- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
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- 4,216
- Age
- 49
- Location
- Grant, MN (aka Stillwater)
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- STOC #
- 6145
I was wondering what people are using to heat their shops.
I have a pole barn. It is roughly 32x50. I didn't build it and I have never measured it. Anyhow it is split up a little. The back part 32x18 is not insulated and that is where I have my 4 post lift. It was originally used for storing a motorhome (previous owners) and the floor is lower than the rest of the building giving it more overhead clearance. The rest of the pole barn is my shop/garage. It is about 32x32 with 12' ceiling. It is insulated and heated by a NG garage heater. I don't know how many BTUs it is but I could probably look. The thing I don't like about it is that it just heats the air. When I park in there all the time I loose all my warm air and have the start over all the time. Sure perfect world would be in floor heat but I don't think this was done much if at all when the building was built and it isn't cost effective to try and retrofit a system like that. When I moved in we were getting killed with the utility bills ($500-$600/mo in the winter for gas/electric). I have gotten that under control more by installing better insulation in the house and changing the thermostat in the pole barn. All it had was one of the old school round house thermostats. I replaced it with a digital thermostat typically found in commercial refrigeration units so that I could set the normal temps for 35-38* when I am not out there. When I am going to do work I flip a toggle switch and use the old round thermostat set to about 60*.
Anyhow I remember when I was in the military we had these large infrared heaters that seemed to work really well. For a while when I was a door gunner in an aviation unit we had large hangers that we would open up to get the helocopters out, we would close the hanger doors and in a mater of a minute or two it was warm in there again because the heat was retained in everything in the hanger. I would imagine that switching over to this type of heating system would be more efficient as I wouldn't loose all my heat twice a day. I was looking at something like this.
Link to Heater
I was wondering if anyone out there has used both the traditional garage heaters and something like this to compare efficiency/performance. The only real draw back is that I may want to adjust the temp as I do now. I think it would take longer to go from cool normal storage to it being warm enough to work out there comfortably. Maybe the answer is to keep both. Use the IR to maintain a temp in the 40s and use the air heater to bump it up when I want to work. This time of year I am not out there much because how long it takes to heat. Couple times a month. I may use it more if it were warmer out there all the time. The big thing I don't like is that my slab gets so cold now that my feet get pretty cold unless wearing boots.
Thanks
I have a pole barn. It is roughly 32x50. I didn't build it and I have never measured it. Anyhow it is split up a little. The back part 32x18 is not insulated and that is where I have my 4 post lift. It was originally used for storing a motorhome (previous owners) and the floor is lower than the rest of the building giving it more overhead clearance. The rest of the pole barn is my shop/garage. It is about 32x32 with 12' ceiling. It is insulated and heated by a NG garage heater. I don't know how many BTUs it is but I could probably look. The thing I don't like about it is that it just heats the air. When I park in there all the time I loose all my warm air and have the start over all the time. Sure perfect world would be in floor heat but I don't think this was done much if at all when the building was built and it isn't cost effective to try and retrofit a system like that. When I moved in we were getting killed with the utility bills ($500-$600/mo in the winter for gas/electric). I have gotten that under control more by installing better insulation in the house and changing the thermostat in the pole barn. All it had was one of the old school round house thermostats. I replaced it with a digital thermostat typically found in commercial refrigeration units so that I could set the normal temps for 35-38* when I am not out there. When I am going to do work I flip a toggle switch and use the old round thermostat set to about 60*.
Anyhow I remember when I was in the military we had these large infrared heaters that seemed to work really well. For a while when I was a door gunner in an aviation unit we had large hangers that we would open up to get the helocopters out, we would close the hanger doors and in a mater of a minute or two it was warm in there again because the heat was retained in everything in the hanger. I would imagine that switching over to this type of heating system would be more efficient as I wouldn't loose all my heat twice a day. I was looking at something like this.
Link to Heater
I was wondering if anyone out there has used both the traditional garage heaters and something like this to compare efficiency/performance. The only real draw back is that I may want to adjust the temp as I do now. I think it would take longer to go from cool normal storage to it being warm enough to work out there comfortably. Maybe the answer is to keep both. Use the IR to maintain a temp in the 40s and use the air heater to bump it up when I want to work. This time of year I am not out there much because how long it takes to heat. Couple times a month. I may use it more if it were warmer out there all the time. The big thing I don't like is that my slab gets so cold now that my feet get pretty cold unless wearing boots.
Thanks