How are you going to heat your shop this year?
This subject seems to come up every winter, but I think that perhaps things could be different this year. With the economy the way it is I imagine a lot of us are tight for money. I know that I am concidering install a wood wtove in the shop this year to try and save some money and still keep comfortable in the shop.
I have right around 4,000 sq ft of shop to heat, I have one of these heaters that hang from the ceiling burning natural gas with a big fan on the back of it. It has no problem getting the shop toasty warm, and keeping it there. But the heat it puts out comes at a heavy price. So I am looking at other ways of staying warm this year that will keep me from paying out a arm and a leg like I did last year. If you don’t watch the thermostat and keep it as low as I can, it can run up a huge bill. Last winter was our first in the new shop and my first bill from the gas company was just under $700.00 for one month.
Is any one running one of these multi fuel stoves, I was thinking of one that will burn wood or coal? I’m looking forward to reading your ideas.
In the mean time stay warm, they are saying we are going to see snow this weekend the 8th of November here in SE Indiana. With the temps in the mid 30’s we won’t see anything as far as snow building up yet but it’s not far away.
Replies
My shop is in the basement, I heat both house and shop with a wood burning furnace, hot air. Heating season is roughly 7 months, I burn about 4 full cords, $200/cord. The comfort and quality of the wood heat is unsurpassed but there is a lot of work to it. 4 cord is 8 full pickup trucks worth. It fills a 12'x12' shed about 5' high.
Shop heat..
Taigert,
Wow, $700 a month is hugely expensive. Unless you've got income coming in from the shop to write that off against, that would be a bitter pill to swallow.
You said you have 4,000 square feet to heat. Do you really need to heat all much area? During the winter I drape plastic sheeting from the ceiling to the floor in my shop that closes off about 1/3 of the space. The draped-off area is mainly storage for lumber, so I only go in there to retrieve boards; it doesn't need to stay heated. That really helps control my heating bill.
Plus, you never said anything about air sealing or insulating your shop. I've done both to an extensive degree. Any heat you can retain in the building is heat you don't have to pay to replace. Insulation is pretty inexpensive compared to heating fuel. And, right now, before December 31st, you can receive a 30% tax credit on insulation - not installation, just the material itself. Though, now that I've said that, I'm not 100% sure that program would apply to a shop area. Maybe it's just for residences. You can find out more at http://www.energy.gov.
Zolton
Pellet stove.
Have you looked into a wood pellet stove? My son in Maine has used one in his home to supplement oil heat. The fuel, compressed wood pellets, is cheaper than oil. It runs without tending from a bin that feeds a worm drive that feeds the fire one or two pellets at a time. I'm not sure what sizes the stoves come in, his is small and in the living room of a 3000 sq ft house and is backed up by oil heat, as I said. I'm sure that you can't use anything else in one of these stoves, like scraps from the workshop or coal.
By the way, there are internal fans that blow the heat out of the stove.
And to answer your orig question, my 1000 sq ft shop is in the basement, heated by the gas system for the house which has AprilAir humidity control attached.
Good luck on your quest for cheaper heat.
Heating in cold CNY
I live in a very snowy and cold region of central New York near the Fingerlakes. I tried heating my small 360 sq. ft. shop (outbuilding) with a large 220 v. ceiling electric heater, but the bill was extraordinarily expensive. Switched to a wood stove last year. After heavily insulating the walls and ceiling, the shop heats up in about an hour and layers of clothing are continuously removed during the day. I only wish my house were heated as efficiently. I do a lot of turning so much of the wood comes from scraps. So far this is a great and efficient way to heat.
Heating the shop
A couple of years ago I decided that I had out grown my 3 car garage. So I found a nice location with a large building and we proceeded to set up shop for the first time away from home. That was $1000/mth for rent plus the cost of power and heat that was another $1000/mth. Well I soon discovered I had a jerk for a land lord, he would not spend the money to maintain the building. The leaking roof was a great reason to free us from the lease.
A friend of mine had run his Martial Arts Studio in a old Movie theater. The main floor is around 4000sqft, then there is a loft style living area upstairs. So we went ahead and purchased the building. That was around the time the economy tanked, so in the long run it turned out to be our saving grace. But the building is nearly a hundred years old, and was not built to what you might call well insulated.
The plan right now is to upgade the insulation this month and figure out what I want to do about heating and cooling. The loft is heated with electric base board heat that seems to work well and hasn't cost us to much to stay comfortable through last winter. Now air conditioning the loft has been a killer.
I was also thinking about getting a roof top unit that has the heat and a/c combined. Then set it on a pad and duct it in through the wall. But then I'm back to dealing with this local gas company?
I feel that waht I should do for now is look at a stove with a blower on it for the shop to get through this winter. I can get the 30% tax credit up to $1500 as long as I have it running by the end of the year.
With the down turn in our work load I don't want t spend any more than we have too for now. We all know that the work will pick up sooner or later. Perhaps it may never get as good as it was a few years back, but thats OK.
I've seen five or six shops go under over the past year, times are tough out there right now so have to cut costs where ever you can. I fully intend to still be here still in business ten years now.
Heating your shop
Taigert,
As I posted elsewhere this morning, I would take a look at ceiling-hung radiant heaters. For your size shop, the tube type would probably be best. Someone should be able to give you an estimate as to heating costs.
Also, depending on the height of your ceiling, you want to supplement the heaters with ceiling fans. They drive the heat, which rises, down to lower levels. (Just don't put them under your lights! The flicker of shadows caused the fan blades will drive you crazy.)
Frosty
Forced air gas cieling mount heating unit
I had one of those in my 6000 sq ft industrial shop. The landlord said it was my fault whem it quit working because I allowed it to get too filled with dust. They wanted too much to fix it so I just used a kerosene space heater for for a few minutes each morning. We were in between two other heated spaces and we stayed warm enough. I wonder if the nieghbor's heat bills went up when I turned my furnace off for good?
I now have about 1000 sq ft of well insulated shop space. The little rural county PUD where I live owns it's own hydroelectric dam and we have very low electrical rates. I use a 4500 watt ceiling mounted forced air electric heater which I am careful to keep cleaned out. Our heating season is 4-5 months. The insulated concrete floor slab acts as a thermal collector to help both heat and cold the shop. I have no trouble keeping the shop warm even when it's as cold as 10 below (well, maybe when it's 10 below it's harder to stay warm). My winter electric bill is about $50 a month, $20 summer. I used to heat my shop with wood way back when in an area that had expesive power. I feel lucky that I never had a fire.
Just be very carefull with the wood stoves in your shops.
Bret
Shop heating
My auto mechanic uses a heater that is made to burn used motor oil. The cost of oil is zero plus he does not have to pay to have the used oil pumped out and carted away. The shop is 3 bays (15 foot high ceiling) plus a small storage area and a small office. The unit sits on top of his office and a built in fan blows the heat all over the place. ,So... check around with your local garages and see what they use or recommend. They may be more than willing to supply you with used oil too. SawdustSteve Long Island, NY (E of NYC)
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