Heating in a 14000sqft space

[yhuynh]

Part of my job sometimes requires working in an uninsulated former riding arena in northern NJ. The whole arena is 14000sqft (ceiling height at ridge beam is somewhere around 30ft) but we only work in a small area of maybe 600sqft.

During the winter time, it gets pretty cold in there but we don't work there often enough to warrant any serious changes such as insulating, building walls etc.


I'm looking to buy a portable heater we can use for a little more comfort but am having trouble settling between forced air salamander type or a radiant heater. I feel as though with the size of the space, forced air wouldn't do much and I'm unsure how much air these units move. The nature of our work wouldn't allow for strong winds blowing at us.


I'm thinking maybe 2 medium sized radiant heaters pointed at our work area might be our best bet - ie Mr Heater 70000BTU kerosene radiant heater.


We also have a small Mr Heater 30000 BTU Vent Free Radiant Propane heater.



Hopefully I'm on the right track here, looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Thank you!

 

[kd3pc]

as the scandinavians say - no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.

I would spend a few bucks on proper clothing. As an ex deck ape, electrician and construction worker in the DC area, we worked year round and no extra heat available. You got the right clothes.

Not sure what you are doing or where you are doing it that would be any colder than the top floor of the WJLA building in Northern Virginia in the winter time, winds gusting and temps barely above freezing. This was the initial construction job.

Heating the space around you is not likely to happen with those units, unless you are right on top of them.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

overhead radiant tube heat is where I would go for a large poorly insulated space. otherwise an electric radiant heater near you to keep your toes warm.

 

[UTCiv]

For something portable/temporary, we purchased my father a patio radiant heater for when he needed to go out in the un-insulated barn to work on something that couldn't fit in the garage or needed to be worked on (overly dirty, messy, weather wasn't cooperating to move it into the insulated garage).

It worked great, is quiet and keeps the edge off when you are working on small cold parts under the hood of a car or under a tractor. If it isn't quite doing the trick due to extreme cold, you just take a break and stand next to it for a bit, then go back to work.

We have a 175,000 BTU salamander, but it gives you a headache (noise) if you aren't careful on how you position it if you aren't running it as a pre-warm up/occasional. That is, in a very large space with lots of ventilation, but close enough you feel the warmth from the outlet in an otherwise wide open space.

We did pick up a neat indoor construction site salamander that is made to be placed outside and it has a long tube that can be fed into the work area to keep the noise down.

 

[Jackfre]

For that space, if the 600 sq ft was insulated I'd say a Rinnai EX-22. Uninsulated, the EX-38
For the rest, uninsulated...build a bon fire in the middle of the ring