Yes more heater installation questions!!!

[ratpowered]

I've been lurking for sometime now and have learned much.-Thanks
I just purchased my retirement home that included a 2000 sq ft shop with a mancave (apartment/dog house) above it. The previous owner divided it into three bays. The two outside bays he used to store his travel trailer and boat so they were unfinished. They are 17' x 40' with 14' ceilings. The center bay has the apartment above it. It was used for wood working so it is heated/air conditioned and totally finished. It uses the furnace for the apartment. It has all 4 walls sheetrocked and insulated with lots of lights and cabinets and benches- very nice. I build hot rods , so the shop is changing. I've insulated (R38 in the ceilings and R-15 in the walls)and put 16 4' lights per bay on the ceilings. I've bought 2 75000 btu natural gas Mr Heater heaters from Northern Tool- 1 for each bay because they are separated by the shop in the center which I use to build engines, so I want it keep clean and seperated from the other bays which we use to do metal fab and welding. Now for the questions. I've read all the posts on here about the heater installations, but still have several questions:
1. I've read that the heater work best if they are closer to the floor(approx. 8'). Do I need to drop them down from the 14' ceilings or will they work ok @ 14' ? I know they are a bit of overkill but the price difference was minimal and I plan to let the temp drop down to around 40 when we are not out there working and want to bring the temp up fairly quickly. I now live in Utah and it does get cold here in the winter!
2. I didn't purchase the vent kits for installation. What does the Northern Tool installation kit include? Will I have to purchase additional pipe for the vertical exhaust or does the kit included all the pipe and elbows etc that I will need? Can I go to any HVAC shop and purchase what I need for the same price or is the Northern Tool $110 price a good deal?
3. I want a thermostat, but the one that Northern Tool sells has a lower temp setting of 50 degrees. I want it to drop down to 40 while I'm not there. I've read all the discussion about cost/savings and temp settings- I'm an engineer (mechanical not HVAC) and have my own theories so I want the thermostat to let the temp drop to 40. Can I install any thermostat or do you have to buy the Mr Heater theromstat?
Thanks for the help,
Dennis

 

[riskyvt]

Well Dennis, I too have bought a pair of 75K Mr. Heater Big Maxx heaters (mine are propane, they arrive tomorrow) and will be installing them soon. My shop ceiling height is 11 feet, and I'll be venting horizontally, thru the nearby sidewall of the shop. According to Northern Tool's site, the venting kit includes an elbow, 3-to-4 inch connector, pipe, a wall thimble and a pipe cap. The carpenter building my shop built the second floor supports out of 30' free-span TJI joists, nailed onto the studwall cap on 12" centers. Therefore, the outside distance between two joists is 15.5", perfect for hanging two pairs of 3/8" threaded rods which should, according to the diagram of the mounting flanges on the Big Maxx unit, be perfect. I'm going to make my own brackets by welding lengths of threaded rod onto a piece of flatstock with multi-hole arrangement for nailing onto the joists. Should work out great, at least in my mind anyway!

I see no reason whatsoever why your 14' ceiling height would be an issue. My cubic footage is much larger than yours, and I have been told by more than one person that two 75K units will heat it up nicely.

Regarding thermostats, I did buy the ones recommended by Northern tool...but a thermostat is nothing more than a mercury switch controlled by a heat sensitive coil to activate it. Programmable ones are available too, any 24V unit should work just fine. HD or Lowes will have simple, Honeywell-style round t-stats (probably cheaper) if you want to go that route.

Wish me luck....it should be fun installing them.

Oh, here's the link to my currently running thread in the Gallery, documenting the shop build: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11929

 

[drbill]

I have a Honeywell round style thermostat. It was the original from my house when I had central air installed so it has the fan on function. I believe it goes as low as 42° but if you want it lower all you have to do is rotate the thermostat off level to change the temp setting as it uses a mercury switch.
As for mounting the heater up high I don't think it matters, all the heat is going to rise anyway. I would put a couple of ceiling fans in to push the hot air down. They are also good for the summer time to circulate the air.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Indeed, with 14 ft ceilings, this would be a good candidate for ceiling fans. Get the large 60 inch commercial type that Home Depot has, quite reasonable priced.

Charles

 

[Junkman]

My Mr. Heater is installed about 6" from the 11' ceiling, and I have the louvers pointed down toward the floor. I find that there is a greater amount of heat at the ceiling than I care for, so I have installed a fan near the ceiling that blows that heat down toward the floor. I find this a very good alternative to the ceiling fans.

 

[ryunk]

1. I too purchased two 60" ceiling fans for my garage for getting the heat from the ceiling to the floor. I have a 75000 BTU Mr. Heater up close to a 12' high ceiling. The Home Depot commercial grade 60" fans are great.

2. Do not purchase the vent kit from Norther Tool, I had to send it back. I would have had to purchase additional pieces to lengthen the pipe and the piece that supposedly attached to the heater was the wrong size diameter.

3. I found a nice digital heater thermostat at an HVAC supply house that went down to 45 degrees (only one I found that went down that low). The thermostat was labeled "SC1600" on the invoice.

 

[kbs2244]

The neatest trick I have seen for getting heat down to floor level was in a factory in Rockford, IL.
They had 20 foot ceilings with I beam posts. Scattered around the place were 8 inch dia canvas tubes that fit into the channel of the I beam.
They had a little squirrel fan at the top and ended about 18 inches off the floor. They just plugged them into the convince outlets.
If the tube got bumped it just popped back out with the air pressure.
But if you have the room up there, a few regular fans will wok fine.