Heating stall inside a pole barn?

[mngundog]

I have a 36' x 56' pole barn. I have no desire to heat the whole thing. I would like to have a space inside of it that I could occasionally heat, so keep my small Kubota tractor/bucket/snowblower in and/or occasionally thaw the ice off other vehicles. Seeing if anyone else has created a heating stall within a pole barn.

 

[gungatim]

In your situation, I would hang an electric infrared heater. it will do exactly as you described without heating the entire space.

 

[mike93lx]

Curtains on a track will help contain the heat

 

[bdbecker]

In your situation, I would hang an electric infrared heater. it will do exactly as you described without heating the entire space.

I agree, an IR heater is the perfect solution for this application. No messing around with building walls or trying to keep warm and cold air separated, just hang a heater where you want to park a vehicle and call it a day.

 

[PoorUB]

I had a larger building and wanted a comfortable work area. I put up walls and a ceiling as I didn't need the 20 foot ceiling height. Standard construction with drywall taped and painted. Added a shop heater and later ran across a free window AC that i stuck in the wall. It turned into a cozy work area.

No reason you couldn't do the same, depending on what your requirements are. I know a few guys with huge barn like structures and a one or two bay shop area. You can make it a simple or as nice as you want.

 

[mikedodge]

If you're OK with loosing some big space for it box a room in. It'll gear more efficiently and be comfier if you want to do something in it.

 

[mngundog]

Thanks for the reply's, I may give an IR heater a try this winter and see how that goes.

 

[The Cobbler]

not sure I agree with just the Infrared heater . it would have to stay on , where as an enclosed area with a heater would be able to cycle on & off.

 

[gungatim]

not sure I agree with just the Infrared heater . it would have to stay on , where as an enclosed area with a heater would be able to cycle on & off.

I suppose if you wanted to heat an entire enclosed area and spend a lot of money, you would be correct. If you just want to melt snow off a tractor or vehicle and not heat everything else, an electric IR heater with a timer is all you need. The one I use even has a built in light, I think I spent a whole $30 on it...I use it in an outside uninsulated garage and it works perfect for a similar situation as the OP's.

 

[Digster]

I have a 17 x 24 shop that is drywalled, an electric oil filled radiator heats it nicely. Just a thought...

 

[NUTTSGT]

You can enclose a space as simple as hanging some tarps or go full on framing a room, insulation and sheath walls/ceiling.

A simple milk house heater will thaw out e frozen equipment.

 

[Fixr]

Expanding on previous ideas, something like one of the cheapest temporary tarp garages might be useful for containing the heat for not much money or effort. Try to seal up the gaps pretty well to control air movement. Disassemble and store it during the warm season. As long as it doesn't get used outside in the sun & weather, it should last for many years

 

[Firebrick43]

Most farmers around here have a heated shop in one part and the rest of the pole building is graveled floor/unfinished/unheated that they refer to as cold storage.

The question is how far you want to go?

Growing up my father put up 1" polyiso for the ceiling in an old mid 50's pole building as a shop and the difference was startling in comfort. Still not economical to heat today's fuel prices.

On the other extreme another friend has a superinsulated 30x60 pole building with r60 cellulose in the ceiling and dense pack cellulose in the wall plus 1.5" of xps foam between the purlins which is close to R30. He has 4' wings of xps in the ground but none under the slab. His building has never froze due to the insulation and ground heat. He does go out and works at least once a week (most time both days on the weekend) and heats it when he is in the building.