Heating 12 by 20 Insulated Shed

[Jstpssng]

You might try an oil radiator heater. They’re cheap and relatively safe. But you have to leave them on because they take awhile to heat. They will keep a warm room warm if left on, but they won’t warm up a cold room quickly. They are fairly economical to buy and operate.

I heat my 12x32' camp with one of these when I'm not there. It's plugged into a space heater thermostat which I set at 50 degrees to keep things from freezing.

 

[rangerfredbob]

My brother has one of those cheap diesel heaters to heat his greenhouse over the winter and it does a heck of a job and doesn't take all that much fuel... and that's in a greenhouse that's not insulated and single layer plastic on the roof and sides above 3' (plywood under that) and I think 10'x16'

 

[2manyrocks]

From what I remember from youtube, seems like the key to those diesel heaters is clean fuel, clean fuel filters and maybe it was the spark ignitors?

 

[RSKY]

If only four hours a day and not every day I would go with a couple of the oil filled electric radiator heaters. Cheap to buy and run. Leave one on low all the time to keep the room from freezing then turn both on high when you are gonna be there for a few hours.

RSKY

 

[scootr]

I have a fully insulated 12x24 hobby room that gets occasional use. I heat with the Vevor 8kw heater shown on pg 1. I burn red diesel. I tried mixing in used motor oil. Good in theory but ended up needing to replace the glow plug, so no more oil burning. I mounted the unit outside and simply ducted the heat into the room. I keep a battery in the room and the control. Works good but still can smell like a diesel burner. For cooling I got a small thru the wall AC unit. Seasonally I use one or the other but we are in a pretty mild winter climate

 

[thepumpguysc]

I’ve got a 24x32 shop I work out of daily..
The wife bought a kerosene heater for me last year.
I went broke buying the fuel.!!! I could get 20 hrs out of a tank.. I opted for a double burner propane heater instead..
If u put a small fan behind it, you can direct the heat any which way.. just my .02..

 

[EddieWalker]

For such a small space, and you're only in there a few hours a day, I would use electric space heaters. Probably two of them at either end to get the temps where you want them, and then turn one of them off to maintain the temperature.

When you say fully insulated, what R Value are you at? How good is your wind barrier? Two biggest issues with insulating a building is keeping the wind out, and having a high enough R value in the ceiling.

Here in East Texas, R40 is now the minimum for an attic. I personally have R60, which is considered the highest you can go before you're wasting material without any more gain.

Wall R value isn't that big of a deal because wind is the bigger issue. Make sure your window and doors are sealed, and you have a good house wrap that is also sealed. R13 in the walls is usually plenty.

When my mom grew up in Northern Saskatchewan, they left a candle burning in the outhouse to keep it warm in winter. From what I'm told, it gets really cold up there, but they didn't have electricity, and a candle is all they had. If the building is insulated enough, it doesn't take much to warm it up.

 

[ponytug]

@WVH1977 I'm not a fan of non-vented combustion heat in enclosed spaces, but that may just be me. There are the partially burned fuel residues, the carbon monoxide and dioxide, and all the water from burning the fuel.

I'd rather seal and insulate the space and then use something simple like oil filled heaters, electric space heaters, or a minisplit. With good insulation and the air leaks removed, it doesn't take a lot of heat or cooling.

All the best,

Peter

 

[LouNY]

The diesel heaters mentioned have exhaust pipes to be routed outside, they function just like little furnaces.

 

[WVH1977]

For such a small space, and you're only in there a few hours a day, I would use electric space heaters. Probably two of them at either end to get the temps where you want them, and then turn one of them off to maintain the temperature.

When you say fully insulated, what R Value are you at? How good is your wind barrier? Two biggest issues with insulating a building is keeping the wind out, and having a high enough R value in the ceiling.

Here in East Texas, R40 is now the minimum for an attic. I personally have R60, which is considered the highest you can go before you're wasting material without any more gain.

Wall R value isn't that big of a deal because wind is the bigger issue. Make sure your window and doors are sealed, and you have a good house wrap that is also sealed. R13 in the walls is usually plenty.

When my mom grew up in Northern Saskatchewan, they left a candle burning in the outhouse to keep it warm in winter. From what I'm told, it gets really cold up there, but they didn't have electricity, and a candle is all they had. If the building is insulated enough, it doesn't take much to warm it up.

I dont remember the Rvalues exactly but I used 6 inch insulation in the attic and floor and 4 inch in the walls. I want to say I used R40 in the attic. It was the pink panther stuff. lol I wrapped the floor and walls with Tvek and used that black tape around windows doors and floor where needed. Forgot what fabric on roof but it was wind/weather/water resistant.

Not a builder but tried to button everything up tightly.