Heating the Shop?

bobbywett

bobbywett

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Jul 23, 2006
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Hope this is the appropriate forum for this topic, if not please move it.

I'm getting ready to spend my 6th winter making knives in an unheated shop. And, I'm dreading the notion of cold fingers and frozen water buckets. I only use my propane forge a small portion of the time, while making my knives. I currently have an electric ceramic heater that I move around, just to keep my fingers from falling off.

My garage is an uninsulated 24' x 24', with 15' peak double door. I'm currently investigating propane heaters and wood stoves ...with electric heaters a distant third.

What do you folks use to heat your shops?

Thanks,

Bobby:)
 
Wood. Definitely the cheapest way to go, at least for me. With millions of ash trees succumbing to the ash borer, free firewood is plentiful. It's not as clean or as convenient as gas, but free is good.
 
My shop is uninsulated also, and even worse, walled by vertical slats with gaps between them all ranging from 1/4-1.5", and unsealed at the exposed metal roofing where the rafters overhang past the support beams. So not only is it ineffective and being heated, but retaining it. So far I've made it manageable by either doing forge work or running a large forced air kerosene heater (construction type, 175k btu I think), that's on wheels. Even still, currently it only manages to keep 1/4 of the shop warm, since there is no heat retention. Basically whichever section it's pointed at sill be warm and the rest cold.

They can consume a lot of kerosene, but they're highly effective when you need big heat. If you live somewhere with really low propane rates however, they make the same heaters which use that fuel instead.

If you have 4 solid walls, and a way to shut out major openings like doors, you could probably get by with a much smaller one, like 65k btu. They're loud like running the gas forge, but a thousand times more effective than any "passive" type units without a fan. I've tried all those options also, and they're really only useful for insulated spaces that can hold the heat effectively, and even still they suck.

If you spend the few extra bucks for one of the forced air heaters with a thermostat, you'll use less gas and it'll automatically maintain a reasonable temp.


This year I'm going to line my walls with tarp pieces where the largest gaps are and plug the holes at the overhangs. I expect my heater to be overkill once I do that.

Make the investment if you're anything like me. Winter saps my will to work, I hate being cold. I'm renting currently, or I would have ripped the shop down and rebuilt it.
 
I dont know if it is possible but can you insulate it? It will help greatly with any heating option you opt for. It would probably be worth the money if you are going to spend a few more years in the shop.

If you are thinking of a wood stove then try and look on craigslist for one of the slightly newer stoves. I got a newer one EPA certified or whatever and that thing burns very very efficiently. 20minutes after starting up the only thing coming out of the chimney is some steam which dicipates within 10ft or so. You can usually pick up some of the older ones on CL for a decent price when people are upgrading theres. They usually have a fan on them but if they dont just get a fan on the other side of the shop so that you push cold air toward the stove. The colder denser air will move the hot air around and start a good heating cycle.

Just my 2 pennies worth.
 
Probably not going to insulate the shop right now....possibly, in the future. I was leaning towards propane...just because Cindy believes a wood pile will encourage termites. I would like to move to a more (remote/country) location in the future...however....Cindy likes our current in town home.

A less inhabited shop location will afford me options for not only heating the shop, but adding a power hammer and possibly a pavilion stile Smitty for warmer months work.
 
If you can insulate, you'll be amazed at the difference. I used to work in a converted cinderblock milk parlor. Cold and damp in the winter, cool and damp in the summer. When I built my shop I insulated the crap out of it, and put metal on the roof and outside. I used to use a kerosene heater, but the fumes were a little rough after a while. With the insulation I've just been using a little 220v electric, and unless there's ice and snow on the ground it works great.
 
Whatever you use for heat. if it burns something for fuel, get a good CO and O2 monitor.....especially it you are sealing the shop up tight.
 
If it gets cold enough that you need to heat it, you definitely need to insulate it first. Otherwise you're just plain wasting fuel/energy.

My last shop was a 16'x32' detached wooden garage in Central Wisconsin. First thing I did was seal up any cracks with a few tubes of Great Stuff foam. I packed pink foam-board insulation along each panel of the overhead garage door. Put up a vapor barrier and one layer of R11 fiberglass, and sheathed the walls with OSB board. Yeah, it cost three or four hundred bucks. Buy once, cry once.

But I was able to keep it warm enough to work without gloves even when it was 0F outside, with a $50 infrared heater. I left it on the lowest setting overnight and turned it to high in the mornings. Water never froze or even glazed over, through two winters. Couldn't tell any increase/difference in the electric bill, no smoke, no CO2. Plus it was dry and cool all summer.

The insulation paid for itself the first year, and added some resale appeal to the property overall.
 
I have the same problem in winter here. I keep a little electric heater practically on top of me when I'm working out in the Garage. 2 weeks ago I scored on a kerosene heater at a Garage sale for $30 and it came with some kerosene in a jug. I'm hoping it will warm my Garage while I'm in it this winter.

Summers are at the other extreme and I'm planning on putting an through the wall A/C in before next year as well.
 
I'm seriously thinking about getting a corn stove this year. I know it won't be anywhere near as cheap as wood, but it would be soooo convenient.
 
I insulated my shop well and can heat it with a small oil radiator heater, it is somewhat inexpensive to run in the insulated shop.
 
I have a pot belly stove. Can get one at Harbor freight for about 130.00. Then I built a heat exchanger that fits right above the stove and the flue runs thru it. It has a fan that I turn on and it heats my 800 sq. ft. shop just fine when it is freezing outside. You can buy a heat exchanger for about 150.00 at Tractor supply. I use wood in the stove. I have been doing this for 4 yrs. and love it. Great way to go and for the money cant be beat IMHO.
 
I have started building a small wood fired water boiler for my shop, if it works out I will build a larger one next year to heat the house and shop.....
 
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