Tell me about salamanders

[Iron Beaver]

Tell me about salamander heaters

Hey everyone,

I have a bunch of different work to do, all outside and all in the winter, on days ranging from cold to miserably cold. So it occured to me to wonder, do salamander heaters work outdoors at all? Sure it's not going to heat up the whole state of Wyoming, but if I get a big one and point it at the work area will people 5-6 feet away likely feel any significant heat?.

For reference, this is the one I'm looking at

Before I plunk down 230 of my hard-earned dollars on it I would much prefer some idea of what it will and won't do.

 

[tom-ky]

Helps some if you can block the wind. We installed a engine a week or two ago outside in the 20's. We had 2 service vans there, parked them so that we kinda had 2 walls to block the find. We did ok, turned heat off by lunch though, worked a couple hours after dark and was about ready to turn it back on.

 

[alexb2000]

They work great if you can put up tarps or plastic. I've done a lot of outside projects that wouldn't have otherwise happened just by draping them and using a salamander. I never use kerosene anymore, too expensive. Diesel is so refined it's close enough and A LOT cheaper.

I noticed without draping the project people just stand in front of the heater instead of working, so you might as well.

 

[sparky 1971]

If it's big enough it will. I have two. An 80,000 BTU and a 210,000 BTU. I have used the 210,000 outside at temps around 0 and it does work. The biggest problem is fuel. That thing has a 13 gallon tank and it won't last an eight hour day running non stop. I wouldn't even try to use the 80,000 outside unless I jerry rigged some kind of enclosure around it.

 

[DJ1075]

you would be better off with a infrared heater. the salamander kicks out crazy heat but it just heats air. the infrared heater heats air and objects its more like sun. it will also use less propane than the salamander. i use a buddy heater with a hose and run it off a 20# bbq tank and put exactly where i need it.

 

[laser3kw]

^^^ blocking wind.
We would stack hay bales down the sides and the end and blow up under to thaw out a no start or to do maintenance.
I have seen make shift tarp tents around a vehicle as a temporary garage. Got quite comfortable at times

 

[BukitCase]

You're in Wyoming; I drove thru there in 1968, towing a 14' uhaul trailer - drive thru a cut in the road and change lanes without moving the steering wheel...

If I wanted to block the wind THERE, it'd probably be with a couple of 40' containers. NOT kidding...

I have a couple of the salamanders, both are propane - doesn't work for **** if it's very cold, helps to put the tank IN FRONT OF the salamander so it won't freeze up - kerosene or diesel shouldn't have that problem.

If it's too hard to fix a wind break that won't fly away, the IR would work better - but NOT if you're tryin' to keep several people warm.

I'm 75, even LESS interested in bad weather **** jobs than I wuz 20 years ago, don't envy you one bit... Steve

 

[Iron Beaver]

Well if I had a 40' container I'd just work inside of it

 

[Iron Beaver]

I do, however, live at the bottom of a valley with tall ridges around that block a lot of wind. There's also a narrow alley between two thickets that I could hide in, the wind in there will probably be 10 MPH or under this week.

 

[BukitCase]

"Well if I had a 40' container I'd just work inside of it"

Sorry, musta been one of those "***-u-me" things, I have 2 40's, 2 40 high cubes and a 20

2-1/2 of the containers are storage for stock piled building materials, project parts, etc, the 2 hi-cubes will eventually be inside a 48 x 60 pole building near one side - they'll be tied together and about 8' of wall removed near the doors, the one that'll be welding area will have a full length 2 ton crane, part of crane rail supports will also be a steel rack, couple weld tables and most of my welders - other side will be machining (mill, lathe) and tool cabinet storage.

Rest of the pole structure (6" slab under all) will be kept open for working on (almost) rolling stock, most of which is "projects" at the moment - That'll leave me an open 30'x60' slab for whatever the "tuit" of the day might be...

May not live long enough to do all that, but I'm pretty sure I'll croak BEFORE there's ever a chance at gettin' BORED

I'm glad for ya that you don't live in the part of Wyoming I experienced, I wouldn't wish that on anybody that hadn't run over my favorite puppy

Even 10 mph is no fun at 10 degrees, I've gotten kinda wussy in my old age; Carharts are definitely my friend below about 30... Steve

 

[Iron Beaver]

I'm guessing you drove through on I-80. Shipping containers are hard to come by and expensive in this part of the world. The best deal I could find was about $1700 for a 20' container and $4000 to ship it here. Both reasonable prices IMO, but being thousands of miles away from the nearest ship can be a real handicap for getting a hold of such things

 

[Iron Beaver]

I'm glad for ya that you don't live in the part of Wyoming I experienced, I wouldn't wish that on anybody that hadn't run over my favorite puppy

Well I work on some of our wind farms, which for some strange reason got put in a bunch of really windy places so I get to experience it almost every day

 

[ooba tooba]

I did an outside job in frigid weather in Michigan once and I was able to set up my fab area on their deck. They had one of those large propane patio heaters about 8 or 10 ft tall and it was pretty toasty.

 

[BukitCase]

Yeah, you're right about I-80; NOT a fun trip. Wife was 8 months pregnant so I did all the driving from Massachusetts to Oregon. Hit a little ice just out of Courdelain Idaho, but no snow til we hit Oregon - the town my folks lived in only sees a few inches of snow every 3rd or 4th year, but THAT year it never let up all the way over the mountains and down to the valley. Got to the folks about 3 hours later than I said I would, and found just over 3 FEET of snow in their front yard. AFAIK, that's STILL a record.

I hadn't really thought about containers being that hard to get, but mileage is obviously a deal killer - we're about 80 miles south of Portland, the 20' was $1800 including delivery - the 2 standard 40's were $2200 delivered, the 2 hi-cubes were a couple hundred more. All are seaworthy, but NOT "one-trippers" -

Wind breaks - I have 3 or 4 of those HF "underhoist safety stands", I fasten a couple of their 6x8 welding blankets to the stands with several spring clamps - our hill usually has anywhere from 5 to 20 mph winds, I've MIG welded behind that break with winds around 10mph and haven't lost shield gas. Might be something similar you could do (at home, NOT at work

Reminder: don't try MIG welding behind your wind break AND keeping warm with your salamander - DAMHIKT (flux-core ain't as purty as MIG, EXCEPT under the above conditions it's a LOT purtier than "un-MIG"

Hopefully some of my "random neuron firings" will be useful to ya, good luck... Steve

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

Making some sort of tent with tarps helps a bunch

 

[ooba tooba]

Last time I drove through Wyoming the signs read “speed limit reasonable”

 

[Iron Beaver]

I went ahead and got the salamander. $230 for that thing plus $260 for propane puts the total cost of heat at about $500. It sure worked well yesterday though, I could hide from the wind pretty effectively and it made me nice and toasty (relatively speaking). I am currently swapping an engine so going slow and careful, being able to handle small parts without dropping them, and thinking about something other than how cold I am is a big plus

 

[pbon]

How many BTU is the one you bought? That is a big factor outdoors. I have had several, 60, 125 and 200k. The 60 will do ok in an enclosed space; the 200 could blow enough to do ok outside if you could block the wind a little.

 

[Iron Beaver]

Mine is 125k. Honestly compared to working outdoors all day without it, even on the low setting (80k) is pretty nice

 

[jeepinerdeep]

When I was in the truck shop, they were used to thaw out trucks. As said, blocking the wind is key. Even a 3 sided deal helps. We carried a few sheets of plywood and a tarp in the service truck. Moral of that rambling, stick some plywood up and try it.

 

[Iron Beaver]

Thought I would add some closure to this question. I got the heater and did the biggest job in the bushes in January and February. It was cold and miserable until I turned on the heater and then it was tolerable. Even if it's a little windy, there's nothing like having a place to go warm up!

I used it to swap a new engine into my '85 Toyota 4x4. That thing is pretty much a 2020 Toyota 4x4 at this point and it's sooooooo cool.