Heating a small shop with gas

[Dale Critchlow]

I am rebuilding my shop. I plan to use gas heat and am looking for experiences from others who have heated with gas. Clearly I need a direct vent system so I won't pull fumes into the shop.

The shop is 14' by 24' with an 11' ceiling at the highest point. There will be 12" of insulation in the ceiling and 6" in the walls. There are two doors (a 4' sliding door and a 3' swinging door), three windows (2' x 4') and two skylights (2' x 3 1/2'). I live in Vermont so it gets rather cold at times.

I would be interested in what types of heater people have, the BTU ratings and how well they do the job.

Thanks,

Dale

[Mike Evertsen]

I have a ventless 30,000 btu gas heater I'll be replaceing for another 30,000 ventless heater but with a thermostate the one I have doesn't and had to keep shutting down it was fun on bitter days to have to wait for the shop to heat up,,,,,,,,,

[George Grubaugh]

I have a ventless 30,000 btu gas heater I'll be replaceing for another 30,000 ventless heater but with a thermostate the one I have doesn't and had to keep shutting down it was fun on bitter days to have to wait for the shop to heat up,,,,,,,,,

I've got a ventless heater in my two car garage in Colorado. It's got a thermostat & works pretty well. On the highest setting it smells a bit but that could be an altitude thing. I think it's rated to 4,000 feet MSL but Denver is a Mile High. It's a 30,000 BTU Blue Flame heater. On really cold days I get the LOML to turn it on 2-3 hours before I get home from work, the time to heat the garage is a slight drawback but I really like it.

[Jim Becker]

I am rebuilding my shop. I plan to use gas heat and am looking for experiences from others who have heated with gas. Clearly I need a direct vent system so I won't pull fumes into the shop.

Unless you have a very low ceiling, consider one of the direct-vent radient systems. Folks in some other forms have spoken very highly of them. Not only do you get efficient gas heating, but you also get zero forced air movement. That's a plus in a woodworking shop, expeically when finishing is involved.

[John Christiansen]

I am rebuilding my shop. I plan to use gas heat and am looking for experiences from others who have heated with gas. Clearly I need a direct vent system so I won't pull fumes into the shop.

The shop is 14' by 24' with an 11' ceiling at the highest point. There will be 12" of insulation in the ceiling and 6" in the walls. There are two doors (a 4' sliding door and a 3' swinging door), three windows (2' x 4') and two skylights (2' x 3 1/2'). I live in Vermont so it gets rather cold at times.

I would be interested in what types of heater people have, the BTU ratings and how well they do the job.

Thanks,

Dale

My system is neather pretty nor without the need for regular cleaning maintenance. But it sure is efficient.

I purchased this old sears wall heater about seven years ago for fifty bucks at a yard sale, I paid sixty five bucks for the "B" vent.

I can't tell you what the BTU's are on it without standing on my head and reading it from below, but when I step out to my 12 X 26 fairly well insulated shop on a cold and sometimes I mean really cold night. and flip the switch on I spend about fifeteen minutes getting things around with my jacket on. The air is comfotably at 60 - 65 then and I can remove the jacket and go to work, in another fifeteen minutes I am looking to see why the thermostat hasn't shut the thing off. It will get that warm that fast. But after shutting it down, due to concrete floors it isn't long before it's back on again. The room will heat and cool faster than the thermostat can react too.

The only downside to this furnace, is cleaning it. And that's no big job.
Once a week or so I shut off the pilot and take the air hose to it. Blow out the burner area real well, then pull the front off and blow out the air channels and fan. A couple drops of oil on the fan and relite the pilot. probably takes 10 minutes alltogether. Bear in mind that I have no dust collection in my shop and rarely run the air filter.

Sometime in the future, I will have to pull the cap off the "B" vent and run a brush down it, as I'm sure there is probably some soot building up in there.

I can think of only a couple occasions when I have left the thing on for the night, to help dry some finishes that were needed the next day. Other than that, it is turned on when I go out there and turned off when I leave. pilot burns 24/7.

[Bruce Page]

Dale, I installed a Sterling 45K BTU gas heater in my 2-car garage shop two winters ago. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a heated shop. I enjoy winter woodworking better than any other time of the year.

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Dale

I have been heating my shop with a Reverberray radiant heater fueled with propane for the past four winters. It is a 50,000 - 75,000 unit. I set the thermostat to what I want, and depending on how much heat it has to produce, it goes to to the high setting, and then kicks back to the low setting automatically. The shop thermometer reads 60 deg when it is comfy warm, and 40 deg when I am not in there. The building is 20' x 30' and is mostly insulated (I still have the peaks on the ends to do). Coming up to temp when I walk in the door takes about 30 minutes or so, but within 10 minutes I can start working comfortably, as it is sort of like standing in sunshine when I am under that tube.

Bill

[Dale Critchlow]

Thanks for the information and advice.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get signed on to SMC for several days. Keith suggested erasing the "sawmillcreek cookie" from my system and then starting my browser again. It worked, I think.

Dale

[Dale Critchlow]

Bill: Thanks for the reply. I haven't been able to sign on to SMC for several days.

How much did you system cost? Did you install it yourself?

Thanks,

Dale

[Bill Grumbine]

Bill: Thanks for the reply. I haven't been able to sign on to SMC for several days.

How much did you system cost? Did you install it yourself?

Thanks,

Dale

Hi Dale

I spent about $1100 for the system itself, which included the blower, thermostat, about 20' of radiant tubing plus reflector, and all the parts to connect to the outside on both ends and hang it from the roof. I started out with one propane company, but regardless of my constant calls to tell them my regulator was not working properly, they did nothing about it, so I switched companies. When I switched, I bought my own 100 gal tank, so I am beholden to no one. The system is also available using natural gas.

I installed it myself, and it was not too bad to do. Hanging the tube was the hardest part, and a helper made that go a lot easier.

Bill

[Howard Acheson]

Let me suggest you not use a ventless gas system. Particularly not a propane ventless system. Propane produces lots of watervapor as a product of cumbustion and adds significant moisture to the air. Natural gas does the same but to a somewhat lesser extent. The watervapor can cause problems with your wood supplies and can cause rust on cast iron surfaces.

However, even more important is that the combustion process produces carbon monoxide and the ventless heater pump all the CO into the enclosed shop area. This can be very dangerous. They pulled a woodworker out of his ventless propane heated shop a couple of years ago. He survived but with brain damage. In my area using a ventless gas or kerosene heater is against the law in small enclosed spaces. The more tightly sealed the space the bigger the problem.

At the very least, install a couple of CO detectors.

[Duane M Swensen]

Let me suggest you not use a ventless gas system. Particularly not a propane ventless system. Propane produces lots of watervapor as a product of cumbustion and adds significant moisture to the air. Natural gas does the same but to a somewhat lesser extent. The watervapor can cause problems with your wood supplies and can cause rust on cast iron surfaces.

However, even more important is that the combustion process produces carbon monoxide and the ventless heater pump all the CO into the enclosed shop area. This can be very dangerous. They pulled a woodworker out of his ventless propane heated shop a couple of years ago. He survived but with brain damage. In my area using a ventless gas or kerosene heater is against the law in small enclosed spaces. The more tightly sealed the space the bigger the problem.

At the very least, install a couple of CO detectors.

I have to agree with Howie. I used to heat my 14x18 shop with a propane heater and had problems with water condensation on all my tools and the resulting rust,not to mention waiting for things to warm up and then getting to hot and the odor. After insulating and weather proofing I installed a electric in the wall unit that is thermasticlly controlled and maintains a consistant temp and no open flames or smell. Just need to blow out the dust once in a while.No more tool rusting or finishing problems.Best way to go in my opinion.

[Dale Critchlow]

I agree. I wouldn't consider anything which didn't take the input air from outside with an outside vent for exhaust gases.

The radiant heating system I was looking at from Detroit Radiant products is such a system.

Dale