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Old 03-22-2012, 09:34 AM   #21
real550A
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Default Re: Shop heater

"I like the natural gas furnaces, cheaper and faster heat. "

I agree that natural gas is good heat, if you're in an urban setting where it is available, and you're heating a building w/an existing slab. No city gas out here in the woods.
As far as cheaper, that's on a case by case basis. We have a 780 gal. wood fired, outside boiler that heats a home and 2 outbuildings. Due to a tornado last July, the fuel
has been decidedly cheaper than any "store bought" fuel available, and will be for the next 30 years.
I also like the "silent mode" of the slab heat. You literally can hear a pin drop in our shop!
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Old 03-22-2012, 09:43 AM   #22
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Default Re: Shop heater

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Originally Posted by real550A View Post
"I like the natural gas furnaces, cheaper and faster heat. "

I agree that natural gas is good heat, if you're in an urban setting where it is available, and you're heating a building w/an existing slab. No city gas out here in the woods.
As far as cheaper, that's on a case by case basis. We have a 780 gal. wood fired, outside boiler that heats a home and 2 outbuildings. Due to a tornado last July, the fuel
has been decidedly cheaper than any "store bought" fuel available, and will be for the next 30 years.
I also like the "silent mode" of the slab heat. You literally can hear a pin drop in our shop!

Same thing here in our shop, the stove is going right now and I can hear the clock ticking in the background.

We use 4-5 cords of wood to heat a 30'X40' shop with 10' ceilings and keep it very comfortable. We buy our wood at a cost of $700 a year but it would cost us double that or more plus the cost of the electricity and maintenance.

The main reason we do it though is we really like it and also heat our house w/a wood stove.

Last edited by t-head; 03-25-2012 at 09:28 AM.
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Old 03-22-2012, 09:45 AM   #23
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Default Re: Shop heater

[QUOTE=real550A;391169
I also like the "silent mode" of the slab heat. You literally can hear a pin drop in our shop![/QUOTE]
I sure can agree with that. Originally, I was going with in-floor heat but changed my mind when it required being on all the time as it would take too long to come up to a desired temperature. So, instead I have a typical gas furnace so I could duct into a paint room. Too late to realize these are designed to live in a basement. Heating the shop is not a problem though I agree with others that warm feet is an advantage. The irony is I keep it on all the time to 50 degrees (of course I turn it up when working in there). When the blower kicks on, you can't hear music, etc. If you turn it up then it's too loud when the blower shuts off. I suppose there are worse things to deal with............
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Old 03-22-2012, 10:37 AM   #24
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Default Re: Shop heater

t-head, Nice shop...looks cozy!
I keep our 1500 sq. ft. shop 60F all winter. It's nice to drive the Bobcat w/snowblower in
to dry out and grease, after doing the roads. I have to load the boiler once a day, when it's below zero for extended periods, but ususally once every two days the rest of the winter.
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Old 03-22-2012, 10:47 AM   #25
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Default Re: Shop heater

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t-head, Nice shop...looks cozy!
I keep our 1500 sq. ft. shop 60F all winter. It's nice to drive the Bobcat w/snowblower in
to dry out and grease, after doing the roads. I have to load the boiler once a day, when it's below zero for extended periods, but ususally once every two days the rest of the winter.
A stove is quite a bit more work, I keep the dry wood inside in the right hand bay behind the car trailer (see earlier photos), that bay is not heated but I don't have to go outside to get my wood. I fill the stove with wood at 8pm and get it going again with the left over coals again at 8 am...thru the day I add in wood as needed.

Last edited by t-head; 03-25-2012 at 09:28 AM.
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Old 03-22-2012, 11:56 AM   #26
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Default Re: Shop heater

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The thought of having a heater with a flame in a garage where gas fumes are present is frightning.
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Old 03-22-2012, 12:48 PM   #27
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Default Re: Shop heater

Cord wood here on the left coast of Ca is around 250/300 a cord for euc or oak, and I use 2 to 3 cord just for the house, I split my own but have a life and don't feel like splitting another 4 to 5 for the shop, although I would like wood heat, I use a 150,000 mr heater diesel heater to knock the chill down.
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Old 03-23-2012, 12:39 AM   #28
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Default Re: Shop heater

My new garage is getting radiant heat in the floor.
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Old 03-23-2012, 01:51 AM   #29
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Default Re: Shop heater

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Originally Posted by t-head View Post
Same thing here in our shop, the stove is going right now and I can hear the clock ticking in the background.

We use 4-5 cords of wood to heat a 30'X40' shop with 10' ceilings and keep it very comfortable. We buy our wood at a cost of $700 a year but it would cost us double that or more plus the cost of the electricity and maintenance.

The main reason we do it though is we really like it and also heat our house w/a wood stove.

The photo shows the back of the shop where the office is. What you cannot see is the platform the stove is raised up on that I mentioned in the earlier post.

The little room behind the stove with the Elm Garage sign on it holds our big noisy 50 year old 5 hp air compressor. It has a thermostat and a fan that starts up when it gets hot in there and keeps it cool. Before we had to shut the compressor off to use the phone or to talk and had to turn off the furnace to be able to hear who ever was on the phone.

The second photo shows some of our machinery on the other side of the back of the room.
WOW....what a cozy tidy looking shop T-head.
Makes me feel guilty about all the junk piled up in mine.
I can almost feel the heat off that woodstove!

A woodstove does provide the best feeling heat in my opinion...and not as dangerous as some might think given some common sense.
(even though common sense maybe ain't so common)

The body shop I worked at through the 90's used a woodstove. It was a heavy barrel on it's side with a steel door.
Our spray booth, paint and solvents were at the far end. We frequently laid fresh primered parts and motorcycle tanks against the stove to bake. Alot of things you don't want to hear about went through that stove and we never had a problem except for the extraordinary amount of time it consumed to keep it stoked while trying to make a day's pay.
Funny thing...I talked with my old partner today and he still runs it in the shop, although he says the latest insurance lookie-lou was somewhat dissenchanted last week and it might have to go....
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Old 03-23-2012, 06:20 AM   #30
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Default Re: Shop heater

Good point Craig, we actually got our premiums lowered by putting in the outside boiler.
Now, no furnace/flame in the house or outbuildings.
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Old 03-23-2012, 06:59 AM   #31
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Default Re: Shop heater

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Lewis View Post

A woodstove does provide the best feeling heat in my opinion...and not as dangerous as some might think given some common sense.
(even though common sense maybe ain't so common)
The reality is they are no more dangerous than any garage heater that uses a flame for heat inside, which fed by inside air for combustion. The key is to keep any unit up off of the floor, the higher the better, to keep the burner away from vapors, which being heavier than air tend to stay down near the floor.

Outside wood furnaces also work very well and a number of our neighbors use them, as about 50% of the people here in Northern New England heat with wood.

We are fortunate to be able to by firewood for $175- $200 a cord delivered.
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Old 03-23-2012, 07:03 AM   #32
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Default Re: Shop heater

i have a wastse oil furnace, it works great, but there is usually oil everywhere,
try haveing cieling fans running, it solved out problem
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Old 03-23-2012, 08:13 AM   #33
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Default Re: Shop heater

I put in a New Air G73 electric heater in my 2 car garage this winter and love it. Its cheap, small, quiet yet does the job. Its 5000W and I think its 18,000 BTU. Just right for that amount of space.
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Old 03-23-2012, 09:34 AM   #34
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Default Re: Shop heater

I started my interest in the craft as a finisher. 99% of the better shops I've worked in and visited always had hanging forced air unit heaters. When dealing with anything that can emit fumes, the higher the better for the furnace. Fumes gather on the floor, and ventilation/moving air is prime safety factor. I'm heating 1200sqft with open trusses using an older HD Janitrol 175,000BTU unit heater. Running it all day, keeping the shop at 65 for most of Jan and Feb, my highest gas bill (house included) was $230.00. I'm out there 9-12hrs a day, and I turn it off at night.
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Old 03-23-2012, 11:12 AM   #35
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Default Re: Shop heater

I have a relatively small 12' X 24' garage. When I built it I ran 220 along with the 110 so as to install 6 ft. long baseboard heaters in the center of the long walls and put a thermostat control on the wall. Of course the walls and ceiling are well insulated.

They do a great job and quickly heat up the area to the selected temp.

No fan to blow stuff around, no open flame or glowing elements (fire risk), custom temp. settings, absolutely quiet, a low location to give even heat throughout - even when I'm on my back under the car -, practically flush with the wall taking up minimal space, cheap purchase and installation and reasonable energy useage.
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Old 03-23-2012, 11:24 AM   #36
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Default Re: Shop heater

a nipco works Great too!
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