What do you use for Shop/Garage heat?

I need to get a Shop heater. My unheated shop is around 25x25' with 15' foot high ceilings. Does anyone know if a single 220v electric heater would do the job? Any recommendations?


What about propane heaters? Are the propane "ventless" heaters really safe to use in a closed area?

Thanks,

-3Ph

[KPLugnut]

We got our hands on a heating oil furnace from an older mobile home, rebuilt it, added more efficient ducting than just having it dump out the bottom, built a stand and it works great.
The shop is 25x40 and unless it's well below zero, we have no problems. When it's that cold, I'll fire up a "salamander" type kerosene heater for a little bit and then the furnace takes it from there.
KP

[SGW]

I imagine "it all depends." How well insulated is the shop, and how cold does it get outside?

[jfsmith]

Lugnut,

That is one I had not thought of, now I have to find a used trailer furnace.

Merry Christmas,

Jerry

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by SGW:
I imagine "it all depends." How well insulated is the shop, and how cold does it get outside?</font>

I just want to heat the shop while I'm in it. (My shop is my un-heated garage that is connected to my house) I just want to raise the temp about 20-30 deg. I'm not sure how cold it gets in my garage, but it's probably around 40 deg so if I can get 60 deg that would be great.

-3Ph

[JPR]

propane twin ceramic burner heater. Also have the "salamander" for work out doors and for initial heating if required.

The trailer house oil heater is new to me, but sounds like a good idea.

"Are the propane "ventless" heaters really safe to use in a closed area?" Two problems, they burn off the O2 and mine does give off some fumes when the burners are cold. If your shop is fairly air tight, it could be a problem. I open the garage door every 20 -30 minutes for a couple of minutes for fresh air. Since everything has already warmed up in shop, it only takes a couple of minutes for it to warm back up.

[This message has been edited by JPR (edited 12-22-2004).]

[Thrud]

Infrared heaters work well but suck lots of current. The long pipe infrared heaters work really well but are not cheap either.

[aboard_epsilon]

If i had a workshop that was built onto my house and money was not a problem .
I would plumb a few rads off the house central heating.
This would still work out a lot cheaper than the ways that have been mentioned above.
Myself... I'm still thinking waste oil heaters that cost nothing to run.
all the best...mark

[Flash319]

I use one of those salamander propane heaters. My shop is the same size as yours and it makes it nice in about 35 min.

[SGW]

I'll 2nd the idea of adding a zone to your house heating system. Put it on a separate thermostat, so you can set it to 45 or something when you're not out there.

Before you do that though, the first thing to do is insulate the place completely. That's the first thing to do no matter what you choose for heat. The garage doors may be a problem....

[Happy]

I have a 220 volt milk house heater. It gets away from the 15oo watt legal limit on 110 volt heaters. it would work, but you had better be on cheap electric rates.

[Frank Ford]

I've tried a number of different arrangements, and, while it may SEEM expensive, I've found that by far the cheapest and easiest is the overhead infrared heaters. My garage is poorly insulated, and I'm only in the shop for short periods, so I want to have the heat on only while I'm there. The heaters heat ME directly, so I'm warm in the shop within about two minutes of turning them on. Draw a lot of juice? You bet, 60 amps for two runing at once. (Mostly, I use them singly, for half that amount.) But for such short bursts its NOTHING like what it cost before. In fact, I didn't notice an increase in my electric bill after installing them, having had no heat at all in the previous year.

At the bottom of my shop tour page I have a bit on the installation:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Mach...op/ffshop.html

[Toolbert]

At our old place the garage/shop was 24x30 with a 10' ceiling. The walls were insulated R11 and the ceiling was uninsulated - neither the original owner nor I ever finished that part.

I heated it using a discarded central electric furnace. The furnace originally had four 5KW elements for 20KW total. I disconnected 3 of the elements to get just 5KW and that was plenty to heat the shop to 65F when it was 30F outside. It sure spun the electric meter. Rewired for 5KW it required only a single 30A 240V circuit.

My experience in the new place is, the shop ceiling is insulated to R40, and as the shop is unfinished the walls are mostly still the uninsulated bare framing. This shop is twice the size but costs about 1/3 as much to heat on account of the overhead insulation.

So my two-part answer is, 5KW of force air electric heat will do fine, will warm it up in 20 minutes. And if you can insulate the roof, do it. Even if you don't win on the cost payback, it will reduce the thermal cycling and keep your tools from rusting as bad when the heat is off.

With you 15' ceilings you also have an option for overhead infrared heaters, that may be both better and cheaper for your situation. Or so I have read.

[This message has been edited by Toolbert (edited 12-22-2004).]

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

I have insulated/finished walls and ceilings in my garage (The master bedroom/suite sits ontop of the garage), but there are two large uninsulated 9x7 garage doors.

I was thinking maybe one of these units that I can just stick in the corner and turn on for 5-10 minutes before I go into the garage:



Has anyone ever used one? Do they make a lot of noice, etc?

It's 240/208 volts, 20 amps, 13,648 BTU and only costs $105.99


-3Ph

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

If the electric unit doesn't have enough capacity, I was also thinking about something like this: It's a cheap $89 propane heater with 25,000 BTU and probably 3 or 4 fills of a 20 lb bottle of propane would last me though the cold season (A few hours of use each weekend).



Does anyone know what the average price is to fill a 20/40/100 lb bottle of propane is?

-3Ph