The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest How do you heat your garage?

The shop/garage is detached and currently heated with double burner bottle heater. On really cold days I fire up a kero space heater to help warm up quicker. Once temp is up to say 65 then I just turn them down. My former boss was upgrading his home heat system and asked if I wanted his add on wood furnac to heat my shop.. At the time I had no idea what an add on wood furnace was but accepted. I have heard if your going to use wood stove / furnace to be up to fire code it the fire box need to be elevated to a height of 18 inches. This is so that the combustible fumes associated with products used sink toward the floor they won't ignite. Anyway I haven't hooked it up yet because I wasn't ready for it when he gave it to me. One day maybe i will get r done.

I put stilts on my wood stove just to not have to bend over to fill it. Just pieces of pipe slipped over the legs and set screws to make them snug, about 20" off the floor.
Hadn't heard of a requirement to do that though.

Grigg

I have a propane unit hanging in one corner of my shop. With the acoustical ceiling, and 6" of insulation I put overhead the propane unit will heat it up pretty dang fast. At least to where its comfortable. I used just over a 100 bucks of propane last year but I don't work all day everyday in the shop either.
I also have a round kero heater to use in the house if we lose all power. In the dead of winter I sometime light it once the shop is heated up just to keep it toasted and not run the propane. The unit is pretty efficient and clean burning.

I used to use an Early Morning wood stove for my 1200sq ft shop and it did pretty good. Went w/a smaller pot belly wood burner once it wore out. Supplement w/a large kerosene heater to get quicker heat, spot heat or when I'm not going to be out there long.
Been using both for approx 20 yrs w/no issues w/anything.
I would like to someday go w/radiant heat for the house & shop.
Warm feet are happy feet
I have a constant free supply of wood, only needs my labor to process it, so the economics dictate I play that hand.
Course one needs to be careful & vigilant and keep in control when dealing w/tools & devices that can ruin ones day.
Dave

I have an 12KW Singer heater. Small unit about 14" cube hung from the ceiling. Warms my 1 car and workshop up toot sweet now. It was only getting to about 60 before shutting off. That normally wouldn't be a problem but need to get it warmer so I can shoot some paint. I thought I was going to need another thermostat but really didn't want to go looking because this is probably 25-30 years old. Fiddling with it today I found the thermostat could easily be adjusted. One more step towards getting ready for paint.

Dennis

The low number for shooting paint is 70 degrees. I learned it the hard way. 68 and you are totally SOL. I make sure my paint area is 72 before I start as a result of having to spend 2 months resanding and starting all over because I didn't know. This is using the lowest temp reducers and hardeners. Its just not worth it to tempt fate.

72-75 was what I was aiming for. I plan on warming the room up then shutting the heater down until I'm done. Don't want to blow anything into the paint nor cause a spark and blow the place up. I have the room lined with plastic drop cloths so it should retain the heat sufficiently. Also added a filter to the heater today.

Dennis

I am currently building myself a Rocket Heater. Based off of the rocket stove. It will be made up of 3 LP tanks welded together and an internal chimney of 4 x 3 Rectangle tube steel. If all goes well I should have it up and running in a month or so. Just waiting on my buddy to teach me how to weld. Once I have it up and working I will let you know how it is doing. I was drawn to this style as it uses very little wood and produces large amounts of heat.

I keep my '48 Chevy 1/2 ton in cold storage for its long winter nap here. The pole barn where all the tinkering takes place is heated with a wood-burning stove. There is nothing like the dry, warm heat that it produces. A couple of electric blowers help to spread the heat. The ceiling is insulated. Gently-used, heavy-duty, high-heat fire brick line the furnace wall. We have plenty of wood on the property, so it is most practical for us. It does involve sweat equity and some equipment (chainsaw, wood splitter, trailer, tractor). I keep telling myself that it's good exercise too! We have cut a great deal of ash in recent years due to the Emerald Ash Borer destroying the trees in our area. That's a sad thing. We also use the wood for our maple-syrup production in the late winter/early spring. That is a whole other story! Lastly, it helps to have a bottle of Birddog blackberry whiskey around to go with a "brown pop" during break time!

Finally turned on my garage slab tonight. Been warm here. Radiant heat is nice, low and slow like BBQ I guess..I have brisket, pork butt and turkey to smoke for NYE.

I'm up for BBQ! Address please..................

Just head up to Maine and take a sharp right.

I'll toss a couple of lobsters in as well.