10x16 tool room heating problem

[i8tokyo]

I have a tool room in my pole barn that i am framing up now and I need some help. I am going to keep the room 55+ 3 seasons to keep my tools from sweating and i need help. I live just south of Chicago so the temp swings are huge in the spring and fall. I can't seem to find a decent small vented heater. I am afraid of the added moisture in the spring from a vent free heater even though that is the easiest solution. I don't want to go electric. even though that is another easy fix. I thought i saw a 15,000btu vented heater a while back but can't find one anymore

 

[i8tokyo]

well I guess I am going to just throw 10' of base board along the one wall and call it a day. Unless anyone else has any ideas

 

[brewchief]

Cozy makes a 15k direct vent heater as well as some even smaller input gas baseboard heaters.

You do need an outside wall to mount them on.

 

[Rockhead261]

Check out the Rinnai wall furnaces. The company literature describes them as "direct vent", however that does not mean "ventless" in their nomenclature - it means directly vented outside.

I've been running one in my basement for about ten years now and it's been flawless. There's another in the mechanics office at my job; it's neglected and abused and runs like a champ.

 

[anthony666]

x2 on rinnai, they make class equipment

 

[The Cobbler]

for the moisture , how about adding a dehumidifier?

 

[i8tokyo]

yeah I had found the cozzy after i posted this. What i read about the efficiency kinda made me look at other stuff. thought about adding a heat exchanger to the chimney but then you start adding more and more money. The rinnai is nice but i am to damn cheap. I know the electric base board is gonna eat up $$ over the long hall but my shop fund has gotten drained over the past year and i need be cheap. thanks guys

 

[larry_g]

I wonder if your thinking of this correctly. My experience here in the wet northwest is that only when I allow warm wet air to hit cold iron where the moisture in the air condensates on the cold iron. So keeping the room at 55* will not prevent problems when the air outside heats up above 55* and then rushes into the colder tool room and condenses.

What I have learned to do is not to open the overhead doors on a warm spring day when the inside of the shop is still cold. I would suggest that you look into maybe getting a differential thermostat that will keep the tool room a few degrees above the temperature of the shop.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[hedhunter9]

I put 2, 8' electric baseboard heaters in our work area of our pole barn behind our shop. We only heat half of the 40x48 foot shop. (24 by 40) It is super insulated 6in in walls. 12 inch in ceiling. Then OSB board on all walls and ceiling. (9 foot walls) Then I stapled 2x4 ceiling panels we got free from a remodel of a Kohls near us.. They are fire proof and added another level of R rating.

I keep the thermostat at 40 degrees during winter, to keep the cement slab floor warm, then if I go out there to work, I turn it up to 60.. I was amazed to find that because the cement is halfway warm, it is pretty comfortable to work in..
The cost.. $75 a month added to the electric bill..

Bob

 

[i8tokyo]

Thanks guys. Nice find Bob, looks like you'er in my climate zone and doing what i am gonna do. Nice to know it isn't going to be crazy bad $$$ money wise.