Radiant Floor or hearters?

paintman161 · Jul 5, 2014

So I have a 24'x24'x 10'-6" pole barn. I am trying to figure out to use for heating it. It wont need to be heated all the time just in the Winter time when i am out there working. Most of the time I would be out there for maybe an hour or two during the winter time. This will be my storage and workshop. I am putting up 1" Rigid insulation on the walls and ceiling. Plan on doing 2" insulation under the concrete slab.

So should i go with radiant floor (might just heat it with a wood boiler or natural gas) or should i just stick two gas heaters on the ceiling and heat it that way?

Thanks

dave1949 · Jul 5, 2014

Radiant floor heat is a poor choice for short-term off and on heating. It works fine but not quick.

I think you would be much happier with the gas heaters unless your goal is to keep the building above freezing all the time. If that is the goal, then you could put a little constant radiant heat in the floor and top it off with space heaters when you want a quick warm-up.

paintman161 · Jul 5, 2014

thanks, only thing that would be in the building is tools and woodworking stuff. Maybe my tractor during winter time, but that's about it. Maybe I'll save the money and just go with the gas heaters. Do you know how much btu I would need for my pole barn.

ctgoldwing · Jul 5, 2014

paintman161 said:
thanks, only thing that would be in the building is tools and woodworking stuff. Maybe my tractor during winter time, but that's about it. Maybe I'll save the money and just go with the gas heaters. Do you know how much btu I would need for my pole barn.

In your case the heat loss of the building is secondary to how long you want to wait for the building & contents to heat up. My 3 car garage is slightly larger than your barn but it is insulated VERY well (R30 in walls, R40 in ceiling with insulated garage doors. I used an 86,000 btu hot water unit heater (waaaay more than the heat loss) so I don't have to wait long fo it to heat up to 60 degs. I have a thermostat in the garage that maintains it at 46 degs and I go out there about 1/2 hour before I want to work there & manually set it higher. Without your heat source being much larger than your heat loss (I'd guess your heat loss at less than 20,000 btus) it will take a long time to heat the garage & mass in it. The smallest I would go with is something that gives you at least 75,000 btus OUTPUT.

btw I agree with the other poster who commented on radiant floor heating. Because you can't have the floor temperature very high for a couple of reasons - you won't be able to stand on it or it will destroy the loor with the large temperature swings - it will pick up the buildng temperature very slowly (if you have enough floor space for the required heating load).

PILOON · Jul 5, 2014

Radient is slow heat and long term sustained.
For short term fast heat wood fired is probably best followed by a fuel like propane or oil with propane leading the way.
A good old wood stove would be your best bet and has the advantage of consuming your shop scraps as well.

dave1949 · Jul 6, 2014

It is nice to have a storage room for things you don't want to freeze like paints, wood finishes, etc. Most things like those store really well around 50 degrees with a longer shelf life.

Something to think about if you can build a walk-in closet type thing that is super insulated with a small electric space heater maybe. It doesn't take much heat to maintain 50 degrees in that situation.

Jeff F. · Jul 6, 2014

Since this is your work shop you need to consider fumes and ignition of your furnace. I have an outdoor boiler with a large radiator. I keep it at 60•. It works for me.

paintman161 · Jul 6, 2014

thanks i think i am going to go with a something ceiling mounted to save floor space. Any paints or stains will be stored in my garage which will be fully insulated. I can have a natural gas line ran to the shop and will have a 100 amp panel box as well.

SPYDERLK · Jul 6, 2014

Be sure to wear earplugs when the hearters are on full.

Blade Breaker · Jul 6, 2014

Hi,

Have floor heat in my shop and also have a unit heater. If you can swing it I would recommend installing the floor heat. And just keeping the temp at 40. Then a very small unit heater will warm it up quickly and no frost or sweating as you warm it up to work each time. Also this is much more efficient if you plan on using the shop often like I do. Here is a link to the unit heater I have. Mine is 125000 but.

Products - Unit Heaters - UDAP | Reznor

footer200 · Jul 7, 2014

My pole barn is 30' x 50' and I have a overhead radiant tube heater. The nice thing with these is that when it is turned on you feel the radiant heat right away (no waiting to heat the entire air space) No noise, no fan blowing and they are fairly cheap as no real moving parts. The one I have is converted to propane as I don't have natural gas there. I keep the thermostat set as low as it will go (about 45 degrees) and I can turn it up when I get home and feel the heat within about 5 mins. The thing I really like about these heaters is if you bring in a cold tractror, car, truck or even steel for a project the heat will go right to that object and warm it right away. I do a lot of autoglass work where you need the rubber/plastic mouldings warmed up and these heaters are great for that. Melting Ice and snow off a vehicle is great.