The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest How do you keep your shop warm?

I keep the shop at 57 degrees with radiant floor heat. Nice and toasty today.

John G

My experiences are tainted by having printing presses involved. You don't print without 72 degrees min. The ink imulsification is really a problem. Different papers behave differently, The pH of the water solution, etc. so the shop is always a constant 72. Turns out that works really well for painting, preserving rubber, pretty much anything having to do with seven vehicles in the shop, etc. I feel good because its not about my comfort. LOL!

I insulated the walls, and then sheetrock. I put some of that 1/2 inch foil faces styrofoam on the ceiling joists. I drop a plastic sheet in front of the garage doors. I run a propane element on the tank and I can get my 2 car garage from 30 degrees up to almost 60 in about an hour. Work for me!

An outdoor wood furnace would be nice. The fellow that drilled my water well said he had one. Said all you have to do is run lines to whatever building you want to heat.

John

My 2 cents. Here in this part of Canada more and more people are starting to use pellet stoves. $5 for a bag of pellets at Walmart will give you 2 days daytime heat @ 70 to 75 deg. very nice when the temperatures are below zero outside. Burns super efficiently and clean, no chimney required just a small vent. Unlike firewood there is almost no labour to it. No wood to split, no bugs, no stacking to dry. I would rather spend my time working on my Truck. I absolutely love this stove. About 20 years ago Scandinavian people were the inventers and since then heat most of their homes this way. Sure is a cool invention and worth checking it out.

I heat my shop with propane Infrared Heaters (the long black tube with a metal reflector). The temperature in the shop gets down to about 45 degrees on cold nights and the heaters can bring it up to mid 60's in about 30 minutes or less. Once it's up to temperature it almost never comes on. The neat thing about infrared is I can heat the shop with the door open, not that I do that, but it is nice when you want to move a truck out you don't loose all of your heat!

My house has radiant in the basement floor and it's great! I have the loop water temperature set at about 100 degrees which feels great on the feet. When the kids were little they would sit and play on the floor all day long. The kids are all grown up and we still heat the floor during the coldest months in the winter even though we don't use the basement, it just makes the whole house feel good...

If I was to build again I would concider solar powered radiant floor heat as it's almost free heat, you only need to pay for the circulating pump electric (after the installation cost).

Mike B

I have to work very fast so my shop stays warm from my body heat. The colder it get the faster I need to move. That's what I do up here in the north country..

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My shop is 40x48 and has 7 zones of hydronic heating.(2,100ft of 5/8 tubing)
The concrete slab is about 6" thick and is a wonderful heat sink. Never had a concern of a hot floor as the glycol is kept at 90F. The outdoor temp. in southern Alberta last week was -20C. and the air temp. about 1" above the floor is about 65F. This method of heating is very even and no air with dust is blowing around.
I have a 20 foot long radiant tube heater above the work bench for quick warming after the overhead door was opened.