My shop is so cold right now it's no fun even being in there. I had a thought but want input from others smarter than me. When I was a kid, a local farmer had a wood burner in his shop. very small shop could just barely get his tractor in to split it. He had a wood stove in there and it was always toasty warm. I was thinking of doing this also but have visions of uncontrolled explosions from fumes or who knows what. How safe is this really? He never had any problems so why would I? My shop is just a pole barn with good ventilation so any heat would not linger but hopefully take the sharp chill off with a good fire. Thoughts???
Bruce
Bruce it really depends on what you will be doing in the shop. The problem with a wood stove is you can’t walk over and turn it off. And an open flame while using anything flammable (painting, cleaning solvents, etc.) isn’t a good thing.
Also, if you do woodworking projects, wood dust and an open flame isn’t a good idea either.
Propane, gas and fuel oil heaters have the same issues but they can simply be turned off.. But fuel oil turns to jelly when it gets really cold.
Having an un-insulated shop and living in South Dakota means you need a lot of BTU’s. I’d go with propane or natural gas.
I live near Denver and have a 20 x 40 shop that I insulated really, really well. I use (2) 7500 BTU 220 V electric heaters. They work great. But for your shop electric ain’t the way to go.
That’s my thoughts.
Good luck to ya.
