Shop Heat for Winter & HT Question

Rick Marchand said:
If you have a wood stove and somehow manage to get a negative pressurized room(exhaust fan, outside venting dust collector) you could draw carbon monoxide from the stove into the room. The same could happen with an oil/gas furnace. Something to keep in mind for sure. Especially in a little shop that is well sealed. One powered exhaust fan in a window(without a balanced return) could cause issues.
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Interesting. I'll have to do a little more research. I don't have $1000s to put in a natural gas furnace, or anything like that, but without a little heat in my small shop, I won't be able to make knives this winter.
 
My shop is off the grid, in Northern Vermont-Like Rick I run the forge in the morning, and work in the cold room (it's supposed to mean "non-hotwork", but it's tragically accurate here) for the rest of the day, with one of those radiant heaters that runs off a 20lb propane tank. Last winter the shop was so cold that I set a six pound hammer on top of the canola oil in my quench tank and it was about an hour before it even started to sink.
Mostly I just wear insulated boots and coveralls during the winter, and preheat the quench oil on the woodstove.
 
I'm a wuss. I can't work in cold or heat. I'm in awe of anyone who can.

While my shop is a little different than most of yours, I can tell you there are many advantages to heating and cooling your shop.
Condensation causes rust. Temperature extremes ruin glues and other substances.

Hot and cold is just uncomfortable. I use a couple of the radiator heaters turned down low to keep my shop
in the mid sixties. When I go out, I turn the heat coil on on my 220 V window a/c, and I also have a few electric space heaters to use if necessary to bring it up to a nice 72-74 degrees.
In the summer, 2 air conditioning units keep it at 74 degrees.
 
As long as you have one 220v outlet you could go electric for a shop your size and make it work. Check out Northern Tool,they have all sorts of products and heating options.On a side note come Jan. Feb. if your shop has a concrete floor heavy boots will be a must.
colu41 said:
Interesting. I'll have to do a little more research. I don't have $1000s to put in a natural gas furnace, or anything like that, but without a little heat in my small shop, I won't be able to make knives this winter.
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J W Bensinger said:
My shop is off the grid, in Northern Vermont-Like Rick I run the forge in the morning, and work in the cold room (it's supposed to mean "non-hotwork", but it's tragically accurate here) for the rest of the day, with one of those radiant heaters that runs off a 20lb propane tank. Last winter the shop was so cold that I set a six pound hammer on top of the canola oil in my quench tank and it was about an hour before it even started to sink.
Mostly I just wear insulated boots and coveralls during the winter, and preheat the quench oil on the woodstove.
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I'm not worried a about working in the cold myself, it's my equipment. The manual on my VFD for my grinder says not to use under 35° weather. Maybe I can get away with having a small propane heater or maybe even 2 radiator heaters.
 
Lu1967 said:
As long as you have one 220v outlet you could go electric for a shop your size and make it work. Check out Northern Tool,they have all sorts of products and heating options.On a side note come Jan. Feb. if your shop has a concrete floor heavy boots will be a must.
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In the section of my shop that is closed off for knifemaking I only have one 220 outlet a that's for my grinder.
 
You aren't going to be running a propane heater 24 hours a day.
Get what I suggested, and leave it on to keep your shop at a reasonable temperature. If that's 40 degrees, that's fine. You want to keep the temperature regulated.
 
I agree with Bill. A shop doesn't need to be maintained at a sunny 72° all day and night. Just keeping it from dropping below 40° is all you really need to do. Durring the day, use a propane radiant or a blown torpedo heater to warm it a bit more while you are in there.

REMEMBER - There is nothing as cold as being dead. - every bit of oxygen removed from the air by a heater is replaced by the exhaust gasses....CO2 and CO. You must replace the O2 with good fresh air. Even though it is cold outside, have a vent fan and a window, or door that can let in some air. If you work in a closed shop you should have a working CO detector anyway. An oxygen depletion alarm is also a good idea. This is why oil filled radiant heaters are preferred whenever possible.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
REMEMBER - There is nothing as cold as being dead. - every bit of oxygen removed from the air by a heater is replaced by the exhaust gasses....CO2 and CO.

You must replace the O2 with good fresh air. Even though it is cold outside, have a vent fan and a window, or door that can let in some air.
If you work in a closed shop you should have a working CO detector anyway.

An oxygen depletion alarm is also a good idea. This is why oil filled radiant heaters are preferred whenever possible.
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Those mr heater propane bottletop heaters put out some heat in the winter, but
I found myself poisoned with CO and CO2 poisoning, despite having the door open 6 inches in the winter.
It felt like I was gaining no heat, but I had the symptoms
Particularly Nausea, headache and bright flushed red skin in the face.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercapnia
http://firstaid.about.com/od/hazardousmaterials/qt/06_COpoisoning.htm

I now have a CO detector
BUT I read the instructions
They are not meant to be frozen.
So I cannot just leave them out in the shop
I have to carry them with.


http://www.princessauto.com/en/deta...nit-heater-with-lp-conversion-kit/A-p8547077e
That heater can vent out the wall or ceiling
 
I have some oil filled radiators in my house. They work quite well in smaller, well insulated rooms. In larger rooms with any kind of a draft (or in my case, lots of windows) they're not that great.

My shop is insulated for the most part, and I've found that a kerosene torpedo heater on a low setting will just about roast me out of the shop. Once it runs enough to kick the thermostat off, I'm normally down to a t-shirt.

Lastly, one very important thing about CO detectors (and count already mentioned) is that they can't be frozen. IIRC, it's not even just that they have an operating temperature that they need to get up to; it's that if they freeze, they stop working, even after warmed back up.
 
I installed a 3 ton mini split in my 24x40, oversized with three heads for forging in the summer, also well insulated. Thermostats are set to 88 in the summer and 50 during winter when unoccupied.

Wife hated seeing it running at first, but I changed all house lights inside and out to led and set the home ac thermostat up a degree when she isn't looking. The electric bill hasn't gone up a noticeable amount.

Had a ptac through the wall heat pump, in the shed I used to have., electric heater and fan before that.
 
Winter is pretty cold here in northern Wyoming, but it doesn't take much to keep an insulated shop above 40*.

For the things that need to stay warmer, I simply use heat lamps. I have one above my bench for adhesives, etc. It's just a 150 watt IR bulb about 2' above the bench. Everything in a 2' circle stays about 80*.

The 150 watt IR bulbs put an amazing amount of heat in a clearly defined area compared to the 1500 watt space heaters that aren't nearly as effective IMHO.
 
grizzled gizzard said:
Winter is pretty cold here in northern Wyoming, but it doesn't take much to keep an insulated shop above 40*.

For the things that need to stay warmer, I simply use heat lamps. I have one above my bench for adhesives, etc. It's just a 150 watt IR bulb about 2' above the bench. Everything in a 2' circle stays about 80*.

The 150 watt IR bulbs put an amazing amount of heat in a clearly defined area compared to the 1500 watt space heaters that aren't nearly as effective IMHO.
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That's a great idea-need the light anyway, as long as my generator is up to the load.
 
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