I recently moved into a new house. My workshop thus moves from the basement of my old house to my new house where I will have one bay of a three car garage. The bays are open, and I do not anticipate closing it off, in part because this will give me the ability to move into the middle bay during periods of necessity. The house is two years old, the garage seems to be fairly well insulated. In the coldest weather of the winter this year in Northwest Montana when the weather got down to 12 below – the temperature in the garage hovered just above the freezing mark without any heat. The garage doors seem to decently insulated variety.
I want to add heat. My thought to this point was to put in radiant overhead heaters (gas). I read an article in a wood working magazine talking about these – sounded good – no open combustion -everything vents outside. I got a price of $1200 plus installation.
I had an electrician out doing some work yesterday, asked him about it, and he got me information on an industrial electric heater (with a fan)- 5k that he felt would heat the entire garage – cost was about $300 for the unit and another $100-$150 installation charges.
In looking at the catalog he gave me on the heater, we noticed there are also electric radiant heaters – to be ceiling mounted like the gas ones would be.
The electrician said that he believes cost of operation of the electric heater should be similar to natural gas. Maybe due to the hydroelectric power out here – electric rates seem to be pretty reasonable compared to what we were paying in Ohio – but it’s not exactly apples to apples with the house.
Anybody have an experience with any of these types of heat – and recommendations on which way to go or avoid.
Thanks – respond quickly – I’m cold and I want to make sawdust.
Edited 2/15/2008 12:01 pm ET by jonolson
Replies
My shop is in a 2 1/2 car garage that had insulated walls but no insulation in the roof or gables. I tried to heat it with an industrial heater with a fan and could rarely get the heat up more than 20 degrees above the outside temp running it full tilt which in Indiana means that the shop was pretty damn cold alot of the time and not much fun to work in..last week I had spray foam insulation applied to the rafters and gables for about $1600....now, on the lowest setting, the shop remains a toasty 55 degrees...and I didn't realize there's a built in thermostat that frequently shuts down the unit....so far I'm really happy with the system although eventually I'd like to look at electric radiant heat ceiling panels....right now I'm just amazed at how well the foam insulates
Neil
Thanks - I do have insulation in the walls - and there is, I think, about 16" of blown in insulation in space above the garage - so I'm hoping that I won't have to add more.
Just replaced my 4500 watt electric heater for a 45,000 btu natural gas hanging furnace (I have a 2 1/2 car garage, fully insulated.) The elec heat was ok but ran for a long time when bringing the garage up to temp. The gas one will bring the garage from 40 deg to 65 deg in about 25-30 minutes and does not cycle nearly as much as the elec. did. IMO, gas is better, it allows for faster warm-ups and less run time.
I have hot water radiant heat in the concrete floor. Once you get it warm, it undisputedly the nicest heat there is. You are comfortable at temperatures about ten degrees cooler that with hot air heat. That said, it does have it's disadvantages. It takes about a day to warm up after you put the heat on. If you have a concrete floor, you have to have the tubes in the floor as you pour it. If you have an outside boiler, it does take tending every day and takes work gathering wood etc. But I still like it.
That said, If I were in your shoes, I would consider a heat pump like they put in motel rooms. You have air conditioning as a bonus, in real cold weather, resistance heat kicks in but much of your heat during cool days would be developed from the heat pump which is much cheaper than resistance heat. I don't know what they cost though.
For many years we heated our house with a woodstove. A couple years ago we changed to geothermal heat - which is a heat pump but which gets the heat from the ground instead of the air. It uses water which recirculates through wells in the ground and comes out at 56° instead of using air which may be below zero. Last year we used less electricity that we did previously when we were heating with wood. Figure that one out. The geothermal installation, however, is very expensive.
Edited 2/15/2008 11:45 pm ET by Tinkerer3
I walled-off one bay of a 3 bay garage. I insulated the entire room.I heat with a gas fired radiant heater from Graingers - and I added a very small fan, high on the opposite wall to exhaust any possible fumes. The heater and fan are interlinked to a thermostat.
This setup is ideal as it heats "things" (read machinery) not air. I've never had a hint of any rust.
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
jonolson,
If your question is should you consider gas or electric my thinking would be electric for some of the reasons you gave.. (cheap hydroelectric power) plus the boost they will get from solar and wind power as those come on line.. Don't forget how close to the coal fields you are and coal fired electric generators will add further pressure to keeping electric cheap..
Gas on the other hand is limited and getting more and more scarce.. I don't ever see it getting cheaper!
I'm heating my home with basically electric heat based on that sort of thinking. (in floor radiant heat which once you have it every thing else will seem so crude) ..
Hot Dawg http://hot-dawg.modine.com/ is what I used had it installed a year ago and it is great. Here in Central Illinois it gets pretty cold in the winter I keep the thermostat on 57 degrees F. when I'm not in the shop but if I wanted it heated it takes less than 5 minutes to rise to 68 degrees F. I have the model that uses outside air, not dust laden inside air for combustion. And I would recommend it to anyone.
Edited 4/22/2008 6:19 pm ET by wilderness1989
What did you pay for your HotDawg (if you don't mind my asking), and which model did you get?
It was installed in March, 2007 and the furnace and installation (running new gas line, chimney and air intake thru the wall, ect.) was $1477. I called the installation people and they don't have a record, and I can't find mine at the moment outside of a total bill for for everything done at that time (new hot water heater and house furnace too). But I believe the furnace by it's self was $770 (called the furnace people back and they said $770) and I'm pretty sure it was the 45K BTU model it is the outside air for combustion model so no dust it near an open flame, model HDS 45 is the one, I have a 22'x22' insulated shop. It has a wall thermostat and I leave the shop at 57 degrees when I'm not out there and it takes just no time to get it to 68 degrees in 20-30 degree weather.
http://www4.modine.com/v2portal/modine.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=modineMarketsDefault&a_webc_url=modine_com/markets/building_HVAC/level_4_content_014.htm
If I can help more please let me know.
John Gray
Effingham, IL - South Central Illinois
Thanks a bunch. Sounds like a great unit and I'm in the market for a heat source for my shop. I'll contact them to see how best to use one of these for my shop. Thanks again.
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