New barn, need heating advice

[zmansmac]

My current home, which I'm actually renting until I close on my new home, has a 25 x 30 pole barn with a 12 foot ceiling. Many years ago when I bought it I added 2 x 6s halfway in between the poles on the sides, added 6 inches of fiberglass batting and then sealed it with 5/8 plywood. For the ceiling I nailed 3/8 plywood to the underneath of the rafters and blew in 12-15 inches of cellulose insulation. I then got a deal on a used 40,000 BTU Renzor hanging heater. I was lucky to have natural gas at this home. A lot of the heat was, of course, staying at the ceiling. So I added a casablanca fan in the middle and that helped some but not as much as I had hoped. Still, I could work in it at 60 degrees and the heater only ran 30-40% of the time. The house I'll be closing on in a couple of weeks has a 30 x 40 pole barn also with a 12 foot ceiling. I intend to insulate it the same way. But my dilemma comes in with a heating source. I only have propane at this house and I do not want to use burning wood. I will be keeping it heated fairly often during the winter as this will be my new woodworking shop. And because of working with wood I believe overhead radiant heating is not a good idea. My original thought is a couple of small propane powered heaters, like the Renzor, in opposing corners. But I probably need a better way to move the heat around that is trapped at the ceiling. I've never had propane before but I know it's costlier than natural gas. I'm sure many of you have applied some good ideas to your heated barns and I'd appreciate hearing about them and any advice you can give me.

 

[Cherokee140]

My shop is about the same size but with 16foot sides....I have a lift in my shop. What I have is a 220v electric heater, and then like you said a small vent-less propane heater. I only heat when I am out there, but with you having wood that is different all together. I would think you are going to want AC or some other way to control how humid it is in there.

Those two heaters keep it nice in there even on the coldest days, I usually end up turning off the propane heater and letting the electric cycle and I am fine in the winter in a sweat shirt.

I know not much help, but I do like those vent free propane heaters....never an issue and I have a CO alarm just incase....only time it goes off is when I run the cars.

 

[boggen]

have seen many folks install a central heating system / optional a/c unit in garages. the ability to install a couple extra cheap filters, to help filter out saw dust, and like. plus abilty to setup a de humidifier into the mix. or if need be a humidifier if ya really need it. if needing a/c, your already setup.

the LPG (liquid propane gas) wall heaters can work. and do heat up pretty good. a ceiling fan or 2 and away ya go. house and shed use them. the burners on them need to be cleaned and flame adjusted to get best use out of them. reduces c02 / carbon monoxide, and warms much better

my choice is radiant floor heating... takes longer to heat up, if only turning it up occasionally, but awe... so much nicer. and you can place boiler or water heater some place that does expose flames directly to fuel / gas / paint fumes, saw dust, etc...

 

[bigtiller]

One 80,000 btu Reznor type forced air hanging furnace will be more than enough for you,,,, well, it is for me. That is what I heat my 30x46x9.5 garage with. I keep it at 42 degrees all the time and warm it to 55 or so for working. It is very economical doing it that way. I wouldn't give a second thought about how warm it is at the ceiling but you could put a 20 inch box fan on a high shelf set on low to move some air.