Heating my shop?

[DavidInNH]

Gary - OK, I left myself wide open. I'm usually the one making comments like that /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Hoeman00]

If building new and are thinking about heating all the time
put radiant tubes under concrete and use an outside wood
fired heater or a hot water heater and pump to keep it warm.
I have radiant under basement and attached 26x28' garage.
I use a wood fired heater to supply the hot water for this,
forced air in house and heat the 40x60x15' shop.
My drywallers complained about house garage was 78* and
below 0 outside /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif,had to cut the water back.

 

[BobinCols]

David-My pole barn is 30x44 with 14' side walls. Originally there was no interior walls, ceiling, or insulation. I heated with a 110,000 torpedo heater but all the heat went to the rafters. I now have interior side walls, ceiling, and insulation in the ceiling and walls. The torpedo heater now heats the building nicely. A retired friend just finished hanging a 40' Rayvac radiant propane tube heater. Will fire up as soon as the propane tank arrives in a week or so.. We have 4 radiant heaters at our truck service shop and it works much better than the old forced air we had. I would want at least a 30' heater in a 40' building. You can buy a 40'er and cut off a couple foot. The burner end puts out a lot of heat but gets less as the heat goes down the tube.

 

[DavidInNH]

The building is already up. I don't plan on heating full time - just when I'm working on something and maybe enough to keep things from freezing. Otherwise I most definitely would have gone with radiant. I have 4,500 sq.ft. of it in the house - its nice to walk barefoot on the slate floors.

 

[DavidInNH]

BobinCols,

Thanks for the information. How may BTU's is your new heater?

This question started because I found a 20' Reznor heater on EBay for a nice price. I asked the seller about 30' and he can also provide one at a reasonable price. I guess I need to think about cutting a 40' one down. I'll be spending most of my time on one end of the building so I'll put the burner end over the primary work area.

 

[BobinCols]

David-The 40' is 125,000 BTU's and the 30' was either 100 or 110,000 BTU's. The 30 probably would have done fine. The 40' was around $150 more so I bought it. Haven't paid for the 40' heater yet but it should be around $1000 wholesale plus the installation. I will heat the shop only when I will use it. BOB