Well, it’s that time of year again, and I’m doing the how do I get some heat in the shop thing again. For me it’s a 3 car garage that I have a portion of. This is the second winter, and last night it got down in the 20’s. I had been considering electric and propane options, when my wife went to Sam’s club and saw this heater and got it for me. Last hear I would keep the door to the garage open and let the heat from the kitchen get out there and it kept it tolerable. I took some time this morning to get it out of the box and look at it. It looked pretty well made. It requires 7’10” clearance to the bottom of the bracket. It operates at 1200 watts. It took about 20 minutes to mount the bracket and mount the arm to the unit. It simply slides into the bracket. It comes with 5 brackets so you can mount brackets up to 5 places and move the thing around. For me I think I may mount a second bracket on the other side of the garage, should I need something over there. The plugin comes with a safety switch built in which is nice. You turn it on with a pull cord from the bottom of the unit which worked easily. Documentation indicates that it will heat 9 meters from the center of the unit out and I found that to be about right. I turned it on and put a tape measure to the wall and stepped back until I could no longer feel the warmth of the unit. It was about 9′. My only gripe is the electrical cord. The orientation of the ground plug makes the cable come down and then go back up. They should have had it designed it to have the cable just go up. How it does as it gets real cold I’ll have to wait and see. For $79.00 and ease of installation, I’ll give it a try. It’s not going to be as good as a bulldog unit, but it’s more than 10 times cheaper.
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If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Replies
I live in Wisconsin and went through the portable heater deal for a couple of years. I got tired of freezing my a$$ off for the first hour in the garage/shop and spending more time protecting/cleaning my tools from rust than woodworking. So last year I finally bought this unit...
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200307959_200307959
I spent another $100 or so at home depot for gas lines and exhaust venting and a thermostat. It took me about a day to hook everything up, then I plugged it in and fired it up and never looked back. I keep the thermostat at 45 to 50 degrees F, and crank it up to 60-65 when I am working. It's comfortable to work in a sweatshirt almost immediately in a large 2 car garage. And the side benefit is pulling the truck in at night covered in snow and coming out in the morning to find a clean, dry, warm truck that will have heat blowing in a block or two instead of 10 minutes later. It's better for the vehicles too.
If you can find a way to spend the $500 or so, you will never regret it.
That is a very good option for a shop! I just wish we had natural gas here on the island. I'd buy one of those to replace my pellet stove in a minute!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
They come in propane fired models also. how is your house heated?
Oil heat (central) for the house. Years ago, "they" talked about bringing natural gas to the island, but nothing ever came of it. The pipe would have to go across Agate Passage from the Kitsap Penninsula, big bucks. Many people here have propane tanks, and our heater can actually be converted to propane, but I doubt we'll ever do it. Though......if that little, ancient pellet stove in the shop were to break, it might be cost-effective to do the whole propane thing rather than replace the stove. Have to keep that in mind!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
The gas heater is the only way to go if you have the gas. I did it last year, and like you never looked back. It's on a proper thermostat, so we get a nice constant temperature in the garage.
We're a funny bunch. We'll gladly spend $1000+ on a table saw, $8 a bdft for wood, $300+ on some hand planes... but there is no way we'll spend $1000 on getting a proper heater in the shop...
If you are having trouble plugging the electric cord in, you might consider turning the receptacle so that the ground is on top. I have noticed the commercial and industrial places have them oriented like this anyway. When I wired my shop, I put all the receptacles with the ground on top. If you have a metal receptacle cover, the code requires it.
Edited 11/4/2007 12:03 am ET by tinkerer2
" I had been considering electric and propane options...." Look like a nifty little heater ya got there. The thing about propane (as opposed to the electric, or some other fuel) is that the colder the area is you're heating, the faster the tank gets frosty on the outside and you have to turn it off. Been there, done that, now look for other options!
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