I recently refurbished a 73 VW Westfalia at my last house. I did the entire job in our attached 2 car garage. I had installed a Hot Dawg heater for that project. When I moved on to the next project, my wife suggested we find a home with a detached shop for me to keep my stuff (mess, fumes, etc).
So four years ago we bought a nice place with a 24x34 shop. I needed to run a long gas line underground to be able to heat the building, but the run was through thick trees and rocks...
Long story short, I got a few bids for someone else to break their back digging the line. The bid for that, plus the cost of the heater and running pipe through my basement from one end of the house to the other came to nearly $2000.
One contractor, who now has a customer for life, suggested that I put in a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim mini split. After lots of research and some great advice from those on this site, I bit the bullet and bought the system.
I ordered the unit and installed it my self, short of hooking up the line set and charging the system. It was very easy to install. My contractor charged me less than $300 to hook it all up and test the unit. He even installed a line set cover for me that makes the whole install look very nice.
After a week, all I can say is wow. If any of you are considering heat for your shop and can justify a little higher cost, do this system! In total, I spent about $2650 for the entire job. And I have AC!!!! In the end, I belive the whole system is cheaper than conventional HVAC set ups. My contractor assures me that I will save a lot of $$$ in operating costs too.
The biggest thing I like is how very even the heat is. With my Hot Dawg I got blasted with hot air when I worked in the path of the blower and was cold when I worked to either side. With the Mitsubishi, every spot in the shop feels the same and there is a constant temperature. My old set up seems hot/cold/hot/cold.
By the way, I live in Wisconsin, and will run this as my only heat source all season. I know many of you feel this is a bad idea, but I found local testimonials for others using this set up this way with great results!
Nothing better than a warm shop and warm tools!!
So four years ago we bought a nice place with a 24x34 shop. I needed to run a long gas line underground to be able to heat the building, but the run was through thick trees and rocks...
Long story short, I got a few bids for someone else to break their back digging the line. The bid for that, plus the cost of the heater and running pipe through my basement from one end of the house to the other came to nearly $2000.
One contractor, who now has a customer for life, suggested that I put in a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim mini split. After lots of research and some great advice from those on this site, I bit the bullet and bought the system.
I ordered the unit and installed it my self, short of hooking up the line set and charging the system. It was very easy to install. My contractor charged me less than $300 to hook it all up and test the unit. He even installed a line set cover for me that makes the whole install look very nice.
After a week, all I can say is wow. If any of you are considering heat for your shop and can justify a little higher cost, do this system! In total, I spent about $2650 for the entire job. And I have AC!!!! In the end, I belive the whole system is cheaper than conventional HVAC set ups. My contractor assures me that I will save a lot of $$$ in operating costs too.
The biggest thing I like is how very even the heat is. With my Hot Dawg I got blasted with hot air when I worked in the path of the blower and was cold when I worked to either side. With the Mitsubishi, every spot in the shop feels the same and there is a constant temperature. My old set up seems hot/cold/hot/cold.
By the way, I live in Wisconsin, and will run this as my only heat source all season. I know many of you feel this is a bad idea, but I found local testimonials for others using this set up this way with great results!
Nothing better than a warm shop and warm tools!!
