How To Heat A Shop?

[mmmexico]

I am not completely confident that this is the right place for this topic...but I can't find a better place to ask this question. I have never lived in a place where heat was required in my shop. I recently moved to Washington State in the United States from tropical Mexico...before that I lived in San Diego in Southern California. Now I am sitting in the fog, snow and incessant rain waiting for my shop to be finished. I have a general idea about how to heat a building, but most of the economical solutions involve an open flame...pot bellied stove burning wood or some freestanding heating unit that burns propane...that seems like a bad idea in a structure where I will be using acetone, gasoline and various solutions to clean parts...any ideas, or should I just increase my life insurance and go for it...

 

I hope that someone has some good ideas!!!

 

Mike

[trapezeartist]

Don't use petrol ("gasoline" if you're a yank) for general cleaning. Use paraffin, which is much safer. Occasionally you may need to use acetone, but on those occasions go outside and do the cleaning.

 

Back in the sixties my father's garage used paraffin-fired blower heaters in the workshop, and they never set anything on fire.More recently I've used an electric fan heater in a single-garage-sized space.

[jonnyc21]

You can get Ceiling Mount Industrial Heaters that are electric and work well for most home shops/garages. 

[mmmexico]

Thanks to all of you guys...I like the ceiling mounted electric heater in particular...and Yes...it is an excellent idea to use the nastier chemicals outside...Yes, I am a Yank (and vastly embarrassed by our recent Presidential election) and so I don't know what paraffin is...my guess is kerosene. Right??

 

[lineaway]

For a shop, a ceiling mounted natural gas heater is the best. If you are on propane. I would get a wood stove. I used to spend a lot of time Bench racing in the evenings at a motorcycle shop with about 60 bikes. We never had a problem, with the flames vs fumes no matter how much we drank. You will be spending more time in that shop, so make it warm. As you get older, you are supposed to move to warmer! WTF?

[mcman56]

I have one of these in a 3 car garage and it works quite well.  It is small, cheap and powerful but the fan is a bit noisy.  With an appliance power cord, you can make an adaptor to plug it into a 220 volt, 30 amp dryer outlet.  It is not made to be hung from a ceiling but the top bracket is welded on and holds the weight.   

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dr-Infrared-Heater-240-Volt-5600-Watt-Garage-Workshop-Portable-Space-Heater-/351536815571?hash=item51d93a1dd3:g:5sAAAOSwKIpWDotD

[ric h]

I have one of these in a 3 car garage and it works quite well.  It is small, cheap and powerful but the fan is a bit noisy.  With an appliance power cord, you can make an adaptor to plug it into a 220 volt, 30 amp dryer outlet.  It is not made to be hung from a ceiling but the top bracket is welded on and holds the weight.   

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dr-Infrared-Heater-240-Volt-5600-Watt-Garage-Workshop-Portable-Space-Heater-/351536815571?hash=item51d93a1dd3:g:5sAAAOSwKIpWDotD

+1 for that heater.I use one in my insulated 23ft x 20ft garage.Heats it up to t-shirt level in about an hour when it's -10c outside.

[2stroke4stroke]

Long, long ago I worked for a company where the workshop was most effectively heated by a salamander which burned whatever was available (you'll probably need to search for photos if you're under sixty), often old sump oil. Remarkably, no conflagrations ensued.

[trapezeartist]

I have one of these in a 3 car garage and it works quite well.  It is small, cheap and powerful but the fan is a bit noisy.  With an appliance power cord, you can make an adaptor to plug it into a 220 volt, 30 amp dryer outlet.  It is not made to be hung from a ceiling but the top bracket is welded on and holds the weight.   

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dr-Infrared-Heater-240-Volt-5600-Watt-Garage-Workshop-Portable-Space-Heater-/351536815571?hash=item51d93a1dd3:g:5sAAAOSwKIpWDotD

 

It says it's 240v, yet American normal voltage is 110v. So I presume it uses a three-phase supply something like our 415v system. Unlikely to be available to a normal domestic consumer, is it? Lots of power though, so it should warm up a garage quickly, at a price! (Unless American electricity is disproportionately cheaper than in the UK.) (Or is a three-phase tariff cheaper?)

[zippy]

In my old garage I had a ceiling unit that burned natural gas, and a thermostat.  set the thermostat at 40F and the cat was happy.  When I went into the garage to work on stuff I would turn it up to 60F and in minutes be warm and happy to do garage type things.

 

My current garage (20ftX20ft) has a shorter ceiling, so the ceiling mounted option is not ideal.  First thing I did was insulate the garage well.  I now have an old Sears wall furnace, you know the ones that don't have any duct work, just sits in the corner has a flame and the is sucked in the top and blown out close to the bottom.  I converted this one over to propane (annoying task on that old of a unit) and have 2 100LB tanks outside to run it.  A tank lasts 2-4 weeks depending on outside temperature.  I keep the thermostat set at about 44F (I need a new thermo, maybe digital) and again the cat is very happy, when I go out there to work I set it at 58 and in mere minutes it is T shirt temps.

 

Upside to keeping it above 40 is the tools don't get cold and condensation on them, so rusting is reduced.  I also store my bikes in there about halfway on the other side of the garage.  I have a cabinet full of paints, solvents etc..  I do most often spray off small parts with brake cleaner outside, so there is that small precaution.

 

 

 

note: the cat is named Trouble and has been with us for 14 yrs.  she is an outside cat, but for the winters she lives in the garage.  She also loves to get in the way when working on something on the work bench.

 

[micm]

You could also consider insulation of the walls and ceiling if you have the room to fit it in.

A room with well insulated walls will up the comfort level even with a minimal amount of heat.

Also it will reduce condensation on metal as the space cools down as the cooling will be much slower and should retain some warmth for a considerable time, drafts permitting.

You need to build a stud wall inside the outside wall and fill between the studs (2 x 2, 3 x 2 or even 4 x 2 inches) with good insulation.

Here is Blighty we use 'Celotex' or 'Kingspan' it is easy to cut etc. 

It's made of this stuff...   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyisocyanurate

Then screw 1/2 or 3/4 ply to the studs (we use oriented strand board its cheaper but rougher, known here as OSB) and you will need far less heat. 

Make up something similar for the ceiling.

Then you can move in!

Ps If its a posh job you would include a vapour barrier under the ply.

Cheers

micm (Architect)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mcman56]

American houses have 110 V and 220 V single phase.  220 is generally for dryers, stoves and AC.  220, 230 and 240 generally run on the same power.  Our 110 is also called 115 and 120.  Businesses generally have 3 phase. I have never tried to get a measurement but suspect that you are right in that energy efficiency is not one of the little heaters advantages.  My garage is attached to the house.  The back wall and most of the ceiling are covered by the house.  The garage doors are insulated and I only run the heater when I'll be in there so it does not run 24/ 7.  FWIW, the garage doors face west and temperatures over 100 are common in summer.  The insulated doors keep it much cooler in summer.    

[floydbassman]

another option to investigate would be a split type aircon system. most of them have heat function and are now very efficient in terms of heat produced for power consumed. (1kw producing 6kw of heat for example). They also have dehumidification mode which is handy for workshop use, and of course cooling in summer if needed...  

[still trying]

floydbassman is correct, the best system "operational cost wise" is probably a heat pump (read reversible air con). They are typically 300% plus efficient. By that I mean for every unit of energy it uses it moves 3 units of energy (read heat). And as stated dries out your space and is fume free. A warning with burning propane or similar gas, the space needs to be well vented if there is no fume vent to outside, they produce CO2. There have been deaths with portable units for this reason.

[trapezeartist]

Although a heat pump is a brilliant device in the right application, there are limitations, especially with air-source (reversible aircon). The Coefficient of Performance drops according to the temperature difference between the evaporator and condenser, so the CoP is not that great when outside temperatures are very low. Also the condenser is liable to icing if the outside temperature is below about 8^oC, which further reduces CoP either due to the ice itself or a de-icing mode. Ground-source heat pumps are much better, but the installation cost is much higher.