Best way to heat a pole barn

[LouNY]

No, do the heat load calculations. Do them whether you're insulated or not.

Then once you have the load calculations, stop and think about what you are going to;
are you going to keep the building warm all the time? or just when working in it.
If it's going to be unheated except for when it's is being worked in you will need a lot bigger heater to bring
it to temperature then you would need to maintain a constant temperature.
The nicest setup I ever saw was a shop with dual furnaces he had a small one that was set for 40 degrees when not in use and then a large one
he would run to bring it up to about 60 when he started working and he would run the small one to maintain 60 after it got up there.
At times it couldn't quite keep up on really cold days the big one would cycle once in awhile.

 

[TimberHole]

No, do the heat load calculations. Do them whether you're insulated or not.

What does that mean? I am 2000sf uninsulated. How many btu do I need?

 

[LouNY]

Here is a calculator to give you a rough idea,
when I put in rough numbers it came up at 100,000 btu.
I would go larger as uninsulated I would expect that you are only going to run it when working in it.
HVAC Load Calculator - Estimate the Size of Your Heating / Cooling System (in BTUs)

 

[ericm979]

For the shop I want to build(*), that calculator tells me I need 43k and should buy a 60k mini split(!), while a more detailed Manual J calculator says I need 20k of heating and 18k of cooling and the Manual S (sizing) says I should buy a 21k unit. Manual J/S is what pros use when they do the calculations and don't just sell you something big or in stock.

Manual J and S: HVAC Load Calculation - Maunualj - Whole House Loadcalc

Note: for some uses you want to oversize to a certain extent. For example if you're running a gas or oil furnace and want to keep the temp low most of the time but be able to raise it to your target before you go out to work in the shop. But mini splits are not designed for that. Using a mini split you need to run the temps close to or at target most of the time. So you size it to just be enough for the coldest and warmest days.

*- 36x44x12 stick built with R21 walls and R30 ceiling, heating to 65 and cooling to 80. Climate has a 99 th percentile low of 32 and a 99 percentile high of 99.

 

[DJ54]

I bought this Reznor waste oil furnace 17 years ago, off of one of the guys I worked with pretty cheap. The heat excahnger needed to be replaced, so had a local shop, where at the time I didn't know a schoolmate from years ago worked. Apparently got the good buddy discount, because they only charged me $450 to build it. A new one from Reznor at the time was nearly $1500. So it paid me to shop around before buying this, for the build. I have had to replace the oil pump, that pulls oil out of the storage tank to feed the burner, and the blower fan. Can't really complain, as it's a 1974 model. Still works great, and heats the shop well. I leave the thermostat set at 50ｺ through the winter, mainly to keep the concrete floor warm. If you keep the floor warm, the building is a lot easier to heat. If not, when working out there in cold weather, you'll always feel cold radiating up from the floor.

Shop walls, and ceiling are insulated with 1-1/2" styrofoam between the perlins, then covered with cover sheet steel siding. A couple of the walls have 3/4" plywood on and painted. so as to put hooks to hang tools. Several friends and neighbors, and one tractor dealer save used oil for me. Most bring it here, the dealer I need to go pick up 55 gallon drums several times a year. It will burn anything from brake fluid, to SAE 50 oil. I had this in my other shop which was 36' X 32' X 12'. The most I even burned through it was 400 gallons through the winter. If need be, you can run HHO, or diesel fuel through it. I have a tank battery of 4, 275 gal. HHO oil tanks I store used oil in. Right now, I have 3 full, so nearly ahead 3 years on fuel.

In this new shop, I added a wood/coal stove. I burn it when I'm working out there. I use seasoned wood, some lump coal which is still available semi locally for $80 per ton. I also have as stockpile of approx. 12 tons of Industrial Steam Coal from an old coal yard, that supplied coal for coal boilers. It was free for the hauling. Ended up with approx. 14 tons, and have burned around 2 tons in 5-1/2 years. More than likely, enough to last me the rest of my life.

It's also backup heat, in case the furnace needs serviced. Before building a finer refining filtration system, I needed to pull the oil preheater apart and clean every, approx. 750 hrs. of burn time. Usually sometime in Jan, when it's the coldest. I took a 60 gal. air compressor tank, and plumbed it up to filter the oil theough a #200 mesh filter, then beyond that, a HHO oil felt filter. I "pump" the oil through the filtration system with compressed air. Just hook the shop air compressor hose up to it, and set the regulator @ 30 psi. Takes maybe 20-30 minutes to push the oil into the furnace's tank. I do this when I'm working in the shop anyway.

I bought 2, steel water tanks in near new condition pretty cheap. I mounted them on a carry-all for oil transport from the bulk tanks. Althoiugh I do need to fill them manually, they too are plumbed to hook air to them to push oil into the filtration tank. That I do have to dedicate 1/2 a day to refill the 200 gallon furnace tank. A small price to pay for cheap heat.

 

[6feettogo]

I built a 30x40 building with about a 13 foot ceiling and put in two 60,000 btu natural gas heaters and mounted them in opposite corners so that if they are on it has a tendency to circulate the heat. Most of the time only one turns on. The thermostats are set at 45 unless we are working in it. I went with 2 so if one quit I would have the other as a backup. The walls and ceiling have 6 in of insulation in them. The building also has 3 8x10 garage doors and a walk in door.

 

[toddol1971]

If you're starting from scratch, then insulate under the concrete. House wrap the building, and spray foam the walls. Put a Ceiling in it and insulate the **** out of it. Like R38 in the ceiling. Then if you have nat gas, install a 95% furnace with a sealed burner box. It intakes from outside. This will be the cheapest way to heat it besides a wood stove.

 

[wolc123]

I recently put up a 36 x 50 x 12 ft pole barn in western NY. My heat setup has been working very well so far this winter, and it is about as cheap and simple as one could imagine. Rather than trying to heat the whole, uninsulated building, I built a 12 ft wide x 30 ft long loft area in one corner, with an 8 ft ceiling. I put 6" of insulation on the outside wall (steel), and made the inner walls from wood, with 1" chestnut board and batten siding. The loft floor is made from 1" thick chestnut boards, with 5/8" thick OSB on top. Other than the OSB, I salvaged all that lumber, along with hand-hewn posts and beams and sawed framing lumber (used to frame the loft) from an old barn that my great great grandad built on the site in 1883. The area under the loft is split between a 20 x 12 ft woodshop, which has man doors on opposite corners, and a 10 x 12 ft metal shop, which is open to the interior.

The 20' long x 12' wide x 8 ft tall woodshop is all that I heat. I have been using a 20 pound propane bottle with a heater that screws right on top of the bottle. The heater has 3 settings, low, medium, and high. When I want to work out there, I set it on high and it takes about a half hour to raise the temp in the from about 30 to 55. When it gets about 55 (comfortable working temp), I turn it it down to low, and it holds it there quite well. Such a setup probably would not work real well in a tightly sealed building, but my barn is fairly well ventilated. The board and batten siding has many old nail holes in it, and the ceiling ain't all that tight. One of these days, I will bring a CO monitor out of the house and check it out when I have been running the propane heater for a while. If the outside temperature is above 40, it gets too hot in there, even with the heater on low. I just leave it off then and put on long underwear and an insulated flannel shirt. Fuel cost has been minimal. I think they charge $ 8.00 to fill a propane tank on the reservation, and they last quite a while.

This winter has been quite mild so far, as have been most of them over the last few years. Since my heater keeps that woodshop very comfortable, set on low, when the outside temperature is between 25 and 40, I am thinking it would probably be ok if it ever gets below zero again, up on high. It is not looking like we are going to see that this winter.

 

[arrow]

I recently put up a 36 x 50 x 12 ft pole barn in western NY. My heat setup has been working very well so far this winter, and it is about as cheap and simple as one could imagine. Rather than trying to heat the whole, uninsulated building, I built a 12 ft wide x 30 ft long loft area in one corner, with an 8 ft ceiling. I put 6" of insulation on the outside wall (steel), and made the inner walls from wood, with 1" chestnut board and batten siding. The loft floor is made from 1" thick chestnut boards, with 5/8" thick OSB on top. Other than the OSB, I salvaged all that lumber, along with hand-hewn posts and beams and sawed framing lumber (used to frame the loft) from an old barn that my great great grandad built on the site in 1883. The area under the loft is split between a 20 x 12 ft woodshop, which has man doors on opposite corners, and a 10 x 12 ft metal shop, which is open to the interior.

The 20' long x 12' wide x 8 ft tall woodshop is all that I heat. I have been using a 20 pound propane bottle with a heater that screws right on top of the bottle. The heater has 3 settings, low, medium, and high. When I want to work out there, I set it on high and it takes about a half hour to raise the temp in the from about 30 to 55. When it gets about 55 (comfortable working temp), I turn it it down to low, and it holds it there quite well. Such a setup probably would not work real well in a tightly sealed building, but my barn is fairly well ventilated. The board and batten siding has many old nail holes in it, and the ceiling ain't all that tight. One of these days, I will bring a CO monitor out of the house and check it out when I have been running the propane heater for a while. If the outside temperature is above 40, it gets too hot in there, even with the heater on low. I just leave it off then and put on long underwear and an insulated flannel shirt. Fuel cost has been minimal. I think they charge $ 8.00 to fill a propane tank on the reservation, and they last quite a while.

This winter has been quite mild so far, as have been most of them over the last few years. Since my heater keeps that woodshop very comfortable, set on low, when the outside temperature is between 25 and 40, I am thinking it would probably be ok if it ever gets below zero again, up on high. It is not looking like we are going to see that this winter.

This is an excellent method wolc. Especialy when one stops to think of how much actual space they need to work in.

 

[wolc123]

This is an excellent method wolc. Especialy when one stops to think of how much actual space they need to work in.

I knew that it would work, because I had a similar situation, but with a slightly smaller workshop area, in one of the old timber frame barns that my great great grandad built. My workshop was under the loft, had a 7 ft ceiling, and was 12 ft wide x 18 ft long. The loft floor/shop ceiling on that one had 2 layers of 1" chestnut, as did the exterior walls. The interior walls used a single layer of 1" chestnut. I heated that with a big, round kerosene convection heater. It worked ok when the temp was above 30, but had a hard time keeping up when it was colder. On average, our winters were much colder back then. That shop was made from the old horse stable where my grandfather, great grandfather, and great great grandfather use to keep their teams of draft horses. The old barn was 36 ft wide. There was a grainery under the loft, behind the workshop (also 18 ft long), where we kept wheat and oats. I still have the old kerosene heater, but it was always smelly, and a pain to light and keep clean. The cheap little propane heater is much nicer.

The old shop was tough to work in because the concrete floor was cracked and crooked, and the ceiling was too low. I did like the old hand-hewn beams though. I was able to salvage most of them and I was able to incorporate them into the workshop/loft of my new metal pole barn. I am currently in the process of dismantling a 2nd barn, identical to the first (36 x 46). There seems to be good demand for that old unpainted, weathered chestnut siding, and the hand hewn beams. When the weather cooperates, I have been stripping it off and storing it up in the loft of the new pole barn. A friend is coming over to get a truckload of it tomorrow.

I would have liked to save those old barns, but the roofs were going and the foundations were bad. It would have cost several times more to repair them, than the cost of the new metal pole barn. The new workshop does feel a bit like the old barns because that was the source for most of its material (except for the nice, level, crack-free poured concrete floor).