Heater Advice

[MikeD74T]

Check with a mobile home dealer in your area for a new or used forced hot air furnace. Would be sized about right & easy to install. Easy to set up heat zones. Run ducts across the ceiling to put the heat where you want it. Gas or oil. I'd go oil as it's also a reason to have a steady & convenient supply of low tax tractor fuel. MikeD74T

 

[KubotaOne]

Thanks for all the responses folks.

Certainly some good ideas, as well as things to look out for. I think I'm going to call a couple of local heating contractors in to have a look at my shop and give me some ideas - I'll keep you up to date as to what they suggest.

 

[Dusty]

Just make sure that if you purchase a propane heater that you install a propane gas leak detection device. A friend was telling me about a home in Ohio that blew up as a result of what is believed to have been a gas leak.

 

[schmism]

I love wood heat for a shop, especailly one that is that small and fully insulated.

While propain is great for a quick heat up, if your gonna be out in the garage all day long its MUCH cheeper to burn wood.

My uncle uses a huge slamander type tubo heater to take the chill off for the first hr or 2 while the BIG stove in the middle of the garage is warming up and getting up to speed.... after that we can maintain a fairly confoartable shop temp even at in sub zero temps (his is a 30x30 shop)

 

[KubotaOne]

I love wood heat for a shop, especailly one that is that small and fully insulated.

I love the idea of a wood stove, we heat our house with wood. My concern is getting insurance. I've heard it can be a problem?

 

[cast_and_blast]

Look into corn burners or pellet stoves - they will save you $$ in the long run.

Good Luck!

Scott

 

[Farwell]

Corn in my area of Michigan was $100 a ton last year. This year it is $150 a ton. My insurance company won't let me burn wood and wants $175 a year extra if I add a corn burner.
I have a forced air natural gas fired Hot Dawg heater that I use to keep my 30x40 pole barn warm enough so that nothing freezes. If I need to work with hand tools in the Winter the tools are so cold that it hurts my hands to use them. My neighbor uses the two 55 gallon barrels stacked and burns wood. His shop is 70 degrees all Winter long, he works in shorts and his tools are always warm enough to use. He probably pays less per month in the Winter than I do.
If I find a used corn burner cheap enough I am going to try it.
David

 

[PineRidge]

I'm looking to have heat installed in my shop for this winter. From what I've read so far, a vented, propane wall mount unit is probably my best option. My shop is a total of 800 square feet, fully insulated. There is a wall in the middle, with a man door for access to both sides. My questions are:

1. how to heat both sides with just one heater?
2. what size BTU? (remember, I'm in Canada, so it's cold)
3. Are the wall unit heaters quiet?

I've included a picture of my shop (and no, it's not that clean anymore, lol)

thanks for any advice!

Our pole barn is 860 square foot. It's heated with one 75,000 BTU Reznor unit heater suspended from the ceiling and it's always toasty warm in the dead of winter. A unit heater is very easy to install.

 

[ovrszd]

Our pole barn is 860 square foot. It's heated with one 75,000 BTU Reznor unit heater suspended from the ceiling and it's always toasty warm in the dead of winter. A unit heater is very easy to install.

My shop is 1500 square foot with ten foot ceiling and the little 60,000 BTU Reznor does a great job. Look closely in the picture and you can see it in the left rear corner hanging from the ceiling. Last winter the wife used $250 of propane with the thermostat set on 62 degrees. When I'm there I normally use the wood stove.

As for two rooms, put the heater in the primary room and use an exhaust fan mounted in the wall up near the ceiling to transfer heat into the other room as needed. If you do this, also install a grate near the floor below the fan in the same wall to draw cool air out of the other room as the heat is blown in.

 

[PineRidge]

My shop is 1500 square foot with ten foot ceiling and the little 60,000 BTU Reznor does a great job. Look closely in the picture and you can see it in the left rear corner hanging from the ceiling. Last winter the wife used $250 of propane with the thermostat set on 62 degrees. When I'm there I normally use the wood stove.

As for two rooms, put the heater in the primary room and use an exhaust fan mounted in the wall up near the ceiling to transfer heat into the other room as needed. If you do this, also install a grate near the floor below the fan in the same wall to draw cool air out of the other room as the heat is blown in.

A unit heater of less BTU is adequate, especially if the temperature is kept at a constant minimum. In my case however the stat is turned off until I decide to work in the pole barn. Then it goes from off to 65 degrees (set-point) within minutes, so in this case a over-sized unit is required for quick recovery.