Shop heat... what to do...

[ph1gering]

Finally got my shop all finished up.. Got about 10" of blown-in in the ceiling and R19 in the walls. I also calked and spray foamed every where i could to make sure the place is sealed up nice.

The gas line is ran, just need to purchase the heater and hang. My goal is to keep the shop at 40-45 all winter and only heat hotter when working out there. That being said if its more than 40 bucks a month, I'll probably only heat when I am out using it.

Shop is a 40x40, 12' ceiling. (link in my sig)

I am looking at new either a 30' two stage tube heater or a forced air gas heater, looking for some opinions on the two as I have zero experience with tube heaters.

I know the Forced air will heat quicker, but not sure its as efficient and it also moves air/dirt and is noisy and unit is a little cheaper.

I know the Radiant tube, is quieter and cleaner, but not sure if I'll get even heat through out the shop and if my ceilings are high enough to effectively run one. More expensive up front.

Second i am not sure if i should go with 80,000 or 100,000 or 120,000 btu for my size shop.

Thanks
-Craig

 

[ph1gering]

http://www.heater-store.com/heater_calculator_info.htm

So using this calc with the average insulation selection, it shows 105,000 btu's

100,000 should do the trick..

 

[pseudorealityx]

The heater type you choose should be based on how you use your space, and what you want out of it.

 

[CNGsaves]

Nice shop !!

Heater size also really depends on losses from windows and doors. Plug those into calculator as well.

Now would be good time to Update GJ Profile with City / State / Country.

 

[ph1gering]

Thanks!! No windows, just two garage doors 10x14 doors which are R14

updated profile, I am in the Rochester NY area, upstate NY.. 15-30 all winter.. Really leaning towards IR heater, some people love them, some people hate them.. Wish i knew someone locally to check out. I know a lot of shops use them and have heard some mech love them and others hate them..

 

[bzinsky]

Finally got my shop all finished up.. Got about 10" of blown-in in the ceiling and R19 in the walls. I also calked and spray foamed every where i could to make sure the place is sealed up nice.

The gas line is ran, just need to purchase the heater and hang. My goal is to keep the shop at 40-45 all winter and only heat hotter when working out there. That being said if its more than 40 bucks a month, I'll probably only heat when I am out using it.

Shop is a 40x40, 12' ceiling. (link in my sig)

I am looking at new either a 30' two stage tube heater or a forced air gas heater, looking for some opinions on the two as I have zero experience with tube heaters.

I know the Forced air will heat quicker, but not sure its as efficient and it also moves air/dirt and is noisy and unit is a little cheaper.

I know the Radiant tube, is quieter and cleaner, but not sure if I'll get even heat through out the shop and if my ceilings are high enough to effectively run one. More expensive up front.

Second i am not sure if i should go with 80,000 or 100,000 or 120,000 btu for my size shop.

Thanks
-Craig

I'd go forced air, radiant floor heat makes you warm of the slab. Great if you're simply maintaining a constant temperature, but very inefficient if you just want it warm it up to work in there for the day. You spend all that time heating up the slab, and then your garage is heated to comfortable temps long after you have left. You basically are forced to heat the garage for 24 hours after you have left it (not sure how long it takes for the slab to cool down but I'm guessing atleast 24hours)

If you're just maintaining at 40 degrees, you're probably not going to spend a lot of money. I'd ditch the complicated floor heat for a simpler system, you just won't benefit enough from it.

In a perfect world, you'd have the radiant heat maintain 40 degrees, and then a separate forced air heater to kick in before you're ready to work. You'd probably spend more on the system than you would save by just going forced air.

The main reason radiant heat is efficient is because the water stays at such low temps. Most boilers are working with 140+ water temps, the water just doesn't absorb as much of the heat from the flame. Higher water temps = lower efficiency.

Personally I think radiant floor heat has no business being in a garage unless you need it heated at a specific temp all year round. I think the only reason people use it is because it's a concrete surface. Concrete is thermal mass, exactly what you don't want in a place that you plan to have large fluctuations of temperature only to use it for a short period of time. Imagine if you owned a stone castle and you heated it up just to spend 8 hours in there. You'd have to start the heat a week in advance and it would be warm for a week after you left.

 

[pseudorealityx]

The OP is talking radiant heaters hanging from the ceiling/mounted to the wall. Nice post about radiant floor heat.

 

[SALIV8]

I loved the radiant tube heaters we had in auto shop in college.. I will most definitely look into that system when I want to heat.

Comfortable to me and seemed to heat the surfaces of items more than the air, if that makes any sense?

 

[2slow]

I two barns.

The first is 44'x54 barn that is primarily used for storage and that one has two 100K btu radiant tube heaters in it. I leave them set to a little above freezing in the winter, and it cost about 40 bucks a month last winter. (Michigan) The tube heaters do a really good job of maintaining a constant temp. They are pretty slow when it comes to making a drastic change in temp. Also when making a large change in temp, the thermal gradient in the barn gets high. The warmest spots are directly below the tubes closest to the burner, the back of the barn by the exhaust is significantly colder during the transient period.

http://www.rg-inc.com/pdf/Tech-Sheet/BHSNA-Rev-H.pdf

The second barn is a bit smaller (24'x54') and it has a conventional house hot air HVAC system in it. I do not run that system unless I am in the barn, but it brings the air temp up very quickly. For a barn with the desired ability to turn the heat up quickly, forced hot air is great. The downside is the floor / tools are cold, but with time (like a day or two) they warm up. The other upside is the barn is air conditioned, but it came with the pain of having to run ducting...

I also had a hanging modine hot dawg 125k unit in my previous 30x40 shop. It did a great job of getting the barn up to temp quickly. If heat is all you are after and you do not want to heat the shop all winter (just when you are there) this was a great solution.

-Joe