Need propane heater ideas for insulated 42x60 Morton bldg

   / Need propane heater ideas for insulated 42x60 Morton bldg #41  
   / Need propane heater ideas for insulated 42x60 Morton bldg #42  
Whats the little yellow thing?, looks like it could be a little Sunbeam or possibly a Tiger set up for SSCA or autocrossing.
It's a '63 Sunbeam Alpine, that I built up. 400hp 351w, 5 speed, Mustang II front suspension, narrowed 4.11 posi 9", 5 link. Full frame and roll cage. Mostly just a street car, but yes, it's fun on a AutoX course. It's fast, and a handful.
 
   / Need propane heater ideas for insulated 42x60 Morton bldg #43  
It's a '63 Sunbeam Alpine, that I built up. 400hp 351w, 5 speed, Mustang II front suspension, narrowed 4.11 posi 9", 5 link. Full frame and roll cage. Mostly just a street car, but yes, it's fun on a AutoX course. It's fast, and a handful.
Wow!
 
   / Need propane heater ideas for insulated 42x60 Morton bldg #44  
If you have the ceiling height, (your 14' is enough), a tube heater, or in your case heaters, would be the way to go.

It will make it warm enough to work in there much faster, and save you a lot of money in the end.

A building that size, I would use two. That also allow you to heat the areas you are working in more.

I have worked in, and been involved in the building of many buildings like this. There is no comparison to the fast warm ups, and fuel cost savings.

If you use forced air, you commonly have to set the thermostat at, 68, or 72F, to be comfortable. A tube heater is radiant heat. Just like if it's a sunny winter day, you can feel warmth on your face from the sun, you will feel warm with radiant heat, well before the air gets warm. That allows you to set the thermostat lower. I usually like to work at about 64F.

The biggest difference, is when you have to open the doors to move stuff in, and out. Radiant heat is stored in the concrete, and the metal objects in the building, not the air. So, when you open the doors, the recovery is very fast. You are not waiting for the forced air heater to warm all the air in the building again.

Radiant heat is also much quieter, and easily made explosion proof, if you are painting, or have the potential of flammable vapors spilled in the building.

A radiant heater will warm what you are painting, even if you have ice cold air moving through there as you exhaust the paint fumes.

I would recommend forced air, if you have a small shop, with low ceilings, and don't need to open the doors a lot. You will still wait a lot longer for it to warm up though. The part of my shop I heat in the winter is, 30x30x9. It has a regular 80% forced air furnace hanging in the back corner. I also liked having the option to add air conditioning at some point.
 
   / Need propane heater ideas for insulated 42x60 Morton bldg
  • Thread Starter
#45  
Possible oops here in that I just thought of something. I have a 150 gallon and 100 gallon metal storage tanks in the barn with diesel in them. I don't think diesel is that flammable so never gave it a thought until this moment. They are pretty full at the moment so hard to move.

My plan in the barn is to keep it at 50 degrees in the winter and kick it up a bit if I'm out there. I also have a VAL6 radiant diesel floor heater that can help if needed.

Keeping things at 50 saves all my tools from rust and will prevent the concrete floor from sweating in the spring. That's mostly what I'm after. Are the diesel tanks in the barn a problem?
 
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   / Need propane heater ideas for insulated 42x60 Morton bldg #46  
A propane forced air heater sounds like it might work for my 42x60 and 14 ft high building. Can you tell me more about this one? Any idea what it costs?


I'm doing a similar project right now too.

Menards has a 80,000 BTU propane hanging heater for under $500. You can run CSST tubing for your gas line. That should be enough to heat it efficiently.
 

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