who here has tube heaters?

plott hound · Apr 21, 2014

hello,i am in the process of finishing off the inside of our 22'x40' shop.was thinking that a infrared tube heat might just be the cats **** for my application and was looking for some input from those who have that type of heat.i work for a large HVAC company here in central ontario so i have access to any type of heater i want.was going to put in a hi-eff gas furnace to save money but would rather throw another 500 bux on top to get a tube heater if it would keep the floor warm.

cheers :beer:

c6matt · May 1, 2014

I am looking at the same thing for my 30x48 build. I want to keep it heated full time in the winter @50°F and was planningo n the radiant tube. Hopfully its true that its the lowest operating cost of my options with nat gas available. In for info!

burleyfarm · May 4, 2014

I've used a 30 foot 80,000 btu radiant heat tube in my 30x40 attached garage for the past 5 years. This past year I kept it at 50 all winter. I'm on propane which is more expensive and has a lot of water vapor in it. Works great. I've only got a 9'8" ceiling.

I have one 8x18 door and two 8x9 doors, all insulated. It would work much better if it could be hung higher. My garage has R-19 in the walls and ceiling. The ceiling is getting blown in this fall to R-60.
It is very comfortable and keeps the floor and surrounding objects somewhat "warm". It is supposed to be the most efficient after in-floor radiant.

tatra · May 4, 2014

Have these types of heaters at numerous locations in our shops at work.....hate working under them for any length of time.....Also the longer the tube , the greater the temp difference from the beginning to the end.....not a fan of them.....

sluggish · May 4, 2014

HAd one in my garage (800 sq ft) and loved it. it's up and out of the way and warms up all your tools that are hanging on the walls. I would think a couple smaller ones strategically placed would be better than one big one(for the reason tatra mentioned). Just make sure that you have overhead clearance from your vehicles as it will bake your paint. Think about placement if you are putting in a lift as well. I hardly noticed a difference in my gas bill and I left it on all winter(around 50 degrees) and turned it up when I went to work in there.

Nexussian · May 4, 2014

Just remember it doesn't heat the air or anything that isn't in its' "line of sight."

I have a friend that had issues with that as he would turn his radiant heat pipes off at night if it was above freezing outside.

Sides of the cars were cold, floor was cold (took a long time to warm up), floor under the cars never warmed up, so neither did the underside of the car.

My point was illustrated when he wanted to paint some repair work on suspension under a vehicle (while on his lift).

Even though working in the shop was comfortable, the air in it had only warmed up to about 50*F (mechanical parts were colder) so the paint didn't flow out, or stick (POR 15 Topcoat, yes Marine clean and Metal Ready were used, per the instructions).

Point being, if you are expecting extra "efficiency" from shutting it off at night (or when you're not there) expect to work in the cold (no, 50*F isn't really "cold" but that was after 5 hours of having the heat on

) so leave it on when you plan to work under anything.

peth · May 4, 2014

I have a 30 ft tube heater in my 22 x 40 mounted along the one side tilted towards the centre. Very happy with it and have no issues with cold spots.

sz0k30 · May 4, 2014

I don't have to work in my pole barn, just play in it.

I have a 32x48x12 half-*** insulated pole barn. Spray foam in walls. Open 12' ceiling with a 4/12 pitch, so @16' to open peak. 30 foot, 100,000BTU Radiant tube heater on propane running down the center.

No way could I afford to keep it heated.

I have a thermometer in the barn. If I decide I want to do some work, I go & check the temp. If its approx. 30 to 34 degrees I turn on the heat, come back into the house for about 2 hours, then go back to the barn . In that 2 hours the temp usually gets to the mid 40's which is a decent working temp.

If the pole barn temp is in the mid 20's its not even worth turning the heater on cause it'll take too long to get up to working temp.

metlmunchr · May 7, 2014

There may be some low intensity models on the market, but the normal vacuum tube radiant heaters need to be at least 14 ft off the floor else it'll be too hot to work below them when they're running. And they can't be hung directly on a ceiling either, so overall you've got to have a pretty high ceiling to use them.

That said, we've got 3 tube heaters on about 7500 sq ft of shop space. Well insulated metal building with 18ft eave height. Installed when we built the building 25 yrs ago, and the only thing we've had to do in that time is to replace the primary control on all 3 heaters. The primary is a standard heating supply house part from Honeywell, so not a big deal. Ours are made by Combustion Research. http://www.combustionresearch.com/R..._EDS_3-5_Radiant_Infrared_Heating_Systems.htm

In the coldest part of the winter we can heat the shop for about $400/mo Cutting them off at night is false economy. By letting them stay on, everything stays warm but you don't have the initial warm up problems where the heaters run continuously for a couple hours and everything beneath them gets hot.

The place we were in prior to building this shop was about 4000 sq ft with natural gas forced air heat. We were spending $800/mo heating it, and it still wasn't what you'd call comfortable.

Skeetobite · May 7, 2014

I'm not an HVAC expert but I have been able to compare radiant heat vs. forced air this past winter. Both of our attached garages are ~1,000 sq. ft., well insulated with insulated doors.

The East garage is forced air. The air is much dryer, there's always a breeze and things get very dusty if you drag dirt in on the floor, which was unavoidable. The floor is always freezing. I can't work on electronics in this garage because of the static. I'm not about to install a humidifier for it.

The West garage has a 15' radiant heater (I don't know the specs). The air is never dry, there is a nice even heat throughout the garage. Far less dust on everything. No filters to change, but as mentioned above, it is hot to work directly under. I run a small fan on low to move the heat around and down from the 12' ceiling. Works great.

We're converting to NG from propane this summer. I'm seriously considering replacing the forced air furnace with another radiant heat unit. Once everything is warmed up, they seem to run far less than forced air.

Mr onetwo · May 7, 2014

My shop is 24 x 32 with a single 8 x 16 door.I installed a Sunstar SIR35 and it works as well as I expected.I am an retired HVAC mechanic.We used to install lots of these heaters before the engineers and architects fell in love with infloor radiant heat.IMHO tube heaters are much better in a situation where you are opening and closing large overhead doors.The recovery is much better and overall cost of equipment and installation is a fraction of a proper infloor job.These heaters are very sensitive to proper sizing,placement and installation.The higher the ceiling ,the better they work. :thumbup:

http://www.sunstarheaters.com/industrial/SIR.html

Dragfluid · May 13, 2014

I don't understand all the talk about "turn it off,,,, leave it on", etc.
Can you say "programmable thermostat"?

I installed one in my 2 bay work area at work where there's 2 of those tubes. I've got it set to be down to 55 when I'm not there and it comes up to 64 a half hour before I get there. Always comfortable, and it saves money!

And I use them at home as well.

Zurawskt · Jun 4, 2014

I installed a 20 foot 45k{2 stage heat 28k low and 45 high} tube in my 600m sq ft well insulated 3 car garage and kept it heated all winter at 55. My whole home heating bill was 400 bucks in january and February. Normally my electric/gas bill goes as high as 290 in those months before the garage heater. But with heating the garage and the crazy cold winter -30s with wind chills at -55 many times i figured really it only cost me about a 1.00 to 1.25 a day {my house is 2150 sq. ft, built in 2009}. Take into consideration not having to run both my vehicles for 10 mins a day to warm up{gas burned} it really cost me under a buck a day to run it. Not bad in my opinion, but I paid a bit more for the 2 stage unit so it only runs on low most of the time to maintain heat and only runs on high when there is a 2 degree drop on the thermostat then high kicks in to recover. I would turn it up to 65 when working in the garage {I'm a mechanic} and it worked great. i will never own a home without one!

bedn0009 · Jun 5, 2014

Zurawskt said:
I installed a 20 foot 45k{2 stage heat 28k low and 45 high} tube in my 600m sq ft well insulated 3 car garage and kept it heated all winter at 55. My whole home heating bill was 400 bucks in january and February. Normally my electric/gas bill goes as high as 290 in those months before the garage heater. But with heating the garage and the crazy cold winter -30s with wind chills at -55 many times i figured really it only cost me about a 1.00 to 1.25 a day {my house is 2150 sq. ft, built in 2009}. Take into consideration not having to run both my vehicles for 10 mins a day to warm up{gas burned} it really cost me under a buck a day to run it. Not bad in my opinion, but I paid a bit more for the 2 stage unit so it only runs on low most of the time to maintain heat and only runs on high when there is a 2 degree drop on the thermostat then high kicks in to recover. I would turn it up to 65 when working in the garage {I'm a mechanic} and it worked great. i will never own a home without one!

Zurawskt. I'm in northern Wisconsin and was thinking about a radiant tube. How high are your ceilings? I'm concerned that nine feet is too low to do a tube. Thanks

plott hound · Nov 9, 2014

thanks for all the replys.i decided to cheap out for this year.spent a lot of money on the shop but now its insulated,drywalled and painted.also put 2 new garage doors and one new man door so im tapped out for now.i managed to make a deal on a floor model hieff gas furnace at work.so I took the old furnace out of the house and put it in the shop and installed new furnace in the house.this winter will tell the tale whether I get a cold floor or not.

cheers

frozen_bohemian · Nov 20, 2014

Is there a functional difference between tube style heaters and the more traditional square heaters?
I have just started research on what would work best for me.
Climate: too friggin cold northern Minnesota
Shop: 800 sq. ft to be heated
Fuel: propane
I expect to keep it heated all winter mostly on low 50 ish temps. but need to get it warmed up when I am in the shop.
This is one style of heater I have considered.

http://www.h-mac.com/detroit-radiant-ir60.html?redirect=1

Any ideas on how much propane a 60,000 btu heater would use assuming average temperature differential of 50 degrees in an reasonably well insulated shop.

Tazzie · Nov 20, 2014

I installed a 30' two stage tube heater in a 40x40x14 pole barn that was sprayed with foam. Tube is hung in the center of the scissor trusses that are apx 16' from the floor. Very happy last year cost apx 30$ a month with n/g. I keep it at 40 degrees all the time and bump it up to 58 when out there. And last winter in Michigan was very cold. Unlike forced air when I open the overhead doors I do not loose my heat as fast. hope this helps

who here has tube heaters?

plott hound

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c6matt

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burleyfarm

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tatra

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sluggish

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Nexussian

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peth

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sz0k30

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metlmunchr

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Dragfluid

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