. My heat is a 30,000 BTU infared propane gas wall heater, with thermostatic control. Keep the shop at 57 degrees. Dog sleeps in shop at night on blanket on carpet by door. Use a little over twenty pound cylinder per week on average. These are true 20## cylinders, not the 3/4 full ones from racks at BORGS.

[John Lankers]

John I use two overhead radiant tube heaters, I think they are both 125000 btu. When I built my shop I started with a four foot frost wall using Superform (ICF) and framed my walls with 2x8 and insulated my walls with R-28 fiberglass batts. The ceiling has fiberglass loose fill insulation to R60. Also insulated under my concrete slab with door cutouts basically 1.5 inch urethane foam. Shop is 40'x70' with 16' walls and stays very warm in winter and cool in summer. I have a wood stove sitting in the shop that I would love to use but insurance killed that idea. However I am looking at a outdoor wood fired boiler. I did roughed in for in floor heat during construction,so far though the radiants work so good I may never change.

That is some serious insulation you put in, but then any day with wind under 50mph is considered a calm day where you are :D and I remember very well when the Cypress Hills highway was closed in 2010 because of 15' high snowdrifts that were cleared using trackhoes and wheel loaders:eek:. Also, I don't know how much, but the ICF helps a lot keeping the cold from creeping in through the floor.
We had the same tube heaters in the shop on the farm but I can't have them here because of the low 10' ceiling in the woodshop and the dust collection ducting hugging the ceiling, I also didn't like the fact that there were always warm and cold zones in the shop - warm in the middle where I had a truck and a tractor parked in the winter and cold along the walls where I had my work area but always the heat right on my head - but that's just my personal experience.
I think, an outdoor wood fired boiler could become a viable alternative, especially with the huge price increase on nat. gas (they should have put that carbon tax on tobacco instead of everything else) and the infloor heat roughed in, I don't think it would take to much wood to keep the boiler going once the floor has warmed up.

[John Lankers]

I built a 6x6 steel building, 4' from my shop, and installed a Daka wood burning furnace in it, and ran ducts for return and supply from the furnace into the wood shop. Did not want to chance a wood fire in my wood shop. The first year, I could hardly get enough heat for the shop, so I wrapped the ducts with fiberglass insulation and another duct over the top. Really helped. Also helped when I added a wood floor and 1" dow board insulation over the slab. The shop is an old pole building, it is retrofitted with r13 wall insulation and r30 ceiling insulation.

If I ever decide to do something similar I hope somebody forces me to insulate the tubes or whatever it's going to be at least twice as much as required.

[NICK BARBOZA]

In the fall of 2016 I installed a 60k BTU Modine Hot Dawg that has sealed combustion chamber. so far I've been VERY happy with it. my shop is about 1000sf w/ 8.5' ceilings in an existing barn that i just built out and insulated over the past year. 3.5" Roxul in walls and 6" Roxul in the ceilings 3" rigid over the original wood floor with 2 layers of 3/4"OSB over that.
I've been keeping the programmable Tstat at 50 and so far it has been very comfortable to work in even with the this Maine winter we're in the midst of. It seems to run somewhat frequently, but not for very long. Its so nice to have a space that is always comfortable to walk into. No worrying about cans of finish freezing, or applied finishes curing, its better for my cast iron etc...

Cheers,
NWB

[Ed McEowen]

I heat my 1000 sq ft shop with an inside freestanding woodstove. I have a sawmill, so firewood from slabs is always available. I guess my concrete floor acts as a heat sink because overnight inside temps have never gotten below freezing even though it gets below zero here in Missouri. I start a fire in the morning and maintain it until around 5PM, wearing coveralls 'til it gets warm enough for shirtsleeves. Maybe not the ultimate in comfort, but it's very affordable. I heat my house with wood too.

[Garth Almgren]

I don't, at least not with a permanent heat source. My shop is a walled-in pole barn with no insulation and open eaves, so it gets a little chilly in the winter.

For those times when I do need to work out there in winter I have a small 1500w space heater with a fan (like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Patton-PUH680-N-U-Milk-House-Utility-Heater/dp/B0000BYC61) that warms the 4 square feet in front of itself pretty well, and so it follows me around the shop. I just need to make sure it's not on the same circuit as my DC or my table saw when they're running.

[Jim Andrew]

Installing my wood furnace inside the shop would have been a lot easier and more efficient, considered an all steel lean-to to the side of the building, but just did not want to risk sparks flying out of the firebox at an inopportune moment, or some unforseen thing happening to cause a fire. The inside of the furnace building gets very hot, and also the loss of heat from the ducts make me think I lose a lot of efficiency moving the fire away from the building. But it actually works pretty well.

[Mark Paavola]

I have a 2-ton split system heat pump. ducted like a house. the shop is 840 sq ft. Slab floor with R-13 in the walls and R-36 in the ceiling.

[Jim Laumann]

I've got a 75K btu Reznor ceiling mount furnace - runs on LP - it keeps the shop temp @ 44F (1200 sq ft w/ 12 ft ceiling). If I want it warmer, I light off the wood burner. 14" of blown glass in ceiling, 1.5" of high density foam board and 6" of glass batts in the walls (pole frame construction).

Last year it used about 40 gallons of gas. This year it will be more, but we are in and out of the shop more this winter - including the o/h door.

[David Zaret]

in-floor hydronic radiant, foam under the slab and R50 closed cell in the walls and ceilings. 125,000 BTU wall-hung condensing boiler for shop and garage heat (buildings are connected, multiple zones), domestic hot water, and snow melt for walkway to the house.

Tekmar control system for heating and snow melt.

if you're building from scratch, and going to pour concrete, might as well put in radiant! hard to retrofit!

[Drew Pavlak]

30' x 60' Pole barn, insulated with r-30+ ceiling, r-19 walls and vapor barrier. we have the building split into 2 sections and use 2 50,000 BTU radiant Tube SpaceRay heaters... Works awesome even in really cold temps. Heating bill only increased about $120 - $140 for the months that we heat it.. (Nov - March/April).
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[Kevin McCluney]

My shop is heated by me being in it... :D

[Robert Willing]

I have the same thing hanging in my shop even down to -20 I am still warm at 63 degrees with propane gas. I live in the UP of Michigan. 63 is just right year round especially if you wear a shop coat. My shop is a 26' sq and is insulated and dry-walled, also the two garage doors are foam insulated, the service door is also insulated.

[Nathan Ginder]

Hey Guys,

Thought I'd share my heating methods on this blustery (but sunny :cool:) 20 degree day.... My 1000 sq./ft. shop is heated with solar and/or propane hanging furnace. Today was a nice sunny day and the solor hot air system I built has the shop at a balmy 69 degrees. Not to bad heating 1000 sq./ft. with the running expense of a 180 watt 750 cfm circulation fan. The "backup" heating is handled by a propane 60,000 btu Modine Effinity 93. This is oversized I think, but it was the smallest unit I could get. I do like the fact that I can set the heat back to 55/60 when I'm not in the shop and go out to work in the evening and it'll quickly heat up to 65/70.

The shop is almost complete (just need to install siding) as you can see. If I had to do anything differently (and had more money) - I would have put radiant heating in the slab instead of the hot air furnace. The entire perimeter of the foundation is insulated with 2" foam but I think the floor still feels cold. I knew radiant heating was the way to go - just wasn't able swing the expense.351093351094351095