S

Stockmanreef

Well Known Member
I live in MI and it is starting to get cold. I just plumbed up and turned on a 40,000 BTU Radiant heater. The garage is a 24 by 24 with 10' ceilings. SO far this thing works great. We will see what happens in the middle of winter.


 
I've got about that here in Colorado, in my 19 foot square garage. Mine are four 3 kw electric heaters, which total just over 40k BTU/hr.

What I've found is that seems to be too much heat for my smaller, well-insulated garage. It quickly gets uncomfortable. Fortunately I can control the south two separately from the north two. They have separate switches and thermostats. I generally run just half the set, and try to arrange things so that it's the set farthest from me. With a low thermostat setting and keeping just those two heaters active, it's often pretty pleasant there.

Dave
 
heat

Wow. You two installed some serious heat. I must like it cold. Here at 7,500' in Colorado my garage is about 24' square also. It's insulated 6" wall so it never drops below 50. I put in a Little Buddy 18k btu. It runs off a small 20lb propane bottle. I turn it down to 9k when it warms up to about 58 and turn it off at 62. Any warmer and and I'm cookin'. :D
 
Ken,
Sometime while I am out here in Michigan, I want to come up and see your project. Im heading back home this coming weekend, but sometime I'll be up to see your 14. When I sat in the 14 at Vans, I wished I was building it rather than the 9. Maybe after I get the 9 built, a 14 is in my future!
 
Yep

I have two similar heaters in my hangar and the beauty of radiant heat is that your toolbox and tools will be warmed, as well as your airplane.

Absolutely love mine.

Best,
 
It might be overkill, but it was only $450 shipped to my house plus a few things from HD. I had the garage plumbed for NG, so no propane tanks. Once the room is warm, I turn down the thermostat. It is toasty in there right now. Hopefully it will be that way when the temperature drops to 0 F.

rockwoodrv9--let me know when you are in the area. Where are you when you are in MI?

Ken
 
caution!

ok, so some of you guys ( in Georgia):rolleyes: have heated shops???? :)

Ken, just be quite aware that this type of heater is likely a pretty good source of ignition, so don't be doing a lot of rattle-can priming indoors with the heat on!
 
Ken,
I am in East Lansing. I have been here most of the time since June. I should be around off and on for the rest of the school year. Im heading back to Colorado this weekend but some Sat or Sun I will have to come on up and see your project.
 
i live in n. wi. so below zero is common all winter.in my shop i have a conventional vented wall furnace and a wall mounted UL approved unvented gas heater. while the unvented is 100% efficient it also really pushes up the humidity and i have noticed that things slowly but steadily rust in the shop using the unvented heater. the past few winters i have used strictly the vented furnace.
always a downside to everything.
lately when the temps are around freezing i start out the day with the furnace to get the temp up and then use a couple electric space heaters.probably using 500-1000 watts /hour. at these ''warmer'' outside temps i figure with the furnace's 70% efficiency and its start ups getting furnace to temp just about make up the difference in cost between elec. and gas. at least for these moderate temps.
one last thing.....although i did notice an odor with the unvented unit when i tested for carbon monoxide it was almost zip.......perfectly safe.
 
I had not thought about the humidity issue. I will have to keep an eye on that. I have a CO monitor plugged up out there.

I had not really thought about the ignition source and spray painting. I have a paint booth at the back of the garage where there is a 9' by 7' door, which I open up when painting with fans turned on. I don't paint in an enclosed room. I don't like to get exposed to the fumes.

rockwoodrv9: shoot me a PM @ [email protected]. Easier to get a hold of me that way.

Ken
 
bobnoffs said:
i live in n. wi. so below zero is common all winter.in my shop i have a conventional vented wall furnace and a wall mounted UL approved unvented gas heater. while the unvented is 100% efficient it also really pushes up the humidity and i have noticed that things slowly but steadily rust in the shop using the unvented heater. the past few winters i have used strictly the vented furnace.
always a downside to everything.
lately when the temps are around freezing i start out the day with the furnace to get the temp up and then use a couple electric space heaters.probably using 500-1000 watts /hour. at these ''warmer'' outside temps i figure with the furnace's 70% efficiency and its start ups getting furnace to temp just about make up the difference in cost between elec. and gas. at least for these moderate temps.
one last thing.....although i did notice an odor with the unvented unit when i tested for carbon monoxide it was almost zip.......perfectly safe.
Click to expand...

+1 on humidity - - tools in the box are the last to get heated. An older gent in my area - during a winter with lots of sub-zero time had several boxes of snap-on tools ruined. He was using kerosene w/sulfur, but the humidity and condensation issue still applies.

I have wondered if a 40 watt bulb ( or smaller) in the bottom of each tool box would do the trick.
 
Be carful of condensation! Local community college used similar heaters in its machine shop, had major rust problem on its machine tools. End end up scrapping them and going to forced hot air.
 
i think the humidity thing with no venting is a losing battle. for a dehumidifier to work the air has to be warm enough for actual condensation on the cold coils. now you have to run heat 24/7 and then the cost of a dehum. etc. i keep my shop at 45 deg. when not in use. would cost so much more to keep 65 so the dehum. would work.
in the end i went to a vented furnace, 45 deg. when not in use, no dehum. and always a lower relative humidity than when i used the unvented furnace.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.