Heat em up! (gloat w/pics)

[Ben Grunow]

Finished installing 45k BTU Hot Dawg heater (oversized- but it was a gift) in my shop on Saturday. Removed the rust from top of Saw Stop and jointer and a few other tools (had a really warm day a few weeks ago and they were soaked with condensation). New coat of wax + temp 65 degrees= heaven.

Shop is 15' x 24' x 11' ceilings with R-15 walls and R-38 ceiling insulation (almost done). Plywood on ceilings not done yet either. Who cares woth heated shop? Not me.

Heater hangs on 3/8" threaded rods, piped in 1/2" copper.

I worked about 120 hours in the shop last winter with no heater so I am very happy to finally have it. Check it out.

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Thanks for looking

Ben

[Brad Noble]

My goal is to have one of those in my shop by next year. I am jealous.


Brad

[Al Willits]

Always nice to have heat...:)

No drip tee?

Looks nice otherwise. :)

Al

[Ben Grunow]

Plumber suggested no drip leg for propane and short (6' vertical from tank and 18" horizontal into building) run. I was set up to put it in but he said no. He has 10 employees, works with tools full time and is my friend so I went with his opinion. (?)

We'll see I guess. Easy to add if need be.

Ben

[Al Willits]

Your choice, fwiw there code here in Mpls, can't remember what the nat code says though.
Just a suggestion.

Al

[Kevin Johnson]

Can you tell me what you used to connect the threaded rod to the ceiling joists? I am about to install my heater using threaded rod hung from the ceiling but can't decide the best way to connect it to the wood joists (covered by drywall) in the ceiling. Thanks

[Don Bullock]

I sure could have used one of those this weekend.

[Peter Elliott]

Kevin,

Have the same heater unit.

I used 2x4 on the flat, layed over on top of the ceiling joist.

I bought very long thread rod, nuts and washers, so the thread rod extened past the ceiling joist. Slip over the 2x4 that spand about 4 feet. Doesn't matter how the heater aligns with the ceiling joist. Mine was on a angle, so I adjusted the length of the 2x4 to catch 2 thread rods.

make sure your screw the 2x4 to the ceiling joist. just to be sure it doesn't move.

Nuts and washers to secure to the 2x4, cut off the remaining thread rod.

I can take pictures if you need a visual. Was a pain to align but I used some stagging to hold the unit in place where I wanted it. Leveled each rod up through the drywall into the attic/ceiling joist.

Oh the thread rod fits nice into the brackets that come with the hotdawg.

Hope this makes sense?
Peter

[David G Baker]

Kevin,

Have the same heater unit.

I used 2x4 on the flat, layed over on top of the ceiling joist.

I bought very long thread rod, nuts and washers, so the thread rod extened past the ceiling joist. Slip over the 2x4 that spand about 4 feet. Doesn't matter how the heater aligns with the ceiling joist. Mine was on a angle, so I adjusted the length of the 2x4 to catch 2 thread rods.

make sure your screw the 2x4 to the ceiling joist. just to be sure it doesn't move.

Nuts and washers to secure to the 2x4, cut off the remaining thread rod.

I can take pictures if you need a visual. Was a pain to align but I used some stagging to hold the unit in place where I wanted it. Leveled each rod up through the drywall into the attic/ceiling joist.

Oh the thread rod fits nice into the brackets that come with the hotdawg.

Hope this makes sense?
Peter
Peter,
I have a 75,000 natural gas fired Hot Dawg and it is supported the same way yours is. A 2x4 on the joists with threaded rod fastened to the top of the unit and fastened through the 2x4 with washers and nuts. The installation is much easier if you have a couple of strong friends helping you out.
I keep mine set at 50 degrees during the cold weather. So far I have been very happy with it.
David B

[Bob Reda]

They also make a gizmo that screws into a wooden beam and has a rod coupling on the end so that you just screw your all thread into it. We call them SAMS, don't know if that was the manufacturer or not. I've used thousands of these in construction and they will hold thousands of pounds, hung piping in mechanical rooms with these/

Bob

[Bob Marino]

Ben,

I had a garage/shop that up until a year 15 months ago (thanks Per) was neither heated, air conditioned and insulated. I used a 65,000 kerosense salamader type heater - loud, smelly and dangerous!!! I bought a Modine 45,000 - similar to the Hot Dawg and can't say enough good things about it. Makes working inthe shop a pleasure.

Bob

[John Gregory]

I have had a Hot Dawg (propane) in my shop for the past 5 years and I love it. I keep it at 50* when not in the shop and then about 65 or so when working. Here in Utah the weather has been unusally cold. 2 degrees on the way to work this morning. I think the Hot Dawg is a Modine product. An excellent addition to any shop.

[Pete Harbin]

Congrats! That sounds good right about now. I'm running a little electric space heater in the shop right now to take the chill off (23 degrees right now in Albuquerque.) My shop is a finshed two car garage, but the door is not insulated. An extra cup or two of coffee may become part of today's heating plan. :)

Pete

[Kevin Johnson]

Peter,

No picture necessary. A similar setup was one of the options that I was considering. The top of my joists are not accessible, so I was going to counterbore the top of the 2x4 and run the rod thru that. I just wanted to hear of other options like the SAMS. I just don't know where to find that so I may go with the 2x4's.

[Lincoln Myers]

Very nice Ben.

VERY jealous too.

-Linc

[Ben Grunow]

Kevin- I used SAMS as suggested. They are simply a lag bolt with a threaded hole in the head for thread rod. They work great and make it easy.

I added a second layer of plywood over my plywood cieling, instead of installing a 2x4 for several reasons- heater is not heavy, maybe 40 lbs at most- ply ceiling was already there and I am lazy- it is plenty strong. The SAMS have a 2 1/2" thread and at about 30 degress there is about 1 1/2" of thread in the wood so no need for more wood. I just PL 400'd a second layer of 1/2" CDX over the first and screwed away.

The easy way to locate the thread rod holes is to place the unit under where it will go and use a plumb bob to plumb up th hole locations. FWIW, I held the heater in place with a knee and one hand and installed the nuts/washers on the threaded rods with the other hand, not heavy at all.

Just came back from the shop (working on DC piping) and boy is it great to walk into a warm room instead of the meat locker that it was. THanks for all the comments.

Ben