Condensation

[rjamesohio]

A couple years ago I insulated a shop within my pole barn; the pole barn is unheated but the area I walled off has R nine on the ceilings as well as the walls.

my heat source is a large industrial kerosene torpedo; when I go into the shop i roll up the overhead door and fire up the torpedo to bring the temperature up quickly in the shop it usually only takes about five minutes in the shop is 50° and then I shut it off and roll it out into the unheated portion of the pole building.

When the set up was new I went out one morning to find condensation on everything in the shop; needless to say this is bad for tools, bare metal you name it. Since then this has never occurred and that's been over two years at this point I'm curious as to what other folks have experienced with condensation in an area that is heated sporadically we certainly don't want our tools and machinery exposed to this!


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[Randy in Maine]

Water vapor is a by product of combustion. Your unvented heater and lack of insulation are the areas to focus on.

 

[cajunfirehawk]

In my shop I have had this happen once also pretty bad and its usual when we have changes in the weather, I have no heat or insulation in mine but I added a big fan and watch it like a hawk now. Insulation is on the list but I have a daughters wedding coming up in 2017 so that is on hold...keep an eye on that too!

 

[chrispyny]

This is why i ditched my propane radiant heater and installed one of these.

The propane heater put out so much moisture as a byproduct, my garage door windows would practically turn into waterfalls in the winter.

Someone mentioned it was on sale a couple weeks ago in a thread in this very forum. $69, shipping totalled $83, $39.90 in red green and black #10 wire, and some conduit, and it was up in 2 hours. Took almost 2 weeks to get here but after all, i did order it during christmas time.

My garage is a 2 car 20x22, it works VERY fast, has a thermostat and rocker switch for 3, 4, or 5 thousand watts, and the air is bone dry. At a average very high upstate ny rate of say $.18 per kwh, if its on full blast 6 hours a week, im at maybe $28 extra monthly. Fine with me in the winter months.
I may run a third evap off a ductless mini split this summer for the garage to help reduce humidity in the summer. Should be fine.

I just bought THIS BEAUTY ..

The LAST thing i want is my lathe sweating and rusting up on me. A full restoration is to follow late this winter. Stay tuned.

 

[rjamesohio]

I should clarify I have plenty of insulation. Condensation only happened once right after I finished the insulation but weather was no doubt a factor; it had been cold and we were having a warmup, similar to early spring weather. If it was the kerosene heater that is the culprit that's strange because the heat had been off all nite and the condensation greeted me the next morning.

Wondering if you guys are leaving the electric heaters on 24/7 instead of spot heating like I am doing. Would love to walk into a warm shop and certainly never see that condensation return. Definitely hard on our valuables if it were a routine occurrence.


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[dandan111]

I doubt anybody runs the electric 24/7. I think running electric helps dry the area out.
When I was a kid we washed cars and always used a salamander. It was always fumes and
Condensation. We could get it up to 80 deg on a cold day and shut if off. Didn't matter it
Was in the air all day.

 

[lakeroadster]

RJames I had the same condensation issue when I lived in Ohio, using a torpedo heater.

I too ended up using a Fahrenheat 7,500-Watt Unit Heater. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Fahrenhe...gclid=CJ3I7ui7ntECFci2wAodToIIvQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

The ritual was to go out in the early morning and turn the heater(s) on and within a couple hours the shop would be habitable. The heaters have built in thermostats, which work well. About an hour before I was done for the day I would shut them off.

Eventually I ended up buying another. One at each end of the shop works best.

They work good for heating up an air space.

 

[toyotadriver]

R9 is not "plenty of insulation". It's very marginal.

Your unvented heater is your biggest problem. Pumps too much moisture into the building.

 

[manwithtools]

I doubt anybody runs the electric 24/7. I think running electric helps dry the area out.
When I was a kid we washed cars and always used a salamander. It was always fumes and
Condensation. We could get it up to 80 deg on a cold day and shut if off. Didn't matter it
Was in the air all day.

I run a 6000 watt heater 24/7 in the winter in my 24 x 26 well insulated shop. I keep it at 50F most of the time and run it up to 70F when I'm in there for prolonged times. One problem with letting a heated shop cool off to ambient is the condensation that will form if moisture is in the air. I have a lot of iron in my shop and it takes a long time to heat it all up if I let it cool off to 30F. I don't have a problem with the air being to dry.

I used to have an un-vented propane wall heater and moisture was a problem with that. BTW, our electric rates are about as low as anywhere int he country and propane is a variable cost fuel.