Shop Heating

[jbolt]

Wondering what others are using to heat their shops?

My shop came with a fuel-oil heater that sat on the floor in the back and was gravity feed from a 275 gal tank outside. The shop at that time was not insulated or finished inside. I have now insulated and drywalled. Also had an insulated overhead door installed so the temperature swings are fairly mild if kept closed up.

I left the flue for the oil heater in place thinking I might reuse it. Now as I am finally able to start placing equipment and such I don't want the heater where it is nor do I think I want to deal with fuel-oil. I don't think fuel-oil is commonly used here. Electricity or propane seem to be the norm for those of us out in the sticks.

Shop is 900 sf interior with 12' ceiling.

 

[Reddinr]

I'm also working on a solution. Right now I'm using a propane-fired room heater like one of the industrial ones you might see in a warehouse. It heats quickly but it is noisy and it short cycles. I'm thinking about augmenting with a mini-split. Maybe use the propane heater for quick heat and then maintain with the mini-split. I'm staying posted for other ideas.

 

[Cadillac]

Look into infrared heaters they are very efficient. They are what are hanging over The registers at a Home Depot. They heat everything in its path. Another good heater are the tube type radiant heaters. It’s a 4” tube ran along the ceiling area. Can be had in different lengths. Seen them sold in northern tools catalogs Same as the infrared heaters. Electric would be the most expensive

 

[woodchucker]

Wondering what others are using to heat their shops?

My shop came with a fuel-oil heater that sat on the floor in the back and was gravity feed from a 275 gal tank outside. The shop at that time was not insulated or finished inside. I have now insulated and drywalled. Also had an insulated overhead door installed so the temperature swings are fairly mild if kept closed up.

I left the flue for the oil heater in place thinking I might reuse it. Now as I am finally able to start placing equipment and such I don't want the heater where it is nor do I think I want to deal with fuel-oil. I don't think fuel-oil is commonly used here. Electricity or propane seem to be the norm for those of us out in the sticks.

Shop is 900 sf interior with 12' ceiling.

Oil is very efficient. Much more so then electricity. You can run your heater even if the electricity is out on a small generator.
I guess W coast different from E coast. On the E Coast, oil is predominant in rural areas. Propane too, but w/propane if you want to change companies, you need to change tanks... They rent them to you. Some submerge them underground, and have to dig them up... so changing companies becomes costly. And companies here know that and F with you. Oil remains a good deal. Also propane does not give as many btu as oil, or natural gas.

 

[jbolt]

Look into infrared heaters they are very efficient. They are what are hanging over The registers at a Home Depot. They heat everything in its path. Another good heater are the tube type radiant heaters. It’s a 4” tube ran along the ceiling area. Can be had in different lengths. Seen them sold in northern tools catalogs Same as the infrared heaters. Electric would be the most expensive

I have used portable infrared heaters. I would assume you would need something to circulate air for even heating?

I have not seen the tube type radiant heaters. I will have to check it out.

I'm not real keen on electrical units. Cost to operate and eating up some of the electrical load.

I have been looking at the vented propane ceiling mounted heaters. Simple to install. I believe the code allows for up to two 100 gal propane tanks to be installed next to the building so I wouldn't have to put in a tank away from the building and run pipe underground.

 

[jbolt]

Oil is very efficient. Much more so then electricity. You can run your heater even if the electricity is out on a small generator.
I guess W coast different from E coast. On the E Coast, oil is predominant in rural areas. Propane too, but w/propane if you want to change companies, you need to change tanks... They rent them to you. Some submerge them underground, and have to dig them up... so changing companies becomes costly. And companies here know that and F with you. Oil remains a good deal. Also propane does not give as many btu as oil, or natural gas.

I have the heater, tank and flue but I don't want it on the floor. I don't know enough about them to know if it or some other type of oil burner could be mounted off the floor.

 

[matthewsx]

Wondering what others are using to heat their shops?

My shop came with a fuel-oil heater that sat on the floor in the back and was gravity feed from a 275 gal tank outside. The shop at that time was not insulated or finished inside. I have now insulated and drywalled. Also had an insulated overhead door installed so the temperature swings are fairly mild if kept closed up.

I left the flue for the oil heater in place thinking I might reuse it. Now as I am finally able to start placing equipment and such I don't want the heater where it is nor do I think I want to deal with fuel-oil. I don't think fuel-oil is commonly used here. Electricity or propane seem to be the norm for those of us out in the sticks.

Shop is 900 sf interior with 12' ceiling.

Heating your shop in Mountain View is very different from my old one in Northern Michigan.

I was talking with my HVAC guy in Elk Rapids a few weeks back and he strongly recommends heat pump technology (mini-splits). What he told me was using any kind of fuel to heat air or water gives a max of ~97% efficiency, where heat pumps can hit ~300%.

I had a natural gas IR heater in my 2400 sqft. shop building in Michigan and it worked great, also have a small Mr. Heater in our garage there.

The HVAC guy who's shop is in the same town is planning on switching over to mini-splits soon so there's that....

It's probably worth checking with a local company but if it was me I'd put in a mini-split since it gives you cooling as well as heating. The one we have in our bedroom is on a 15A 110v circuit and it keeps the place warm when it's way below freezing. It's also on the same sub-panel as our hot tub and it's never been a problem. We didn't see any increase in our electric bill.

John

 

[ddickey]

I use a heat pump until it gets real cold then infloor heated by natural gas. At least that's the plan.

 

[rabler]

I'll second the mini-split, as you get heat and AC, and at least the one I'm using also offers a dehumidifier mode, which I haven't really tested as my shop already had a dehumidifier. I have a 24x32x12 space that is only lightly insulated and a 15k BTU unit does nicely in this climate.

The efficiency of a heat pump for heating does decrease as outside temp goes down (really, as the difference in temperature between the outside air and the inside air), so when the temperature difference gets more than ballpark 40 or 50 degrees F you may want an alternate heat source.

My new shop will have a wood stove, mini-split, and I'm trenching a natural gas line but don't plan on connecting that for anything right now.

 

[woodchucker]

Heating your shop in Mountain View is very different from my old one in Northern Michigan.

I was talking with my HVAC guy in Elk Rapids a few weeks back and he strongly recommends heat pump technology (mini-splits). What he told me was using any kind of fuel to heat air or water gives a max of ~97% efficiency, where heat pumps can hit ~300%.

I had a natural gas IR heater in my 2400 sqft. shop building in Michigan and it worked great, also have a small Mr. Heater in our garage there.

The HVAC guy who's shop is in the same town is planning on switching over to mini-splits soon so there's that....

It's probably worth checking with a local company but if it was me I'd put in a mini-split since it gives you cooling as well as heating. The one we have in our bedroom is on a 15A 110v circuit and it keeps the place warm when it's way below freezing. It's also on the same sub-panel as our hot tub and it's never been a problem. We didn't see any increase in our electric bill.

John

I didn't know that you could exceed 100% when talking heating or AC.
The colder the environment the less a heat pump works.

just looked it up, it's impossible for any heating system to reach 100% efficiency. PERIOD! He was lying to you.