Best way to heat a pole barn

[NonTypicalCPA]

I wasn't sure where to put this question so fee free to move it mods. I have a 30'x40' pole barn with 12' walls, OSB sided with vinyl over that, and concrete flooring. I'm in the process of insulating it. Last year I put up a steel ceiling and had insulation blown in. This coming spring I'm having the walls spray foam insulated and want to add heat. I'm looking for suggestions on how to heat it. I store my kids cars and my tractor in it, along with a small work shop/tools. My job keeps me busy in the winter so I don't use the barn much other than for storage, but would like to be able to crank up the heat to comfortable levels for the odd project that might come up. So most of the time I'd like to keep the temperature around 40-50 to keep things from freezing and melt snow from the cars. I have natural gas available as a fuel source. What type of heater setup should I be looking at?

 

[HillStreet]

I wasn't sure where to put this question so fee free to move it mods. I have a 30'x40' pole barn with 12' walls, OSB sided with vinyl over that, and concrete flooring. I'm in the process of insulating it. Last year I put up a steel ceiling and had insulation blown in. This coming spring I'm having the walls spray foam insulated and want to add heat. I'm looking for suggestions on how to heat it. I store my kids cars and my tractor in it, along with a small work shop/tools. My job keeps me busy in the winter so I don't use the barn much other than for storage, but would like to be able to crank up the heat to comfortable levels for the odd project that might come up. So most of the time I'd like to keep the temperature around 40-50 to keep things from freezing and melt snow from the cars. I have natural gas available as a fuel source. What type of heater setup should I be looking at?

I heat my garage —28 x 30 with 10 foot ceiling — with one ceiling-suspended propane heater called a Hot Dawg heater. Has wall thermostat. Heats up right away, warm to work in, no waiting to recover.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That or overhead radiant heat. But I think that it is expensive to install. It's nice because you get instant heat. Now that I think about it, I wonder how radiant heat works when you want to keep the building just above freezing.

 

[cat fever]

^^^^ what Hillstreet said,

A gas fired forced air unit heater will do the job very easy.

Good luck.

 

[nybirdman]

As stated;an over-head gas heater;mine is propane;50,000 BTU's and works great.Fast and thermostat controlled.

 

[Jack Murdock]

I would use an infrared over the area you would be working the most. The heat is instant because it heats the mass not the air and they are quiet. I have a 3 car garage and have a 22,000 btu heater near where I work and it does a great job. The unit heaters hot dawg or reznor work well but can be noisy and heat the air first. The smaller heaters will not warm the whole space but will warm where you are working. Check out Detroit Radiant DR series heaters. They come in LP or natural and you can still get standing pilot controls so you don't need electricity and you can hang them yourself. Make sure you have the clearances above and below to combustibles etc. https://www.reverberray.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/LBDR_DR-Series-Brochure_4-11.pdf?x13319

 

[1stDeuce]

Our fire barn as well as the shop space where I used to work both use tube heaters. They do a great job of keeping the working space warm without the need for fans and blowing air everywhere. They're also supposed to be fairly efficient. They tend to warm "things" instead of air, but for long term heating, they work great! For keeping the shop around 50F, that would be my suggestion. If you need it warmer for a project, you can turn up the heat early, or get a forced air blowing style heater that can blow where you plan to work.

I went a different route with my pole barn. I put pex in the floor for radiant heat, and have 5 4x8 solar panels that I'm going to plumb in. The sun almost always shines here in SW CO, so I'll just let it heat the slab all day and the slab can give off heat all night. Should keep it well above freezing, even with minimal insulation. Plus, working on a warm concrete floor is comfy even if the air temp inside is a bit lower.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I would say in floor heat is only good if you intend to keep the shop at warmer constant temperature fall to spring.

 

[NonTypicalCPA]

In floor heat would have been my first choice if I'd of had the foresight and money 14 years ago when I built. Any thoughts on using electric forced air units? Too expensive to operate?

 

[HillStreet]

Around the northeast I believe an electric source for heat is pretty costly. Also an addition to my earlier comment — the unit heaters need to be sized correctly, and be installed clear of combustibles.