I can install a gas unit heater in my shop for a complete price of $1200. On the other hand I can install a 5kw electric unit heater for $250. At an initial savings of $950 it’s very tempting. Then I start to consider whether the electric option is a safer alternative considering fumes from finishing projects. I had a gas unit heater in my previous shop for 9 years with no explosions, but… How many of you have opinions to my $950. dillema?
Thanks all, Greg Alexander
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Timely... just yesterday I ordered the $250 electric option for my shop after coming up with the same conclusion. Whatever extra I spend in electricity will take a while to overcome the cost delta.
This is the one I ordered:
CUH05B31T-Electric Garage Utility Heater by Dimplex
$241 after a discount, free shipping and no sales tax. The cost of a new circuit breaker and a little conduit and I'll be toasty warm with no excuses about it being too cold to put a finish on a piece.
Probably ordered from the same place. I just went to a therm/btu calculator that compares all forms of heat, you just plug in what you pay per kw and therm for gas and gives a cost per year to provide X amount of heat. Gas is less than 1/2 the cost of electricity (here in Spokane WA). Still deciding whether to buy another unit for the shop. The first one is going into the garage below the shop.
heater-home.com?Here in CA gas is achieving parity with electricity... in spite of the global natural gas market collapsing over the last year... funny how that happens.
With a direct vent gas system, I don't think the electric option is safer. The gas takes no combustion air from the space, nor puts any exhaust into the space.
I agree, properly installed the gas units are completely safe.
I received the heater today. It was a nice surprise to see how fast the home-heater folks shipped that, especially considering that they gave me free shipping.
The unit is boxed up nice and secure, the only hardware is the mounting bracket. It's small, it actually doesn't look like a 5k watt heater from the external dimensions.
Took me an hour to install it, but I had a pretty easy 30' run of conduit with only 2 bends. Some 10 gauge and a 30 amp circuit breaker in expenses and I was done.
So far it seems to work quite well. The fan noise is noticeable but not annoying and you can my 500'ish square foot shop is already a lot more comfortable. One thing to keep in mind is that the controls are integral to the unit, so when you install it you need to ensure that you can reach it to turn it on/off.
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