Shop Heat Ideas

[weimedog]

Shop heat? That is what "dinner tables" are for, whimped out and brought mine inside to assemble.  

[Al_Smith]

  I did that once repairing a hydraulic pump on a Ferguson tractor .Laid down plastic and lots of news paper .It wasn't that bad of a mess to clean up .

[Walnut Beast]

This 1950's era kerosene heater heats my 24x24 shack easily.  5-7 gallons every two to three days.  Running non stop when I'm there.  Always have to turn it on low once the shack reaches 65-70 degrees F.  Simple, effective and needs no electricity to operate.
(Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

Looks good!! 

[Spike60]

Good Lord, $14 a gal? Yikes! Agree that the tank tops go quick if on high and both burners lit. I can usually get what I need with just 1 burner on low or med. Radiant effect with the tank top is nice. Kerosun makes zero noise. Like that I have the 2 options. I've run into both no full tanks, and no K1, (or a broken pump). 

[Real1shepherd]

Yeah, and I love K1 heaters. Had eight of them once, but now down to two. The bigger one hasn't been run for yrs....too thirsty although it really puts out the heat.

The BTU content of propane far exceeds natural gas, but it's now also the victim of COVID gouging. Almost a dollar less on the rez per/gal for propane....just can't get there and back cheap enough.

I'm still considering a company propane tank....be so much easier. Just before Christmas my buddy's son was headed down to TX with his GF and then to Florida to work as cooks. Right before they were getting ready to leave, the girl that was gonna watch their house, had the clutch go out on her Suzuki car. I finally got called to do that job after the boy couldn't make it work. He got stumped just taking things apart. Anyway, that's when it turned bitter cold and the car was in a garage. I fooled around with it for about a half hr and said I gotta get some heat over here. We almost had that propane dual heater on top of us. That's when I found out that dual heater propane setup is not that efficient on fuel.

Clutch got put in for the house sitter and off they went.....only to be stranded in NM with the tranny going out on their Charger. 4 large for that repair on the road.

Kevin

[Al_Smith]

I think K1 is a tad more than diesel fuel .I usual have 5 gallons of each on hand for various usage .A kerosene "torpedo"  heater if it has any size to it can really go through the  kerosene .
The either 4 or 5 panel infrared is not bad on propane but as I've said it has to be really important to fire it up and work on anything this time of the year.
I suppose good old fire wood would be the least expensive if you have a supply of it and live where you could use it .Not everybody does though .

[aigheadish]

I have the free wood but not the space for the stove, in the shop at least.

[DHansen]

I get more heat out of a gallon of kerosene vs diesel.  I can use either in that old gravity feed burner.  But kerosene seems hotter and cleaner.  Just what my observation are and my 2¢.

[beenthere]

DHansen
Interesting, as kerosene has fewer BTU's per gallon than diesel. Not by much, just around 10,000 BTU's less for kero

[DHansen]

Is all diesel the same?  When I have used diesel it was the pump grade winter stuff, I suspect it's the new bio diesel stuff.  I am not fluent in diesel mechanics or fuels.  And it is just a perseption from me. Lots of variables come into play with ambient temps and flow settings.  But now I know kerosene has less BTU's.

[dairyguy]

Is all diesel the same?  When I have used diesel it was the pump grade winter stuff, I suspect it's the new bio diesel stuff.  I am not fluent in diesel mechanics or fuels.  And it is just a perseption from me. Lots of variables come into play with ambient temps and flow settings.  But now I know kerosene has less BTU's.

There is a winter blend and summer blend of diesel.   In my section of NY the main difference is winter diesel has about 30% kerosene added to it for cold tempature flowability.
I bet our Canadian friends get an even higher amount of kerosene cut into theirs.

[doc henderson]

I have used the off road diesel as it is off road.  wonder about breathing the burned red dye.      

[Al_Smith]

Speaking of which .red dye .I've heard of tax people from say Ohio go around farm sales to check for red dye in the fill spouts .Obviously they must have found some . That stuff stays forever .

[Real1shepherd]

I get more heat out of a gallon of kerosene vs diesel.  I can use either in that old gravity feed burner.  But kerosene seems hotter and cleaner.  Just what my observation are and my 2¢.

That was all explained to me once. K1 is jet fuel without the aviation additives. If diesel was better to burn in jet turbines, then they wouldn't use the more refined jet fuel. K1 burns cleaner and safer in most kerosene heaters. But.....if you have an oil furnace, it's set up for heating oil, not K1.

Kevin

[Don P]

This past weekend i was thinking this would be nice with that horizontal flue right under the main walkway in the shop. Have the firebox door under floor outside and it heats a floor slab/horizontal flue.
Ondol - Wikipedia

[woodroe]

Inherited a 40K BTU torpedo heater and been using that occasionally
in the shop when things need tinkering on.
Had a small Logwood wood stove in there and although
my stove pipe setup was safe doubted it would  pass the insurance sniff test so
quit using that after many years.
We are down to one K-1 pump at a gas station 20 mins away and at $7 gal its
about the least expensive route for me seeing it doesn't get used much.
Bought a decent carbon monoxide detector, reads PPMs down to 0.
Haven't been able to detect any carbon monoxide using it but like others have mentioned a source of fresh air is needed , windows or doors cracked to replace
depleted oxygen from the combustion process.
Would like to put in a masonry chimney for a wood stove but not sure if the insurance Co. would approve of it.

 

[Al_Smith]

In theory that under floor thing should work .Hot water in a concrete slab  works and can often be done with nothing more than a water heater and a recirc  pump .Rather slow to heat up the slab but once done doesn't take much to keep it warm .

[aigheadish]

So far I've probably got about 10-15 hours in this little electric heater and though it doesn't warm my feet I love it. I adjusted it a bit and now it's pointing down at about 40 degrees, maybe, it is hot on my upper body. I'll have to remember to ask the wife what the bill looks like. I don't think I'm close to my 2 hours per day average, so I'm guessing 15 bucks extra this month. 

[Bruno of NH]

I'm late to the party 
I'm using 2 Chinese diesel heaters
One permanent mounted unit and a new style portable unit in a pelican style box.
These things are cheap to run and work great.
Start with a remote before heading out  
Nice dry heat

[OH_Varmntr]

New farm has a 28x40 shop that I put a ceiling in, blew in R60 cellulose, insulated the 10' overhead door and had 2" foam sprayed on the walls.  

I keep it at 50f with a 7500-watt King electric heater from Menards.  I really didn't want to go electric but I've been very happy with it.  Depending upon the outdoor temps and the wind intensity/direction it's around $50 a month to heat it that way.  The overhead door doesn't seal very well regardless of the new exterior and bottom seals it has.  It needs replaced but lead times on garage doors were crazy when I was doing the work last year.

If I'm out there and want it warmer I usually run my 40k-BTU propane heater and it warms it up to 60 in no time but I'm usually wearing overalls in the winter while out there so it's comfortable enough.

The shop had a masonry chimney that leaked badly when we moved here.  Torn it out and sold the woodburner.  Probably going to put in a thru-wall stainless chimney and bring the spare glass-front burner from the house out there for the longer shop days/nights.

Speaking of which .red dye .I've heard of tax people from say Ohio go around farm sales to check for red dye in the fill spouts .Obviously they must have found some . That stuff stays forever .

They dip tanks at farm shows too.  Rumor is running the off-road fuel through a filter of kitty litter strips the dye...