Workshop heating?

[Mike65]

As far as heating my shop, my last one had a propane heater that mounted up by the ceiling & worked great, but it wasnt a direct vent & I needed to have an outside vent source for fresh air & I want something different in this shop. I was thinking a gas fired, or electric boiler & fan forced heat? Or I was also looking at the Hot Dawg heaters by Modine. What does everyone think? Opinions please.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Hi Mike,

One of those modine units would be a good choice.

Don't skimp on the insulation.

Phil

 

[MyDomain]

The Cayenne is a nice unit http://www.michigan-heating.com/id12.html

I also like the Reznor UDAS http://www.rezspec.com/catalog-udas.html

I would get whichever unit you can get parts for locally.

 

[DaveL.]

I have 75000 BTU Modine Hot Dawg...I love it.

 

[NHCharger]

Same as DaveL here. On my 3rd winter with the Dawg, love it.
Only complaint, do NOT run a table saw directly in front of the heater. The first time the heater kicked on it was like a sand storm in the Sahara

 

[mulepackin]

I have 75000 BTU Modine Hot Dawg...I love it.

+1 more here.

 

[tp-otus]

just had a 45000 btu hot dawg unit installed this week in our 22x22 garage with 9' ceiling. It made a world of differents in the way of comfort for working in it. We had a 16000 btu 220 volt electric unit in the garage for awhile and it never really never heated to where you could be comfortable. I knew it was underpowered but i took the cheap way out and paid the price . Do alot of research on here and don't let your wallet effect the final out come as it did me. good luck

 

[jack bacon]

As far as heating my shop, my last one had a propane heater that mounted up by the ceiling & worked great, but it wasnt a direct vent & I needed to have an outside vent source for fresh air & I want something different in this shop. I was thinking a gas fired, or electric boiler & fan forced heat? Or I was also looking at the Hot Dawg heaters by Modine. What does everyone think? Opinions please.

I have a Hot Dawg 60,000 BTU and 12" of insulation in the celing and 6" in the walls. Total area is around 850 SQ FT with insulated garage doors. It never gets below freezing in the garage unless it dips below zero outside. With the heat on it quickly warms up to whatever temp I desire. I mounted the thermostat on the wall directly behind the heater and below. I also installed a on/off switch in the lower corner of the heater cabinet inline with one of the thermostat wires. When I want heat, I flip the switch to on and set the temp to either sweathsirt or T shirt.

Jack

 

[larry4406]

The poster's original question concerned the source of combustion air. Modine and Reznor both make units that pipe in combustion air from the outside and discharge exhaust to the outside.

I don't have any experience with either. These units are more expensive than the traditional units. The literature for them indicates that they are good for dusty environments since they do not use the dusty air for combustion. With extremely "tight" construction (i.e., no to minimal air inleakage) it would seem that these units would be better. I am still debating what type to use in my garage.

 

[krooser]

I like my Radiant gas fired tube heater...toasty!

 

[Special55]

I like my Radiant gas fired tube heater...toasty!

+ 1 on that. It's nice when the cars you're working on are as warm as the air around them.

Rich

 

[steve392]

+ 1 on that. It's nice when the cars you're working on are as warm as the air around them.

Rich

+2 on the radiant tube heater...nice and quiet, efficient, no problems...

Steve

 

[swandog]

So what brand of radiant tube heater did you guys use? I do some woodworking in the garage and I have a dust collection system but still I wonder about dust accumulating on the tube. Did you buy the heater online?

thanks
Doug

 

[steve392]

swandog,
My heater is a Re-verber-ray unit that I am very satisfied with. If you go to their website here: http://www.reverberay.com/index.html,
you can link to one of their distributors. I live on the east coast and I purchased mine by phone from the local Reverberray dealer in New York..They will neeed to know your shop size, type of insulation, etc., to help you in sizing the unit.
A while back WOOD Magazine did a story on installing a radiant heater in a woodworking shop. I think that somewhere on the reverberray website there is a link to that article...Either that or a google search for the article may turn up something.
Hope this helps,
Steve

 

[steve392]

swandog,

I found that article:
http://www.reverberray.com/pdf/articles/wood_magazine.pdf

Steve

 

[Special55]

So what brand of radiant tube heater did you guys use? I do some woodworking in the garage and I have a dust collection system but still I wonder about dust accumulating on the tube. Did you buy the heater online?

thanks
Doug

I bought mine locally at Combustion research in Rochester Hills, MI.

They were very helpful in determining the correct size/configuration for my set-up. The guy that helped me out was Daryl.
I have been very happy with the unit so far. It has been 30 - 40 degrees out lately and the heater runs for about 15 minutes every 4 hours. I have 2x6 construction with R19.

Here is their website
http://www.combustionresearch.com/

Hope that helps,

Rich

 

[swandog]

Thanks for the info guys...I appreciate it.

Doug