Heating and Cooling a 3200 sq ft shop - Recommendations Needed

[jtillery]

I need some recommendations on heating and cooling my shop. It is in Northeast Ohio so it regularly drops below 0 degrees in the winter and climbs over 100 degrees in the summer. It currently has a 300,000 BTU/hr Reznor heater with a cracked heat exchanger (not emitting CO yet), so I will need need to replace it. The building has water/plumbing so I need to keep it above freezing all winter. The Reznor will heat raise the temperature from 40 degrees to 60 degrees in 10 minutes or less, so I think it is way oversized. Since I need to replace the Reznor, I want to explore options to get cooling as well.

Right now the building is uninsulated and it is concrete block construction, nearly flat roof, and has (3) 11x10' uninsultated garage doors and (2) man doors and the ceilings are 10'-12'. I will be framing and insulating the walls with R19 and will insulate the ceiling with R30 then drywall. I will also replace the garage doors with insulated in the near future.

I work at least 60 hours per week, so I only use the building on the weekends. One of my employees will occasionally use it during the week. I prefer to have a system that will raise or lower the temperature rather quickly. I plain to maintain 38-40 degrees all winter long, and would like to raise the temperature to 55-60 degrees when working. As far as cooling, I would like to be able to drop the temperature 10-15 degrees.

The shop has natural gas, single phase and three phase power.

As far as budget, as usual the cheaper the better, but I do expect to be one of my largest expenses. I prefer to do a system that my friend and I can install. We are both mechanically/electrically inclined but have never done much HVAC work.

Let me know if you need any additional information. Thanks

 

[6768rogues]

I have 1800 square feet with a 14 foot ceiling in upstate NY, similar climate to you. I have a 100,000 BTU Reznor and it worked fine before I insulated the building, but I did have a ceiling on the bottom of the trusses so the attic was not open. It maintains the setting of 45 degrees during the week and I push it up to 55 or 60 for the weekends. For air conditioning, I have two window shakers (17500 and 12000 BTU) and one will maintain temperature if I leave the doors closed and do not put a hot car inside. I run both to cool it quickly and if I pull in a hot car. Two good ceiling fans run constantly and help a lot with the heat and keep the floor dry.

 

[Dragster Racer]

I was thinking that a tube style heater would give you better distribution of the heat. That's a pretty big area.

 

[jtillery]

Thanks for the responses. I am still looking for the best solution. I have an HVAC company looking at the building tomorrow morning to give me ideas and estimates.

I am really looking for a permantly installed solution. I am hoping a traditional home furnace / ac unit will be an option, or something like a commercial heat pump.

I post back tomorrow with what options are given.

 

[oldbones]

My "office" is an aircraft kept in a large hangar, about 6400sf with 30' ceilings. Metal building with basic vapor barrier insualtion only. We have two overhead gas fired tubular style radiant heaters on a thermostat. I keep it set at 50 degrees normally, and when I want to do some work out there, I crank it up to the desired temp. It warms the room quickly, you feel it immediately, and it can be t-shirt weather in there in a matter of 10-15 minutes. The gas bill for the month rarely exceeds $100.

 

[Phatsub]

Jtillery, got any pictures of your shop? I'd like to see it.

 

[jtillery]

Jtillery, got any pictures of your shop? I'd like to see it.

Here are some pictures that I posted in a thread in the flooring section. I just bought the building and have only had possesion for 2-3 weeks, so we have been gutting it to get ready to start renovations. The pictures were from 1-2 days after I got possession, so most stuff is cleared out now. We have taken out over 12,000 pounds of junk and scrap metal.

Front Area

Main Shop Area

Worst Area

After Sweeping

 

[Charles (in GA)]

My "office" is an aircraft kept in a large hangar, about 6400sf with 30' ceilings. Metal building with basic vapor barrier insualtion only. We have two overhead gas fired tubular style radiant heaters on a thermostat. I keep it set at 50 degrees normally, and when I want to do some work out there, I crank it up to the desired temp. It warms the room quickly, you feel it immediately, and it can be t-shirt weather in there in a matter of 10-15 minutes. The gas bill for the month rarely exceeds $100.

Yes, but where are you located? and what kind of OAT are you looking at when "it can be t-shirt weather in there in a matter of 10-15 minutes"

I have a 60x60x16 metal building with the typical metal building insulation, and while it does not have a heating system, my experience from using a 95,000 btu torpedo heater and doing calculations using various formulas I have found, is that I would need something on the order of 250,000 btu to maintain the heat in my building at 60 with an OAT of 30 (working from memory, not sure of the numbers here) and not have the heater run continuously. My building is 66,600 cubic feet including the peak of the roof.

A 6400 sf building 30 ft high (eave or peak, you don't say) is at least 194,000 cu/ft I'm guessing. From all of this, I would say you are in a mild climate.

Charles