How are you heating your shop this winter?

Usually wood heat but last year a storm blew down my stovepipe. Before I got a chance to get it back up the insurance girl came around and I got a letter saying to get rid of the wood stove or they'd drop me. Finally got around to dropping them and getting insurance from someone else that didn't care but haven't gotten the pipe back up yet. Bought the new damper this week which is the last thing I needed to get. Just bundling up for now. I had a propane heater (one burner) out there but it doesn't put a dent in the cold and just seems like a waste of propane.
 
My shop is unheated currently, but I'm thinking about installing a pellet stove down there. Probably the one currently in the house, and getting a new better feature stove to heat the house with. Then I can use the same fuel for the garage and the house. I cant do any work in the garage when it gets cold currently because my florescent deathrays (er lightbulbs) refuse to get bright enough to really see when it's below 20f or so.
 
Justin.Mercier said:
My shop is unheated currently, but I'm thinking about installing a pellet stove down there. Probably the one currently in the house, and getting a new better feature stove to heat the house with. Then I can use the same fuel for the garage and the house.
I cant do any work in the garage when it gets cold currently because my florescent deathrays (er lightbulbs) refuse to get bright enough to really see when it's below 20f or so.
Click to expand...

I bought some new shop lights and was a little ticked about being forced to the new efficient T8 tubes

(Normally I don't care for the new high efficiency stuff, I just want it to work and I want it bright)

I was surprised that the new lower wattage tubes T8 work really well with good cold starts.


You can get a big bushy flame on a weedburner or other torch and heat up the lights and ballasts, works good.
 
Last edited:
I have a natural gas furnace and thermostat that keeps my shop at 62' all winter, the real trick is finding time to get out there.

-Josiah
 
LP is the way to go,instant heat.Of course,I live in the south so it really is not to bad.This heats a 24x24 very good.
 
If you guys need to heat a small area check out the econo-heat radiant heat panel. It plugs into the outlet and does a reasonably good job.
 
I use a big ole wood stove that can burn logs. Keeps the place real comfortable. I'm like Don, get some great excercise cutting wood.
 
My shop is 40'x40' with 14' eaves, all metal. It has been un-insulated since I had it built in 2008. Last Saturday was my birthday and my wife gave me a "certificate" to get my shop spray foamed. I currently use a LP fired Heat Dragon and on a cold winter day I will burn 40lb of propane and be just warm enough to work with a mid-weight jacket on. I can't wait to be toasty and hopefully say goodbye to that noisy heater.

Bob
 
I dont. Its cold and it sucks. I have a space heater and one big overhead heater that puts out alot of heat but my building is big and all metal so you cant raise the temp more than a couple degrees. Working in the cold is terrible. I can only last about 6 hours when its in the 20's like tonight.
 
I helped my best friend put a new shop up out on the farm. 4600 sft with in floor heat. Bob runs it off of a 50 gallon propane fired hot water heater. Gas consumption isn't much and once he gets it up to heat, it stays there. I have been out there when its below 0, thermostat is at 72 and everybody is working in t-shirts. Doors open up and in a minute or two its back up to temp. Alot of my customers are metal building contractors that do shop/farm buildings and I am seeing more and more infloor heat every year. 2" of extruded foam(blue board)under the floor and down the footings really helps.
 
stevewest said:
I helped my best friend put a new shop up out on the farm. 4600 sft with in floor heat. Bob runs it off of a 50 gallon propane fired hot water heater. Gas consumption isn't much and once he gets it up to heat, it stays there. I have been out there when its below 0, thermostat is at 72 and everybody is working in t-shirts. Doors open up and in a minute or two its back up to temp. Alot of my customers are metal building contractors that do shop/farm buildings and I am seeing more and more infloor heat every year. 2" of extruded foam(blue board)under the floor and down the footings really helps.
Click to expand...

This sounds awesome!

Bob
 
I use a propane heater from Northern. It produces 75,000 to 200,000 BTU's. It warms my shop up from the upper 40 degrees to mid 60's in about five minutes.
 
I just upgraded one of mine to the USA made Mr. Heater brand dual burner after yet another thermocouple went out on an import clone. I've personally seen numerous thermocouple/safety valve failures on the import units from Home Depot and Lowes, hopefully I have better luck with this one. Maybe I can finally have a heater last more than one season. I'm assuming my above experience is partly bad luck, but either way, the quality difference is quite evident in almost every aspect. I find that the superior reflector on this one makes it so I don't have to run both burners and/or run it any higher than low. The lighting mechanism is faster and more reliable, the tank mount is superior, the control knob is tighter and more accurate, the burner screen is heavier gauge, the reflector is larger and thicker material, the burner guards are thicker wire stock, just a significantly better unit.

They're a bit more expensive but I feel the extra cost is worth it in this case.
 
Holy cow, you guys! I can't believe that with all of these responses, I'm about to give you the one that trumps them all.

My shop is a 22' x 24' non-insulated CMU garage with a 14'-high peaked roof. A few years ago I went on Craigslist and found a used wood-pellet stove for around $450.00. After purchasing $100.00 or so in venting, and with the help of one other guy to help me lift it in and out of my truck, I installed it myself. It plugs into a standard 110v 15a outlet, and produces exhaust no more noticeable than what comes out of a natural gas furnace. A forty pound bag of wood pellets (which you can find at any Lowe's or Home Depot) costs between four and five dollars, and when it's 20 degrees outside the stove will keep the shop T-shirt temperature for sixteen hours or so on a single bag. Two weeks ago, here in Denver it didn't get above eight degrees for eight days. I was working the whole time in a sweatshirt, no gloves, running through about a bag a day. Of all the Craigslist treasures in my garage, the stove runs a close second to the $600.00 Porsche 944.
 
If I was building a shop, in floor heat would be my source. It's efficient, cheap enough to run, and the bonus is that once that slab is up to temp, it it will home the building above freezing for very long time if power or gas was to fail. I have installed the piping in probably 15 cement floors that I have poured and it's amazing. Given that my garage has a floor and our winter days can be -40 (-75 with wind chill two weeks ago) my first priority is insulation in the ceiling. I will be blowing in insulation, a foot or more thick, then Insulating the walls. I plan to get the attic to at least R40. Considered spray foam but what many people don't know ( and are not informed of) is that often it will void the warranty on your shingles. This is because all summer heat is trapped against the sheathing and shingles instead of passing through and being vented out the attic vents. Can't vent a spray foamed attic or you lose all the benefit of the insulation. Once I am insulated I will either install natural gas heat via a small furnace, or move the unused wood stove from my basement out to the garage. It probably won't be worth the insurance increase to use the wood stove though.
 
Bishop415 said:
My shop is a 22' x 24' non-insulated CMU garage with a 14'-high peaked roof. Two weeks ago, here in Denver it didn't get above eight degrees for eight days. I was working the whole time in a sweatshirt, no gloves, running through about a bag a day. Of all the Craigslist treasures in my garage, the stove runs a close second to the $600.00 Porsche 944.
Click to expand...

Sounds like exactly my plan for heating my shop =) I LOVE my pellet stove for heating the house. Going from Oil heat to pellets cut my annual heating bill from around 3000$ to around 500$ It paid for itself after the first season. I too would love to see pics of the porsche =D I love old cars.
 
The Porsche isn't much to look at right now. I bought it back in September to build into a race car, and right now I'm about four mounting bolts away from hauling the engine. The wheels are off and the interior is gutted and laying in a pile over in the bay where my wife's car is supposed to be. It should be something to look at by about March, but right now it's just sort of a comical mess. When I work at my knife grinder, I can almost sit down in the engine compartment.
 
This is the heater I wanted to show you guys.Requires no power and heats my 24x24 nicely.I think it's called a convection heater.
Eddie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top