# Best way to heat you outside woodworking shed



## Lightsofthestream

I have a 10ft x 14ft. outside woodworking shed with no heat. When winter is here and the temperetur is 30deg and below work stops in my shop,,


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## brunob

I have a garage Mr. Heater. It's outside vented and hangs from the ceiling. Works great in my 12 X 24 shop.


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## Julian

I use an old antique potbelly woodburner in my shop that I bought off of craigslist for $200. I have a detached 2 car garage that it heats up very quickly using a fan behind it to push the hot air around the shop. The best part is it doesn't cost me anything to use since I get my firewood from the local tree services for free.


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## reggiek

A small wood stove in mine….but before I used a propane heater….and had a kerosene one as backup (both worked very good…but kept needing to get fuel).....the wood stove is a vogelzanger pot belly…they are small and very affordable….and since I generate a lot of fuel…there is never any shortage…LOL…


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## dbhost

Mr. Heater Portable Buddy heater, small, inexpensive, (under $100.00) will run on #20 propane tanks, low oxygen shutoff so you won't poison yourself with Carbon Monoxide, and will run you out of that shed on high…

If you haven't done so, please post a shop tour. I am going to be losing the garage space to the wife eventually, and want to see how shed guys get everything in there, including themselves…


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## BlankMan

My shop is in the basement but during winter it can get down to the 50's in there so I have a Vermont Castings high efficiency wood burning stove that is mechanically thermostatically controlled. Works well and the fuel has been free.

My buddy's shop is in his garage and he just installed a gas heater like the Modine type overhead and runs it off of 100lbs. propane tanks. It's not even a week old running wise but he really likes it already. No wonder, it's 7°F out today. 

The upside of my wood stove is on days like this I'll fire it up and get the basement up to about 80° and as they say heat rises so it helps to heat my house and my boiler runs way less.


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## russv

i use to use a kerosun for years and it worked pretty well, but when kerosene got to $5.00 a gallon, i switched to a ventless gas heater with a low oxygen sensor. i buried a gas line out from the house (i'm in a detached garage) and hung the heater on the wall. it is about as cheap as anything except wood burning. the garage is not sealed tight like a house so it shouldn't be a problem with oxygen. natural gas is the cheapest. i personally would avoid propane. it is the most volatile and dangerous and very expense (3 or times natural gas). It is also convienent to never having to refill and change out the tank. I leave the heater on all the time. now that it's frozen, burying a gas line might be difficult. I spent $140 for my heater and $30 for the gas line run to the garage.

russv


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## Padre

I use a Hot Dawg gas heater in mine. Works like a champ.


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## charlie48

I allso use a Hot Dawg gas heater, works great.


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## BlankMan

russv, I agree with you on natural gas. I told my buddy before it froze to run a gas line underground from the house to the garage, no more the 10ft for him but that was too much work I guess. The heater came jetted for natural gas and he had to change the jets for propane. We'll see how he likes hauling 100lbs tanks back and forth. State law says they have to be vertical and strapped in and they wouldn't let him leave the yard until he did that. Remember Falk? Hope that don't happen to his garage.


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## DaveP

I've got a Keroheat model 2230 barrel style convection heater that keeps my garage a fairly comfortable temperature even in temps below 10 degrees F. I used it for maybe three days a week last year, and so far about 3-4 days a week this year. Takes about 15 minutes to heat up a 20 X 25 space (with not a whole lot of insulation) and usually burns slightly over a quarter of a tank after about 3-3.5 hours. If you can't install a dedicated gas line because of the weather, like russv mentioned, you could certainly use the kerosene heater until next year. I have no other backup heat for the house, so a kerosene heater serves a dual purpose for me. Nice to have around in case of power outtages. Eventually, I'd like to run a dedicated natural gas line, but until I decide whether or not I'll build a seperate shop building, this one will do. For what it's worth, K1 kerosene is about $3.41 a gallon in my area and the heater was $99.00 on sale.


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## russv

I probably shouldn't admit this, but where I live, the law is kind of relaxed I put this furnace in last winter after winter hit. I was told by my local home improvement center to put the line above ground temporarily. What he said was to run a section of stainless steel flexible gas line and put it in PVC pipe to protect it. I anchored it to the ground and waited till spring to bury it. It worked fine all winter. don't use black pipe outside. When I buried it, I left it in the pvc so it would be protected from a shovel hitting it.

russv


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## BlankMan

russv, We Engeries was just here a few months ago and had to replace my feed out to the road due to a leak in the front yard (it was from 1935 if I remember correctly) and they used plastic pipe and that's at 35psi till it hits the regulator by the meter. So using stainless steel in my opinion is a step up and at the 7" W.C. pressure (about 0.5 psi) after the regulator/meter I think you were safe.


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## BurtC

My shop is not much larger and use one of those oil-filled radiator sytle electric heaters. I keep the shop about 50 with it, then kick on a standard space heater until 65 degrees. Takes about 30 minutes. My shop is insulated and I suggest yours be insulted too.


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## toddc

Got a HotDawg - it's the best!


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## russv

curt,
I've used that plastic stuff in the past. I hated it. it's stiff and hard to turn a corner. the fittings can leak easily. The SS line had special fittings and you can shape it to make a turn in a fairly sharp radius (no, not 90 degree).

one thing about heating the shop only when you're in there I have to say. With all that metal, I think maintaining a constant temp is better than trying to heat all that metal up and down.

russv


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## BlankMan

russv, have to agree with you on the constant temperature. Fluctuations in temperature will cause condensation and as we all know, cast iron likes to rust.


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## drfixit

I'm in North Fla, so it dont get real cold, but I have always used a 60,000 btu kerosene fired heater… have had no problems so far, just make sure you have enough fresh air to prevent carbon monoxide posioning
Mine looks like this….


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## FatherHooligan

-43 with the windchill last couple of days…I don't even want to get out of bed never mind walk out to the shop and turn the heat on….I think hibernation is very sensible LOL! When its warmer I heat with electricity as its about as cheap as natural gas here and I don't have to run any pipe as the garage is wired for 240 for the heater.


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## Alexander

My shop is in a 3 car garage. I have the 1 car space. I put a wall between the 2 car side and 1 car side. My heaater, MR Heater is propane. I have propane through out the house and had a tap in the two car side. To get the heat into my shop I framed in two 2X2 box fans. The fans are connected to the relay in the heater so when the heater fan blows the warm air into the 2 car side the box fans come on. One fan blows from the 2 car side into the shop and the other fan, at the other end of the wall blows the aire from the shop back into the garage. Kind of like the return vent on a furnace. The T stat is set at 45 the lowest setting and I set it up to 60 when I want to work in the shop. Mr. Heater is vented to the outside. Propane cost more than Natural gas as it is not regulated but we don't have natural gas out here anyway.


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## Davidwoodworking

Seems a few recommedation for HotDawg. Does it really work?


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## Sacadelic

+1 on the Modine Hot Dawg. I have the HDS45. It is a sealed combustion unit so that it pulls the combustion air from outside. This prevents a dust explosion or fume explosion or anything like that. It may be a little overboard, but better safe than sorry. I paid the extra for a little piece of mind. My shop is 24×30 and it does an excellent job of heating it. It is a 45000 BTU unit. So i guess the answer to Davids question is yes, it does work. Very well!!

Sac


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## Rick Dennington

Greetings Bob: I can't help you very much with your heat problems. Sounds like all the guys above pretty well have you covered. My shop is a 40' x50', and I had central heat and air installed when I built it. I've got 12 heat registers in the ceiling, and last night it got down to 14 degrees(F) here, and the shop was a comfortable 74 degrees this morning. For your size shop, it won't take much to heat it, tho.


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## KnotWright

*HAZARD ALERT* Please do not think just because a Hot Dawg unit pulls combustion air from outside this does not prevent the hazard of a vapor explosion. It clearly states this in the installation manual.

http://www.gas-space-heater.com/pdf/modine-install.pdf

Just because an owner hasn't yet had an explosion doesn't mean that its not possible. please you caution when using your heaters in a workshop with so many hazardous materials. I speak from the firefighters point of view on this from personally having to extinguish several shop fires.

SAFETY FIRST!!

I personally use a wood stove to heat my 2200 sq ft shop, but I never leave it unattended and definitely don't do any spraying of flammable materials inside.


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