Super insulated...er...barn. Heating options

[Danno1]

Mother Earth News used to have plans to build your own oil burner, but I just checked them out and now you have to pay to download the instruction book.
As best as I can remember, it used commonly available parts and anything that needed to be fabricated could be done with most common tools, mostly a welder.
You could check the site out, then decide if it would be worth $22.95 to download the book.

There was a fairly long thread on here a few years back by a guy who built his own WO heater. It turned out rather well as I remember.

But the radiant heat is the key. Its a big space where heat rises, having it on your floor will be a big help.

And when you crawl under your truck/tractor in the winter you won't want to get up!!! :laughing:



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[MossRoad]

And when you crawl under your truck/tractor in the winter you won't want to get up!!! :laughing:



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Boy that's the truth. A long time ago I worked at the airport and we had a hangar with a heated floor. Pull in planes, trucks, etc... in middle of winter. Hose off the snow. Squeegee the floor and the puddles would steam. A few minutes later the floor is dry and you're laying on a thin pad under a truck in a T-shirt. Very nice.

 

[teejk]

Iowa...Heat-pump? They have limits I think and I'm not sure a heat-pump would work all year around. Radiant is great heat and at your electric rates I would agree that a hot water heater would be a good choice. In my central Wis shop I use a LP 60 gal tank in my 30x40 space with 2" CCF under the slab, R19 in the walls and R50 in the ceiling...it ain't cheap but it is nice solely because something in the brain says that if your feet and legs are warm, your whole body is warm.

 

[DeereMann]

careful with comparing current energy rates......suggest you look at your area's forecast before you lock in a large, inflexible, capital energy supply investment. electric rates were also around $0.03/kW-hr around here before the cooperatives started building excess capacity on speculation (remember Enron?) - now we are stuck with paying for unused generation for $0.11/kW-hr.

I am glad I went with natural gas forced air heat!

 

[teejk]

careful with comparing current energy rates......suggest you look at your area's forecast before you lock in a large, inflexible, capital energy supply investment. electric rates were also around $0.03/kW-hr around here before the cooperatives started building excess capacity on speculation (remember Enron?) - now we are stuck with paying for unused generation for $0.11/kW-hr.

I am glad I went with natural gas forced air heat!

I lived in NY and had ConEd...24cents/kwh there. Not everybody has Nat gas service...I don't otherwise I never would have all those LP tanks and wouldn't have to refill those little tanks for the smoker/grills.

Radiant or forced air, the heat source can be changed at a later date (some money I know) but the tubes or ducting are already there and if plumbed/ducted properly the source can be changed without starting all over. It does require some upfront planning to enable the option to swap a unit easily. Perhaps gas has the edge there because going to/from nat gas to LP is a simple conversion without changing the unit.

I like the radiant because I find that I can work easily in 55-60F unless I'm doing paint/varnish stuff...But most likely I spend the same or more as I would with running a forced air system at 70F. With radiant in slab you are maintaining the slab throughout the heating season and it takes a day or two to bring it up to temp. Forced air will heat the space in a few hours. I guess the decision comes down to how often the shop gets used in the winter and whether you like a warm floor to work on.

 

[DeereMann]

I hear ya - when push came to shove for pole barn features with the budget limit, i went without the radiant but oversized the natural gas furnace - i oversize it for rapid transient heatup - so i leave the interior at 45F when i'm not there, then dial it up to 60-65F when i come in. i think it's something like 120,000 BTU/hr heat rate - bigger than my house furnace!

 

[teejk]

I hear ya - when push came to shove for pole barn features with the budget limit, i went without the radiant but oversized the natural gas furnace - i oversize it for rapid transient heatup - so i leave the interior at 45F when i'm not there, then dial it up to 60-65F when i come in. i think it's something like 120,000 BTU/hr heat rate - bigger than my house furnace!

You live in Minn, I live in Wis. My shop is a woodworking thing that I use a lot so I bite the bullet on the LP bills to get the comfort of the warm floors because so many things require a lot of time on my feet. Radiant is expensive and backbreaking to install!

My wife and I did that in a day.

If it was a "once and awhile" thing, I would probably have opted for a ceiling mounted "hot dog" heater like you see in warehouses. I know a few people that have installed wood burners with blower fans but wood is a lot of work.