How to heat

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Evan Dutch

Evan Dutch

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Hey guys,

I recently had my shop built and among the things on my to do list is figure out how to heat it. I’d like an electric heater but don’t want it to run up my power bill. I’d also like to maximize my floor space as my shop is only 720 square feet. I was also thinking about a wood stove (I’ve never owned a wood stove).

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

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electricity will break your back , money wise . Wood will break your back , labor wise . Unless you get your wood for nothing there is no advantage to it . If your budget allows I would go for a Modine . Safe , clean , economical and warm . Unless you can keep the heat on the cold will saturate your car, tools and equipment and make it even more difficult to heat . My garage gets so cold that I can't hold tools in my gloved hand .
 
Does it get direct sunlight and for how long in a typical winter day. There is a heat wall tech that is easy to build and cheap.

Also insolation would be the cheapest energy you can get. Meaning if you hyper insolate it, it will take a fraction of the energy to heat. Think spray foam roof, walls etc.

What about propane heater or nat gas if you have it at your location.
 
383Scampman said:
electricity will break your back , money wise . Wood will break your back , labor wise . Unless you get your wood for nothing there is no advantage to it . If your budget allows I would go for a Modine . Safe , clean , economical and warm . Unless you can keep the heat on the cold will saturate your car, tools and equipment and make it even more difficult to heat . My garage gets so cold that I can't hold tools in my gloved hand .
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I’d have to have a natural gas tank installed as my house doesn’t use natural gas. That may be a little more than I can spend.
 
Dana67Dart said:
Does it get direct sunlight and for how long in a typical winter day. There is a heat wall tech that is easy to build and cheap.

Also insolation would be the cheapest energy you can get. Meaning if you hyper insolate it, it will take a fraction of the energy to heat. Think spray foam roof, walls etc.

What about propane heater or nat gas if you have it at your location.
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It sees moderate sunlight on only the front wall. I will be sealing and insulating it as it isn’t completely airtight
 
You don't mean a "natural gas" tank you mean an LPG (propane) tank. They are related but different animals. Frankly if you don't want to spend that money, a wood heater is about your only option. Are there emissions regulations there for wood heaters? If not you could even build one. You used to be able to get a "kit" (door and legs) to make a wood heater out of a barrel. TWO barrels works well, 1 on top of the other But then you need wood, and I've no idea what your supply situation is. Can you get firewood there reasonable? Do you have your own on your property?
 
67Dart273 said:
You don't mean a "natural gas" tank you mean an LPG (propane) tank. They are related but different animals. Frankly if you don't want to spend that money, a wood heater is about your only option. Are there emissions regulations there for wood heaters? If not you could even build one. You used to be able to get a "kit" (door and legs) to make a wood heater out of a barrel. TWO barrels works well, 1 on top of the other But then you need wood, and I've no idea what your supply situation is. Can you get firewood there reasonable? Do you have your own on your property?
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No emissions for the wood heaters. Wood available on my property as well as my neighbors. He’s a retired lumberjack, all he does now is cut wood. No kidding every inch of his property has some kind of wood product on it. I do like the idea of a gas heater but I’ll have to look into the costs of having the tank installed for it
 
I’ll say to go with wood now, but not in the conventional manner. That’s a nice looking workshop garage, but every tall tree around it is to be viewed as a potential enemy and really needed to be put on the ground before it was constructed, IMHO. But I never have liked carrying wood in and ashes out of a garage. When I elect to heat with wood or coal, the front of the stove is going to built behind a vented door compartment (doghouse if you will) on the side of the building and the exterior and flue pipe is going up inside through a heat exchanger. Also put it on the end of the building along with the flue pipe exit, not on the side with the drip edge. I don’t know how many flue exhaust I’ve seen taken out by the inevitable deep snows sliding off of a metal shop roof. As far as firewood, start with the small trees and wait to get to the big ones as time and finances allow you to access a wood splitter.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
I’ll say to go with wood now, but not in the conventional manner. That’s a nice looking workshop garage, but every tall tree around it is to be viewed as a potential enemy and really needed to be put on the ground before it was constructed, IMHO. But I never have liked carrying wood in and ashes out of a garage. When I elect to heat with wood or coal, the front of the stove is going to built behind a vented door compartment (doghouse if you will) on the side of the building and the exterior and flue pipe is going up inside through a heat exchanger. Also put it on the end of the building along with the flue pipe exit, not on the side with the drip edge. I don’t know how many flue exhaust I’ve seen taken out by the inevitable deep snows sliding off of a metal shop roof. As far as firewood, start with the small trees and wait to get to the big ones as time and finances allow you to access a wood splitter.
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That’s a good point about not putting it on the sides with the drip edge. I didn’t think about that
 
Insurance company may play a role in your heating choices. You can get a Big Maxx heater that runs off propane. It needs to be vented as it burns a combustible gas. Beauty of these is that you can get a NG orifice for it (around $30) and set that NG orifice on the shelf in case NG comes into your area in the future? You can rent a large propane tank from the supplier. My Big Maxx took 2 150 lb propane bottles to feed it properly.
Also a corn/pellet stove?
Wood is a lot of work and probably takes a while to warm up the shop.
Good luck and post up what you decide on.
 
Good looking shop, same square footage as mine, my only regret was not putting in-floor heating when I built it. As mentioned, good insulation will go a long way to keeping costs down, something I still need to do. Had my last garage well insulated, was only 440 square feet, did not have heat, but was noticeably warmer to work in winter. Wood will probably be the most economical choice, maybe a pellet stove type, and use fans to circulate the air, I am still considering adding heat at some point, when I can afford it.
 
One caution about combustion of any kind in a shop.... Gasoline fumes.
 
I’ve got a friend of mine who has a wood burner in they’re shop with fans to circulate it. They usually keep the stove lit throughout the winter non stop, whoever goes out there checks the fire and keeps it going as need be. Insulation will be a big help in keeping the heat in. Would I insulate it with the stuff you can buy in the roll at the home improvement store or a spray foam as mentioned before? Then would the insulation be covered with anything such as plastic sheeting or something not flammable?

this is all new to me as I’ve never had a garage
 
I would cover it with plywood or sheetrock
Plywood would allow you to attach anything anywhere

Is it typically house construction type framing?
 
I have seen some pellet heaters that auto feed and keep the combustion seperate with a heat exchanger.
 
I had the basement of a previous house done with spray foam a few years ago, it was a little expensive, about $2300.00 at the time, but it cut my heating bills by over 50%. An added bonus is no vapor barrier is required and you can sheet rock right over it.
 
Pellet stoves take up a smaller footprint than a wood stove and are easy to install with the exhaust going out through the wall. Once you load the hopper it's self feeding. A fan would help you a lot though with the tall ceiling. A little bit of insulation would help out quite a bit but in your location I wouldn't spend too much money in that department.
 
frozenfish said:
little bit of insulation would help out quite a bit but in your location I wouldn't spend too much money in that department
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Insulation will always be your cheapest fuel source.

Example. A lady in a 1800 sq house spent 300 a month on heat, another in an almost 4000 sq ft house about 100, biggest diff was when the houses were built. 300 =1960s, 100 = 2000. Difference is massive amounts of insulation In 2000

This is based on real numbers personally known to me.
 
Dana67Dart said:
Insulation will always be your cheapest fuel source.

Example. A lady in a 1800 sq house spent 300 a month on heat, another in an almost 4000 sq ft house about 100, biggest diff was when the houses were built. 300 =1960s, 100 = 2000. Difference is massive amounts of insulation In 2000

This is based on real numbers personally known to me.
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It sure is, that's why I super insulated my house because I live in Alaska and it's paid big dividends. But for a guy in North Carolina he's not going to need much at all to keep some heat in. Anything above that is a waste of money. Its location dependent.
 
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