Shop Heat???

[Jack Clay]

Ok this is the third year I have not put heat in my shop because I can not make up my mind on what to do. I have a 24’x 30’ shop in a 30’x 40’ pole barn. I have R19 insulation in the walls and attic. I would like to see what everybody uses to get some ideas.

[Bob Genovesi]

My shop measures 30 X 24. The walls and roof are insulated and when I'm out there I heat it with a wood stove. When it gets below 15 degrees out I start using a bit more wood to keep up with the cold but it is my "wood" shop...:D

Wood comes in but the scrap never leaves.

Bob

[Rob Will]

I would use a sealed combustion gas furnace equipped with a pleated paper SpaceGuard or other tight filter. Then in the intake plenum, I would install some additional filters as pre-filters. If dome correctly, you can use the furnace fan as a shop air cleaner. Throw the pre-filters away when dirty. The main filter protects the furnace from dust.

Rob

[Bruce Page]

Jack, I waffled for a few years before I finally got off my duff and installed one of these in my garage shop. I have been toasty warm ever since.
It’s a 40,000 BTU gas fired unit with a power vent. My shop is a tad smaller then yours.

[Al Willits]

Kinda depends on where your at I'd think, I have a 75,000 btu house style furnace with ductwork and filter system in my shop/garage, but I live in Minn, someone in the south may not need something this fancy.

Al

[Ray Knight]

My new shop is a 20 x 30 half of a 30 x 40 separate building garage. I restore old sports cars and motorcycles, and used the other half for storage. I have downsized the auto collection and converting the other half to wood shop, retaining the mechanical shop in the other half. I am putting in a 24,000 BTU split AC/Heat pump. inside part is wall mounted, there is no gas to the building, when it gets really really cold, I just don't bother to keep it heated. When it is 30 or so or higher the heat pump supplies heat, and then I have ac for the summer. I can't stand working in our hot humid summers. There is electrical coil heating included, but don't plan to use it. Ray

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jack,

My shop is 30'x24' with 10' ceilings. I insulated the walls to R-19 and the ceiling is insulated to R-40. The LOML bought and had installed a Lennox 75,000 btu natural gas furnace for me as a Christmas present a couple of years ago. I'm not sure but I think she realized if the shop is heated I'll spend more time there and less time in the house with her....:o

[John Ricci]

I have a 20'x30'x10', R20 separate building that is heated by a 60k btu. propane hanging furnace. It is a closed combustion/power vented system that keeps the place amply warm in a central Ontario winter (with the new foot of snow everyday "rural bonus") and with the programmable thermostat the room is automatically warmed to 18c when I will be in there during the day and it backs off to 10c/50f in the off hours which saves $$$ on propane in a big way:cool:. Here's a pic just after the install but before the walls/ceiling went up.

[mike wacker]

Possibly one of the least expensive options given the quality insulation you have is a kerosene "chiminey" stile heater. About $125 at the Borg. Start it outside, let it "stabilize" before you bring it in and they are virtually ordor free. They are 20-24,000 BTU's which is plenty for that size space unless you are starting at 0 F or it is bitterly cold and blowing. You get about 6 hours per gallon of kerosene on full output and everylast BTU goes into the shop and not outside. It a previous life in coastal Maine climate I could get almost 24 hours on 2 gallons with it set to keep 1200 square feet near 70 F.

Another option is a ventless propane heater. Probably about $300 for a 30,000 BTU unit. Another $50 or $100 for piping and valves assuming you can do it yourself. This is less hassle than the Kerosene as you hook up 25 gallons (100 lb tank) at a time. You could arrange for automatic delivery an this is really hassle free.

Wood stoves still rule in a shop. ;o)

[Jim Kountz]

Pellet stoves are good, they are a little high on the initial investment but the pellets sure are cheap enough. A mechanic friend of mine heats his commercial building with his, its 30x60 w/15' ceilings. Last year he burned three tons altogether at a cost of about $175/ton. You could have loaded all the ash in about 3 five gallon buckets. Im looking around now to buy one for my shop, just trying to catch a good deal really.

[Jason Thaxton]

John, how much propane do you go through?

[Denny Rice]

My shop is 34x30 with 10 ft insulated walls with 1/2 drywall the ceiling is also drywall with 6" of blown insulation in ceiling. This shop was built in the early 90's and I installed the furnace, a Lennox 80,000 btu hanging furnace. Was pretty easy job. After install, I had local company come and sit a 100 gallon (pot belly) tank and check system for leaks. I also installed a programable thermostadt. I try to keep it between 45-50 degrees all the time and about 60-65 while I am working. Hope this helps:)

[Stan Welborn]

I have L.B.White gas fired hanging forced air heater that I got for free, (including thermostat) from a cousin in the Ag supply business. They were revamping some poultry houses and took out 4 from each house. Not sure of the BTU's but 4 of them kept huge poultry houses nice and toasty. It is fed by a 200 gal tank out back. It's probably overkill by a factor of two, but needless to say it has no problems keeping my 35X45 shop as warm as I want. When the gas man cometh with the bill it'll make you grunt though.

[Matt Meiser]

I have a 75K btu Hot Dawg style furnace and keep my 30x32x12 shop above freezing all winter and about 65 when I'm working out there. I'm not sure on my exact usage since they fill the tank on my shop and the one on the house at the same time, but we use about 1100 gallons total for both per calendar year, which isn't a significant change from the previous owners.

[Joe Mioux]

I have a Reznor t3 sealed combustion 45kbtu in a garage that measures 24x32x9 and very little insulation in the ceiling. That is my next project.

Location near st louis. low temps avg down in the low teens for several weeks during during the winter months.

It looks just like John Ricci's except a bit smaller.

Very very happy with this unit.


joe

[Al Willits]

FWIW
For those who use vent less heaters, do me a favor, buy a CO detector will ya, vent less heaters are against most codes and for a good reason.
They also dump a fair amount of moisture into a building, not good for steel.

In almost thirty years of service work for a major natural gas supplier here in Minn I have been called to more than several calls where these heaters have caused a death or led to the people being hospitalized for CO poisoning.

Don't give me reasons why they work, safety devices fail and dumping byproducts of combustion into a room is starting off on a bad note already.

Either way, please be careful, the life you save may not be yours.

Al

[Gary Keedwell]

I have a direct vent pellet stove. Heats my basement shop real good. Use about 1 ton a year.
Gary

[Nathan Conner]

I have a 26x28 or so shop - converted steel pole barn with a real roof, but still poor insulation. I use a pair of 7500W ceiling/wall-mount electric hanger heaters I picked up from Craigslist for $50. The electric bill has jumped a few bucks, but the heaters only run about 5-10 mins per hour to keep at a constant 55 in the shop. I'll crank them down a little lower as it starts to get colder, but probably never below 45.

Of course, power is cheap in the northwest with all the hydro-electric, so take that for what it's worth.

I augment on the really cold days with a kerosene/diesel jet-style heater for a couple of minutes before I get started.

Always nice and toasty in there. No worries about venting or moisture, and it's always good and dry which is a huge plus around here. I've seen NO signs of moisture or rust on anything.

[David G Baker]

I have the same heater that Matt has but mine is fired by natural gas. It costs me about $35 a month to use it like Matt does.

[Jack Clay]

Do the hanging heaters have any problems with the dust or when you use a high vapor poly or stain?

[David G Baker]

My pole barn is 30'X40' and the ceiling is 10' high. Any spraying I do is in a dedicated area at the rear of the building in a shielded area. The only thing I do not like about my unit is that it uses shop air for it's air supply so I am a little nervous about using flammable coatings. If I had to do it over again I would pay the extra $ to get a furnace that uses outside air for ignition. I have not had any problems with dust because my wood working tools are in a building that is heated with a wall mounted electric infrared tube heater. Matt is a better information source than I am in this area. A DC would probably eliminate the potential dust problem with the heater

[Matt Meiser]

I haven't had a problem with mine. If I'm spraying a non-WB finish (which would usually be an oil-based paint like Rust-O-Leum), I shut off the furnace while I'm spraying just to be safe and turn it back on when my exhaust fan has disapated the the fumes.

I just had to clean the pilot orfice on mine because it was blocked, but I highly doubt it was blocked by dust. More likely a spider or debris in the gas line. While I was in there I was suprised at how clean it was. The design of these is quite basic. Realistically, any dust that gets sucked in with the combustion air is going to be incinerated in short order. The inside of the heat exhanger tubes on mine look quite clean where I can see--no evidence of carbon or anything like that. I keep my shop pretty clean with a dust collector and ambient air filter as well as regular clean-up.

[Steve Clardy]

Wood stove. Cheapest way to heat if you invest your spare time in cutting and splitting firewood.

[David Weaver]

Plug-in electric heater for me. My shop is my garage and it's under my house (one of those types that runs down a hill and is next to a basement). It's never really colder than about 45 in the garage, and the garage is sealed pretty well, so the electric portable heater provides enough local heat near the workbench for glue-ups. May only get it to 60 degrees or so, but it's plenty comfortable to work there. Other end of the garage toward the door doesn't really have much going on - everything fits in the warm end.

[jim sauterer]

i have a 20 by 30 by 10.i heat it with a 28000btu infrared heater by mr heater natural gas.works well for me.heats objects not the air.

[Bernhard Lampert]

My shop is 28x52 with 12' ceilings, built with 8" AAC walls it is well insulated. I went with a large, home-made woodstove because:
-needed a repository for any misguided woodbutcher adventures
-fuel (wood) is plentyful (slabs from sawmill, still clearing land)
-fire hazrd is pretty low, since my building is constructed of non-flammable materials.

Still working on providing combustion air directly from the outside.

Cheers,
Bernhard

[Jameel Abraham]

So how are you guys sealing up the thimble-to-vent pipe connection when going through the wall? The 4" pipe slips right through the thimble, but there is nothing to keep the thimble from getting wet inside from rain or snow.

Do I just butter up all around with caulk? Seems kinda shoddy...then again, I'm no hvac expert.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Another problem with ventless heaters is the amount of moisture that they dump into the air.

My shop is well enough insulated that I can run my motorcycle outside, then shut it off and bring it in and it heats it up noticeably. It rarely gets cold enough to be uncomfortable to work.

[Rob Will]

I went to a neighbor's total loss house fire last Sunday morning......
Plug in electric heater took everything they had.

And what Al said about non-vented gas......
A hog house heater is just that. I have owned several.
They require massive amounts of outside air to be safe.

For my shop I'm having my old Lennox pulse furnace re-installed tomorrow.
2" PVC in.
2" PVC out.

Rob

[Stan Welborn]

I have no problem with getting enough outside air into my shop. Every time the cyclone fires up it exhausts outside and fresh air is drawn in through my exhaust fans in my paint room then backwards through filters into the main shop area, or just through the door if the paint room is open.

[Matt Meiser]

Do I just butter up all around with caulk? Seems kinda shoddy...then again, I'm no hvac expert.

That's what I did. My heater's manual said I had to caulk all piping seams inside the building with a certain GE RTV sealant. I compared specs and found that the black RTV that the auto parts store was essentially the same and used that.

[Kevin Stobb]

I actually just finished installing a forced air heater in my shop(20x24x9). I got the heater from my uncle who bought some land with a mobile home on it. The house was junk, but they just installed the heater. He gave me the heater for nothing. I spent about $300 on black pipe and all of the fittings to run Natural Gas from the house out to the shop(approx 100 feet total run) this included all shutoff valves and a few taps for possible future gas needs. I actually was going to put the furnace above the shop in our walk through truss storage area. Well I did the calling on ductwork and it would have cost about $750 in sheet metal. That was not an option so we just hung the heater horizontally against the ceiling right in the shop. Ran the gas through the ceiling and the combustion air vent out the sidewall.
Granted I got the heater for free, so the cost was low, but if a guy did a little looking he could get a heater like this pretty cheap.
It works great I set the stat for 65 while I am working, and bump it down to 50 when I am gone. Nice knowing I don't have to worry about carrying my glues/stains/etc in and out every night. Can also do finishing and let it dry in a nice warm shop. I will post some pictures as soon as I can...no promises...deer season opens here in Wisconsin on Saturday.

[will sanders]

You could always try one of those kits to convert a couple of steel drums into a woodburning stove. I have never used one but it makes sense in a wood shop and it is not too expensive.

http://www.vogelzang.com/barrel_stoves.htm

[David G Baker]

I bought the double barrel kit but prior to setting it up I contacted my insurance company and was told that if I had any type of wood burning stove inside of any of my buildings and they found out about it they would cancel my insurance or if I had a fire and the stove was the cause of the fire they would not cover the losses.
My neighbor had one in his work shop and loved it. The main benefit was that the wood stove type of heat would warm everything in the shop. No more painful hands from using cold shop tools. Another advantage is if you have an available supply of wood.

[Bob Slater]

I have a wood stove that the previous owner of the shop installed, but I am afraid to use it, as the stove pipe is only 4 inches from the drywall/stud wall,and I could put another tool in the space it a I was hoping to get natural gas, but the gas company won't run me a line even though I am only 60 feet away from the nearest outlet. Propane won't deliver to my shop, because the tank can't be stored out front or in the back. I think my only real option for keeping heat in the building is electric. Two weeks ago I had the un insulated half sprayed with Icyene spray foam insulation. It makes the room sealed up like a thermos. I would really like radiant floor heat, but will also be looking into radiant electric panels today, as I have to get this system in before the new year. Anyone know if the claims made by purveyors of this type of heat source are real in terms of energy savings? I was under the inpression that all electrical heat was the same efficiency (just use light bulbs)

[John Bailey]

I have a 20x20 shop that is insulated except the north facing roof. I've used clear roofing for that, with a layer of clear plastic to form an air barrier, to gain the northern exposure light. I installed a vented 20,000 btu propane wall furnace. This will keep the shop in the 60's till it gets down below 25 or so. Below that, depending on the wind, the shop will stay between 30-40 degrees warmer than outside. We usually have a cold spell or two where it stays below 0 a week or so at a time. During that time the shop stays above freezing, but that's about it. Although, during those times when the sun is out, and the wind is calm, the shop stays in the 50's. I have to use an electric space heater at those times when doing any finishing or glue work.

All in all, I really like the heater. It was relatively inexpensive, about $500. I didn't trust the ventless type, which are less expensive, and the vented type was pretty easy to install, although I did have to cut a hole in the wall. I like it that is has no noise. I use a quiet ceiling fan in the middle of the shop to spread the heat out ($15 at WallMart), and occasionally an oscilating fan if I really want to warm up, and, with the exception of the few really cold spells, it's very comfortable.

John

[David G Baker]

I have a wood stove that the previous owner of the shop installed, but I am afraid to use it, as the stove pipe is only 4 inches from the drywall/stud wall,and I could put another tool in the space it a I was hoping to get natural gas, but the gas company won't run me a line even though I am only 60 feet away from the nearest outlet. Propane won't deliver to my shop, because the tank can't be stored out front or in the back. I think my only real option for keeping heat in the building is electric. Two weeks ago I had the un insulated half sprayed with Icyene spray foam insulation. It makes the room sealed up like a thermos. I would really like radiant floor heat, but will also be looking into radiant electric panels today, as I have to get this system in before the new year. Anyone know if the claims made by purveyors of this type of heat source are real in terms of energy savings? I was under the inpression that all electrical heat was the same efficiency (just use light bulbs)
Bob,
The company that installed my natural gas Modine Hot Dawg heater ran the gas line from where it entered the house to the shop. All they did was install a pipe tee in the line after the meter, installed a shut-off valve, added a coupler and ran the plastic gas line. The line was around 200 feet. The gas company didn't get involved in any way.
The foam insulation is very good and depending on how much you use the building and how warm you keep it, the cost of the electric heater should not bankrupt you.