Shop Heat Ideas

[Spike60]

Rather than hijack Dave's "groundie" thread, thought a new one would be a way to pick up on the shop heat diecussion started over there. Interesting to hear how others set up their "happy places" as Tom calls them.

My home shop is small at 12'x16'. Only need to work on saws, (or my snow blower), so that's plenty of room for me. Well organized, well lit, decent stereo. Especially nice out there when it's snowing out.

For heat I've been using 2 methods. 18,500 Kero-Sun, and last year I got one of those twin burner heaters that mount on the barbecue tanks. Of the 2, the propane deal is the better one. 2 burners X 3 setting means 6 different heat settings. Only need to heat it when I'm actually out there, so either gadget works fine. Together, they quicken the warm up time, and extend the temp range if needed.

Considered a woodstove when I built it, but it would take up too much room in my little shop, and it would take it up all year long. Those other heaters can be tucked under the bench and out of the way when not needed. And since I'm not heating it unless I'm actually out there, I'd be out there in the cold, getting the wood fire going. With the propane or Kero heaters, I can light one and then go back into the house for 20-30 minutes and let the place warm up.

Never been a need to maintain the temp like Tom might with ongoing wood working projects, and I could go a week or 2 without going out there at all. 15 gallons of Kero traditionally got me through a season. That's gonna change with retiring from the store though. And I much prefer the newer propane heater, so we'll see how she goes cost wise.

Never did the fridge for obvious reasons, and the house is only 100' away. Sticking beers in the snow works pretty good. 

[thecfarm]

All I got to say is, Enjoy your retirement!!! Lucky you.  ;D

[peakbagger]

The enternal vent Toyostoves are pretty slick. They replaced Monitors who are no longer made but the newer ones run low sulfur fuel oil.

[Al_Smith]

In my home garage I have an original design "ember glow" propane heater mounted on a cart making it portable using a 20 pound pound cylinder .It's doesn't create a lot of heat but enough to make it tolerable if I need to work on some thing .
My shop is 60 by 70 with  hanging radiant natural gas tubing heat .It does fine but it's not cheap .Something with that many cubic feet is about like heating a dairy barn ,pricey .If I ran a business would be another situation but being retired I don't use it that often .I can not fathom how much wood it would take to heat that shop ,a huge amount .

[kantuckid]

After years of using a woodstove in a safe masonry flue in my dedicated, standalone woodshop, a 150 yards from our home, I stumbled onto the fact that KY Farm Bureau, my home & auto insurer would cancel my homes insurance if they saw the shops wood heat. They, and every other insurer I asked doesn't allow wood heat in an un-occupied structure and cancels the entire coverage.
I was in a food fight with them over their handling of a parking lot fender bender where the other driver lied, thus I was asking around for a new insurer and learned this factoid on my shops heat source. I actually didn't use it as much as once was after I'd installed an electric overhead heater some years back for ease of overnight glue ups and finishing cures. 
The overhead heaters are not something new and exciting, but the install is easy and cost inexpensive, with operation cheap for me based on our low KY electric rates. 

[Don P]

I've been watching U-tubes on waste oil shop heaters. I stumbled into it sideways looking for a hotter melting furnace and saw smokeless drip feed oil burners. I make enough oil that might take some of the chill off.

And yes, if any of this burns, we are up teepee creek. There are bobcats and bears in the woods, stay alert  .

[chet]

My 28 x 36 shop is heated the same way as my house, by my outdoor wood boiler. Always warm and cozy, and never a worry of rusted tools, or frozen supplies. 

[Real1shepherd]

I'm going with an infrared natural gas heater up on the wall....thermostat, millivolt driven so no power required. If I have gas, I have heat. It will also have a fan though as an option.

I love kerosene heaters and have used them for decades but the price of the K-1 fuel has driven most people away. The gas is passive;you just turn up the thermostat. These infrareds will run off off propane or natural gas.

One of the models I'm looking at has a bracket that attaches to a stud and the heater angles down. That's absolutely perfect for my garage back wall....no space given up.

Kevin  

[Spike60]

I love kerosene heaters and have used them for decades but the price of the K-1 fuel has driven most people away. The gas is passive;you just turn up the thermostat. These infrareds will run off off propane or natural gas.


Kevin  

Yes, that's why I went out and got the propane tank heater last year. And in the case of the station across the street from my store, the empty tank or broken pump signs were more frequent than having the thing actually working. 

[Walnut Beast]

This is what you want. Inferred radiant heat. From small places to the biggest commercial shops. These heat all surfaces around you and they work fantastic 

https://spaceray.com/


https://spaceray.com/residential-garage-outdoor-living-heating/

https://spaceray.com/ProductPDF/NXU_NXS/S45400-ForceRed-Series-Spec-Sheet.pdf

[hedgerow]

Current shop is 20FTX60FT 16 FT side walls. 14X16 overhead door. Built in 2003. In floor heat 90 plus LP furnace. In 2009 I installed a Garn wood boiler and heat my house and shop with it now so the 90 plus furnace acts as a air handler with a coil in it. I would never have a shop with our in floor heat. I leave it a fifty degrees and kick the air handler on in the morning to take the chill off. Spike your going to like retirement. Quit my town job five years ago because of some health issues and now just work on my farms. Sure don't miss the town job. 

[Al_Smith]

My bud Dave who is one of the experts nation wide on Corvettes and Camaros  has a 60 by 100 shop he heats with used crankcase oil .He can store about 4,000 gallons which is where my crankcase oil goes .Takes me a couple of years to get a drum full .

[doc henderson]

my shop and house has in floor heat.  I have a woodstove in the house and shop.  in the shop I set the thermostat at 55 and start a fire to warm hands if outside, and take the edge off for inside work.  60° is about right for doing medium work.

[sawguy21]

Whatever you do make sure it has a fresh air supply and is properly vented. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer but you already know that

[gspren]

I'm still working on my shop and the heated/cooled part is a 12' X 20' well insulated room in a corner of a 46' X 64' pole building. After much talking and research I'll be putting in a MiniSplit unit probably Mitsubishi, my local heating and cooling dude said I'll be surprised at how economical the new units are.

[Real1shepherd]

Bob and I both don't want to give up the shop space to a wood stove. And like he said, the stove sits there all yr long. If I had the space though, I'd do it......although woods stoves have a limit in bigger spaces. I had a big machine barn back on my farm in MO. My shop was an insulated room within that barn with gas heat. The rest was unheated and un-insulated.

So, one yr I got a wild hair to put in one of those double 55gal stoves you see in the magazines. I had high hopes I could heat the rest of the un-insulated barn with that stove arrangement. I even lined the bottom stove with fire bricks. Fired her up with oak. What a joke....it didn't touch that big barn space....only if you stood next to the stove did you feel any heat. Too high a ceiling pitch, too much cold air coming in etc.

Kevin  

[Old Greenhorn]

Kevin, you must have done something wrong. :D ;D I had a double barrel Sotz in and industrial building I renter for my shop years ago. It was about 40 x 90'. That stove got so hot I couldn't operate my milling machine 20' away because the radiant heat about set my clothes on fire. :D I once made the mistake of filling it with cedar shingles I was tearing off a garage roof. That thing took off in such a way that it nearly danced across the floor. I had to box it in with pallet jacks QUICK before it ripped the chimney off. Learned my lesson.

 One secret I use to heat my shop, and nearly every shop I have had is a ceiling fan. I have run mine 24/7 for 40 years and it keeps the heat moving around and breaks up thermal barriers. With the wood stove in a large space it is critical to keeping my heat you generate uniformly spread, and it's cheap. In the years I never ran heat in the shop, it kept the building from freezing unless the temp stayed at or below zero for 5 days or more. Ceiling fans are worth their weight and power use for sure.

[Walnut Beast]

My bud Dave who is one of the experts nation wide on Corvettes and Camaros  has a 60 by 100 shop he heats with used crankcase oil .He can store about 4,000 gallons which is where my crankcase oil goes .Takes me a couple of years to get a drum full .

Better have a good supply chain. They do a good job but they need a healthy supply to keep going. And it's got to be clean used. Contaminated oil causes problems 

[Don P]

I stepped down to the single barrel after the first year with a double. It was also a creosote maker. I think the door part of that kit has been through at least 5 barrels as it has travelled from job to job. With a couple of sections of flue it was better than an open burn barrel even outside. A grease drum with a flattened top in a school bus with a Sotz door is a camper special. I followed a tree planting buddy driving to the next site with the stove going for heat. I've split many cords with their monster maul.

[rusticretreater]

I am using my outdoor wood furnace for heat in my 30'x40' shop.  The fella I bought the furnace from threw in an old heat exchanger.  I was buying a piece of wood working equipment from another guy who had a bunch of squirrel cage fans who gifted me two of them.  So I am coming up with a plan for some duct work and blowers.

[chet]

@Rusticretreater, your shop is similar in size to mine. No need for a bunch of duct work.  I just constructed similar to a modine heater out of plywood, a squirrel cage fan, a water to air exchanger, and a couple fiberglass filters on each side. It just sits on the floor in the corner. It has kept my shop toasty warm for many years in the UP of Michigan via a wall mounted thermostat.

[rusticretreater]

Nifty.  I have been checking out cabinet designs too.

My shop will be split in two parts, both 20x30.  One side is the garage and the other the woodworking shop.  I will be building a wall to separate the two sections. Sawdust is certainly not needed in my garage.  

As there will only be one heat exchanger and a wall with only a doorway as an internal damper, I figured I needed a small amount of ductwork to to move things to the other side of the wall.  The squirrel cage fans would move it along well.

I suppose I could incorporate it into the wall when I build it, but I need to get up and running.  I also have a crowded shop in 20x30, so a floor cabinet is ruled out at this point.

[ladylake]

 I'd go with a air to air heat exchanger (mini split), they both heat and cool and run cheap.     Steve

[Al_Smith]

My dad had a single barrel "Yukon special " in his garage .That thing would would put out the heat .In winter he'd go out and start the fire then go back in the house and drink coffee for half an hour .Over the next 20 years he did total rebuilds on at least a dozen CJ model Jeeps the very last one I now own made from parts of three  .The last three winters we have not got enough snow to even bother with it to plow snow .

[Bostonstrong]

I have a 21 x 15 shop in a detached barn/garage building.  When I had it built, I spec'd water, 200 amp service, cable and phone lines looking ahead to when I would retire and spend much more time out there.  I also made that the location for my whole house generator and buried a 300 gal propane tank to fuel that.  The builder convinced me, since I already had a source of propane, to install a wall mounted propane heater for the shop.  MISTAKE!  I got the smallest one and it is still overkill.  Takes up about 7 square feet of wall space and I still have to deal with suffocating in there in the summer with our high heat/humidity.
I am going to get the mini-split as mentioned by several others.  These things are available now direct to DIYers.  Electricity is a far better deal right now in my area compared to propane anyway.
Just my humble opinion!