The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Heated shop

Sure is nice to be able to work in a heated shop. Not only does my friend's shop have two propane furnace's we also get the steady heat from the wood stove. I think that i will have to insulate and heat my shop for next year. Nothing more depressing than it being to cold to work on the truck. Have a look at photo's http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sublime589/album?.dir=d9d2

You are right about a heated shop.I am thankful I have a large shop to keep my trucks in over the winter.Only problem is,it is darn cold out there,so most work gets done in the spring.If I stay up here in NE Ohio I am going to look at the same thing you are doing.Good luck.

LOOKING GOOD Stuart! The old Fat truck in coming right along. Looks even better with the skim coat taking shape. I'm finally in a heated garage also (2nd year) . It is great to be able to work year around. -35 F at my house this morning. Just talked to a buddy of mine in North Pole and he has -50 F

Keep up the good work.....

Buddy

great pictures..thanks for sharing. Is that a 66 Galaxie in the background?

Love the heated shop. I get more done in the winter with a heated shop than I do any other time. There's nothing else to do when it gets dark before I get home, but to work in the shop. I put up a 60 X 40 pole barn and walled off and insulated a third of it for shop space. The other 2/3's is for parking and above 1/2 of the shop space I built a loft for parts storage. Worked out well, but I could always use more.
Scott

Buddy, Thanks
I must be a wimp. It is -3 here in Vancouver and I find myself sneaking a little closer to the wood stove every hour or so. Also. Should be ready for a coat of Slick Sand spray on primer, then back to more blocking.
Don, Thanks
No it is an Impala
48bigtrucks, I know what you mean, The more space you have the more things you find to fill that space, Or one of your freinds will find somthing to put in that space

Don't I know it. It has been down into the 50's here and it is hard to move around wearing so many clothes...

Have a heated shop also! Love it especially when I pull my daily driver in and melt all the stuff off of it. Do not run the heater all the time but it doesn't take long to warm up. Adding ceiling fan helped a lot.

popcorn The Truth is Out There (Tony M 50 deg. just a good sweatshirt day)

Put a natural gas radiant heater in my shop when I built it a couple years ago. Best thing I ever did. Its nice to just go out and work on the project when I'm ready. I usually set it at 60 and then when I start work I crank it up a little.

Out here on the prairie I spent the extra $$$$$ on a heated floor complete with boiler ..set me back a couple but sure is nice to lay down on warm concrete. snow will evaporate before it hits the drain and its - 30 outside..if you have long winters like me,,they are efficient.no smell ,no gas to worry about,no logs to cut means more time on the truck..

heated floor would be nice!! Here in southern MN. it's a balmy -10F this morning. That's an improvement! The last couple of nights has been more like -20F!

Andre
Your right, heated floors are the way to go. Nothing like a warm butt while lying under your ride

I messed with used furnace once, more trouble, wouldn't always light w/out assist and scared me to run. Out it went, and put in a hanging shop heater. 75,000 btu in 3 car size, works fast. I only run it when I'm out there for awhile. Gas to high priced now to run much, and my present big truck won't fit in garage door. Have been working on my tractor and Ferd P/up some, only cause I HAD to. Even with heat, it still "feels" cold, specially near floor. Heated floor is great, but wondered about freezing probs if not left on all the time and cement cracking and moving, cutting a line?? On that floor heat, still requires gas or something for fuel! Boilers aren't wood burning are they?

One caution about any kind of open-flame heater at floor level... if you have a gasoline spill or other flammable liquid spill, the vapors are heavier than air and will quickly find their way to the ignition source (the stove). We don't want to even think about that. Please be safe, we don't want you to become a statistic.

Unless it has changed in the last few years, the codes usually considered anything three feet or more above the floor to be out of the hazardous area (i.e. needing non-sparking or explosion-rated fixtures).

Same goes for inspection pits.

the heated floor works like this,pack gravel lay down foil bubble wrap and ,then your re-bar,next special tubing wrapped 10-12 inches apart in a thre or four loop coming out in the location of your three stage electric boiler whitch is located aproximately four feet of the ground and is the size of (small file cabinet)all conected through two manifolds hot water and glycol 50/50 solution goes in and ciculates via a pump. since I started my "shed project" the moto was go big or bake cookies in the house.. I have satelite.water,200 amp service for the two welders,12 foot cieling,infloor drain for washing, phone and dsl for the computer. and a fantastic father-in law next door for advice!!the only thing i forgot was the [censored].. did I miss anything??

I was going to ask you Stuart what cold are you complaining about? I thought Vancouver was in the tropics of Canada? Although I will agree it was colder than usual this month and the dampness doesn't help. I did the driveline from the pilot bushing back on my 49 during January a few years ago. No heater but a few thick carpets on the concrete. I was pretty warm with the exercise but do think I will be planning a heater for my garage.

The best heater for BC is a nice fleece, warm pants and gloves. Other wise it isn't that bad when you got one of those halogen lights beside you.

I geuss I'm not as tough as I used to be, plus it makes it all that much bearable when your spending 8 or 9 hours in the shop

22degrees with wind chill of 7 this morning. A little cold for around here. I did however hang my propane unit this past weekend. I had it in my "other" shop before the big DIVORCE and when I left I took it!!! Used it only one winter but with it getting cold around here I went ahead and put it up. Now all I need is run the tubing, put thermostat on wall and hook to the tank..... Oh, I like it 55 up in the shop. At 55 and moving around its just right!! With the suspended ceiling and insulation the gas unit will runs very little once it gets around 60 degree. Heated floors, Hmmmmmmmmm, why didn't I see this before I built my shop.

You guys are definitly right about the heated floor being the best way to go,wish I had that in my shop.However I am looking at a hanging gas heater,as a second choice.I had one years ago in a big garage and it worked out very good.The only heat I have now is a kerosene torpedo type heater.you have to be right in front of it to feel any heat,and after a couple hours you get a headache from the darn fumes.

72 degrees, and the sun is BEAMING down on us here in Texas

No shop, no cold, no problems!
(Of course all this will change when I move up north and get settled)

dale,Ive heard of people putting two inches of concrete with the tubbing with some rebar hilty'd to the original floor remember to slope it for water ,If you have the room to spare just a thought call my heating guy ,-e-mail me for info

I've read about home made wood fed boilers. It shouldn't be that difficult. Use enough water for heat storage so you don't have to burn all the time. I have a munckin 140m hot water boiler in my house (92.5% efficiency and modulating). It is a very nice unit but I still spent $300 last month for nat gas. I considered a corn fed boiler for the house but it would be a lot of work in town. I think if I built a shop here I would use a hot air corn burner. Corn is cheap and portable. Anyone else hear that nat gas is supposed to go down in price?

just went to the 'shed'.com www.webshot see project 58, - what the @$%%!! degrees. in my slippers nice warm floor.looked at the 59 and my 2000 is outside.....planning where to scrape my knucles tomorrow.

Locobreath's comment on spark producing devices in a garage is valid.The National Electric Code says anything below 18 inches is a potential explosion hazard.Same goes for any type of furnace,get it up off the ground.If you have a fire,and make an insurance claim,the the insurance carrier may limit your claim if they find electric or heating devices in violation of the codes even if the device was not responsible for the fire.That goes for extension cords substituted for fixed building wire ,sloppy or incorrect wiring and no ground fault protection for hand power tools.
Heated concrete floors are not too popular here although the winters are severe.Beyond the extra installations costs,it seems broken underfloor tubing from shifting of the concrete is a factor.