# Winer heating for the shop



## agallant (Jul 1, 2010)

16X18 shop insulated but detached from the house.
I need to find some way to keep some sort of constant temp in the shop during the winter. The propain heater worked well last winter but I was never able to get all of the steel in the shop up to temp and it sucked the heat out of the air not to mention the amount of glue and what not that went bad from being below 30deg. So this year I want to have some sort of perm heater that I can set at 65 and leave it on. I am a bit worried about electric running up the bill. What do you do to worm your shop?


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

To start with I have no clue where your shop is located. Cook, Minnesota presents a slightly different problem than Tampa, Florida, for instance.

The most simple way to warm the metal surfaces in the shop is with infrared heat. This can be gas or electric, but these heaters usually don't have thermostats. I have used four 250 watt heat lamps, aimed directly at my tools in the past. That was not too bad for energy costs. About $0.08 per hour, or $2.00 a day, depending on how many hours a day I ran them.

An insulated cabinet with thermostat controled heat would take care of glue and finishes rather economically. You would be surprised how little energy it takes to heat an enclosed cabinet.

Other than these two "stop-gap" solutions, your best bet is electric, warm air type thermostat controled heat.

I have a wall mounted gas infarred heater in my shop now, but my shop is in my basement, so not the same problem as yours.


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## agallant (Jul 1, 2010)

North Carolina


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## cjwillie (Sep 6, 2011)

I knew a guy that kept all his glues, finishes, and chemicals that were subject to freezing in an old refrigerator that had the compressor removed. He disabled the light switch so that the light stayed lit all the time. He put in a double light socket and 2 60watt lightbulbs. He used 2 in case one burned out. It stayed warm enough to keep everything from freezing and the cost was minimal. This was in Ohio and worked for our winters.


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## Albert (Jul 28, 2008)

I use a Cadet overhead heater, I think it came from Lowes.
Works good, I turn it down low but above freezing at night but you are right, it is not free to operate.
I am in Washington State so am likely cooler than your area.
My heater does not have a thermostat which would be better but it does have a dial control on the unit which is 'good enough'.


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## Pdub (Sep 10, 2009)

I have a 20×24 detached that I heat with an electric heater. It has a dial control so I cant set for a certain temp but I can find a comfortable setting. I live in North Dakota, so alot colder than NC. I don't know what it adds to the electric bill but nothing has frozen yet, except me while walking throught he snow. LOL


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## tom427cid (Aug 21, 2011)

Hi,

MY shop is in northern NH. I use a 40K BTU kero thru the wall heater. Monitor comes to mind. I generally leave the thermostat around 64-67 and it stays very nice. The shop is 38' square.Actually it is an old barn. Previous owner tried to insulate-didn't know to staple the tabs. I have closed off windows that I dont need,installed rigid foam on the doors,and even put 6mil plastic on the inside to cut down on the drafts. I use about 450 gallons a year of kero.
Could it be better-absolutly-but not so cost efficient. My shop in VT which I built was 26×51' used a mobil home furnace,it generally used about 250 gallons a year and I kept it at 68 degrees.I was concious of keeping warm when I built it.6" of insulation in the walls and 9" in the ceiling.Anything you can do to keep heat in,especially in the ceiling area will help. In the barn here I put 3/4 OSB on the floor.Before I did the OSB I put 3/8 ridgid on the floor.That made a big difference.
Hope this helps
tom


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## cjwillie (Sep 6, 2011)

I have a 24'X24' shop that I heat primarily with wood. I use an old cast iron woodburner and I have a good supply of free firewood. I only heat it when I'm in the shop. I move anything that will freeze into the house in the winter. On those really cold mornings it takes a long time for the woodburner to have any effect so I use a kerosene torpedo heater to bring the temp up to about 60 degrees and then let the wood take over. I try to keep it pretty well sealed and try to keep moisture levels low to keep rust at a minimum. Sometimes that seems like a full time job keeping the old tools clean and rust free! Sealed all the windows and boarded them up, mainly for security (I don't trust my neighbors), and insulated the ceiling making a nice warm, draft-free workshop. I'm in northeast Ohio and we get some nasty winters here too!


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## joedw00 (Oct 12, 2008)

I have a 14X20 detached shop, and got a heater/air conditioner window unit from Lowes this summer. It is only 110, but kept the shop pretty cool this record breaking summer without raising the elc bill too high. Will see how the heater works this winter.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

*joedw00* Does it have a reversing valve to become a heat pump or have heating elements in it?


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## joedw00 (Oct 12, 2008)

It has heating elements.


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## BurtC (Oct 30, 2009)

Can realate to your heat issue here in Colorado too. I too use the enclosed cabinet solution for paints, stains, glues but I just mounted a lamp socket in there with 40 watt bulb. The room is maintained to 50 degrees 24×7 with an oil filled heater. The heater jacks the electic bill up maybe $20/month. Not a big deal for me. I go out to shop prior to working in there and fire up a conventional space heater and room jumps to 65 or so in about half hours time.
Hope this gives you some ideas.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Thanks *joedw00* I have been trying to find a small heat pump, but haven't found any. I do not think they make them. Not sure why they don't put a reversing valve in window ac units?


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## joedw00 (Oct 12, 2008)

It has to get below 60 before I can tell if it works.


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## doyoulikegumwood (Jun 21, 2007)

well when i still had my shop i heated it off the boiler in my house i just ran a line under ground out there. you only need to know the depth of frost in your area and go below it.


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## Bearpie (Feb 19, 2010)

When I expanded my shop to 20' x 24' I got a 18,500 BTU window AC unit that has an 18,000 BTU heat strip. It was too cold for me to work in there some days and for a period of about a month when we had a long record breaking streak of freezing weather. I have a bad back and it really aches when it is cold. I have not had an opportunity to test this heat system yet as the work was done earlier this spring. I did turn on the heater part, it worked so I shut it off being that it is here in Florida, I didn't want to run it too long in the heat. The time to test it will be coming soon and so far I am still using the AC part! I believe that if I lived in the southern part of the state I would not bother with the heater part.


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## Woodguy (Aug 25, 2007)

One way to heat and cool your shop is to use a mini-split system, Carrier makes a mini-split heat pump. http://www.residential.carrier.com/products/ductfree/uceiling_cml/performanceser.shtml They don't give heat out. The mini-split requires no duct work. The ones I am familiar with are quite and do a good job. If you check out commercial HVAC you should be able to find through-the-heatpumps, 90% of the hotels/motels use them because they are cheap to install, maintain and fairly economical to run. 
If you have natural gas inferred makes the best shop heat.http://www.shophmac.com/reverberray-ls-10-25.html I worked in commercial truck garages where we used them. You could bring a 33K digger derrick in when it was 0 out and it would be warm in a little more than a hour but the shop was always comfortable in shirt sleeves. Big disadvantage is the need for tall ceiling, you can get real warm standing under the tube if your less than 10 ft away. 
Electric inferred is an option but does cost more to operate and you don't get cooling.

I am a big fan of ultra high levels of insulation in the attic & walls if you can, and wool long underwear, and plenty of hot coffee. Unless it is super cold, a portable electric heater is adequate here in Denver in the garage.


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## bernwood (Aug 19, 2010)

My shop is 24 X 24 located in NH under my barn. It was a dirt half cellar but I dug it out and have 2 and a half walls under ground. It gets cold here. To simplify matters, I installed a wall space heater which uses propane. It has no fans, just a wall mounted space heater. At night time, I turn the heat down to 50 and turn it up to 60 when working. This works great for me. Rust is eliminated during the winter months and metal surfaces are cool at best.

NH is a property tax only state which led me to my choice of heating system. Had I installed a system needing a chimney, my taxes would have gone up a chunk turning my workshop into an apartment grade space.

But the space heater works great. I enter my shop early wearing a sweater. The sweater may come off after a short period of time. This works great for my situation, but you have some folks here who know a lot more about heating then I do. If you're young and have a lot of years to look at, then make a long term investment. Consult with Topo. Bob is knowledgeable and can give you excellent advise.


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## mrtoasty (Jan 13, 2011)

I have a 30 X 36 shop I built from scratch. I installed pex tubing in the concrete floor and circulate hot water through it. I heat the whole thing with a 4500 watt continuous hot water heater. I keep it at 60 to 65 unless I am finishing.

It will work well under wood floors as well.

Les


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

In my 14X36 well insulated detached shop is a ProComm 25K BTU ventless heater. 
Our household water tanks and pumps share the shop, so heat is a must.
No thermostat but @ 20 deg. the shop stays at 40 when the dial on the heater is placed at "1". 
The same heater is on sale at Northern Tool for $199. I paid $224 at a local place about 5 years ago.
Mine is set up for propane. It used less than $50.00 worth last winter.


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## agallant (Jul 1, 2010)

I'm thinking of something like this but am worried about the electric cost.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200325960_200325960


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

I use this one - I'm in Kansas where it is always blowing. You have to find where on the thermostat is the temp you like - as it is just a "1-5" dial ut usally I have it left on 1 and it keeps the shop around 55-60 then I turn it up a bit when I am working (and off when I am finishing). Never need it above level 2 to keep the shop 70+ and toasty.
There are no exposed filaments - so no fire danger - It just has a decent blower fan in it that will deposit stuff on your wet finish.

My shop is 14 by 21

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_595_595


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## Yurik (Oct 11, 2011)

I do not understand why are you not using electric convective heater? I am in northern NJ build my shop myself ( 25×15')
one 1,500 Kwt board keep whole shop at62 all winter for the fraction of what you pay for 250 galons of kero. I found it cost me less then $20 per month in Januaty and February, and this is in NJ - in NC it will be at least two times less provided you have good insulation and no drafts.


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