Suggestions for staying warm in da Shop?

It's just that when it drops into the 30's with lows around 12° it's tough.
Rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow here. Forecast is for 46F for the low tonight and 54F for the high tomorrow. I am originally from Minnesota, good place to be from, FAR FROM, especially this time of year. I tell my friends that we had two seasons in Minnesota, shovel and swat.
 
I'm in NE Ohio and it's currently in the single digits. So here's my suggestion for a tight budget.

Get a kerosene heater (not the forced air torpedo) and a decent 12" oscillating fan. Dyna-Glo & Dura Heat make nice ones. This is the cheapest "temporary" heater to run I can find. They aren't really expensive, are very clean-burning, and maintenance is minimal. Replacement wicks are cheap and usually available at Wally-world.

The fan is used to stir the heat off the ceiling. Aim it up and let it do it's thing and the room will heat heat up faster.

10 gallons of kero is about $30-$35 bucks, and with a 2 gallon tank that gives me 60 hours of run time. Around $0.50/hour for something that doesn't require installation or electricity, doesn't cause lots of water vapor, and can be used inside the house in case of power failure with no CO issues.

way, WAY cheaper than propane. If you have NG pipe to the garage, then one of the wall-mounted heaters is nice. Problem with those is that they cause a lot of moisture in the air and stuff will rust if you get a non-vented model.
 
Dan, I ride motorcycles and for years I've ridden with either an electric vest or more recently a heated jacket when the weather's cold. There are
now battery powered vests that you might consider. My wife spends time outside in a barn during the winter and I bought one for her: can't get
the thing away from her. My gear is made by Gerbing, though there are other brands:

https://www.thewarmingstore.com/hea...MIm53pjPvH2AIVirjACh3DIgjwEAAYASAAEgJwM_D_BwE

If I remember correctly, her's lasts about 4 hours on low, though she has the smaller of 2 available batteries.
 
It is interesting to consider the effect of the cold. A micrometer or caliper is made of steel, and is usually calibrated at +20 C. Steel has a coeff of thermal expansion around 12 ppm/C. Take that to -20 C and you have a shift of 40 C. 40 * 12 ppm = 480 ppm or ~0.05 %. This can be significant.

Anyhow, stop wingeing. It was ~45 Centgrade here yesterday. The galvo roof under the sun was way over that.

Cheers
Roger in Oz
 
I have a natural gas ventless wall heater in my 3rd garage stall, built an uninsulated 2X6 wall covered on the outside only, room is 21X13 and with a ceiling fan I can get it to well over 80 in there with temps outside in the single digits. Me personally I like it about 64-66 degrees. The ceiling fan moves the warm air from the ceiling to the floor, the fan was $30 at Walmart
 
Slightly off topic, but here is a tip for all of you with torpedo type forced air heaters that run on kerosene or diesel. when they get to be a couple of years old the air pump loses efficiency, the fuel pick up pressure drops, and they start to burn cold, and become smelly and smoky. I had this problem with mine, and fitting new vanes to the air pump did not cure it. In the back of the heater where the air intake filter is, you will see a small plug which is the test point for the air pump. If you remove this plug and connect a low pressure regulated air line to this point, you can adjust the air pressure to obtain the perfect smell and smoke free burn. Beware! they only need between 5 and 9psi, and you can tell when the burn is correct by looking at the hot end, the outer part of the hot dome should be red hot, the centre should be slightly cooler and darker, if the centre is red hot, too much pressure, turn it down! My Master brand Torpedo heater has been running like this since about 1978, and with an annual strip and clean, has required no spare parts, and still runs clean and hot. the pressure air pump is definitely the weak link on these heaters, and looking at a manual for these heaters a few moments ago, they have not really altered the design. If you have one in the back of your shop collecting dust, whilst you shiver, get it out and try this mod, it works! also, do not fail to clean out the fuel pick up filter as this also causes problems, sometimes fitted inside the pick up pipe.
 
You have to heat the whole shop to keep people, machines and materials happy and compatible. Investing in insulation and sealing drafts will probably be the least expensive option in the long run, PLUS, it will be more comfortable and pleasant for you. There are cost effective ways to do it. Otherwise you will be heating the outdoors!

Grab that heat pump! Thermopumps are not that expensive to install and will give you A/C in the summer (?). When concentrating on doing good work, I don't like to be at the mercy of the elements. And it becomes more important as I get older.
 
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