How do you heat your workshop

Those of us unlucky to live in climates that are cold during the winter, how do you heat your work shops? I'm looking for an economical system to heat my garage during the winter that is safe (no poisonous fumes). Ideally, I'm not looking to spend over $300 if possible. What would you guys recommend?

Thanks,

Pete

I would hope the most common answer would be "forge more knives!" :biggrin:

I have a garage with 2 x 6 walls for better insulation that is 23ft by 26ft. I heat it with a Qmark electric space heater that hangs from the ceiling. I have the 7.5kw model because it was free off a jobsite. I could of gone with a 5kw easily. Qmark is a good brand that has been around a long time that specializes in heating equipment. They were merged with Marley recently but I have not noticed any difference.

http://www.marleymep.com/en/qmark/pd-iuh-industrial-unit-heater/

Well my last shop had an oil burning forced air furnace that should have worked OK but the shop was so huge that it could never keep up unless I would run it constantly and that was uber expensive so I'd just turn it on when I was freezing and then turn it off when it got to 58-60 which was about the best I could hope for. I have used some different electric portable heaters for spot heating where I was working and that helps some.

My new shop is just a large 2 car garage that fortunately has low ceilings so I'm hoping that I can use either an electric heater or maybe an indoor propane heater. I'm not sure yet which way to go but I know for sure I won't go with one of those forced air units as they're noisy as all hell and for damn sure no kerosene for me - stuff stinks too much.

I have a crappy electric set up so propane seems like my only option. I am installing an insulated ceiling to help. I'd be thrilled if I could keep it around 45 degrees.

You what drives me nuts when it's cold? Epoxy!

I need to get one of those hospital gel warmers for the winter but for now I'll just keep putting it in front of the heater, hopefully remembering to do so before I'm needing it. :slaphead:

Hahahahahahaha!

Stefan

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ecchef said:

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Love the idea of a wood stove, maybe you could find one used? It would take some time to heat the place up is the only downside so it might be better for someone working in the shop all day.

When I lived in NY I used electric heat. A wood stove in a garage was against the fire code in that area.

My ceramic disk furnace (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KKMCS8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) was nice, I put it on the bench and blew heat toward me.

I had a 2 car garage and never warmed it up from Dec-Feb. The best I could do was make the temperature bearable. Also, I wore a sweatshirt under coveralls and a wool hat.

apicius9 said:

Hahahahahahaha!

Stefan

Click to expand...

:curse:

A wood stove would be my preference but it's not going to happen without modifications to the building and that's not going to happen right now.

I'm redoing my shop and removed the 40 yr. old forced air furnace, plenums and hot water tank that fed the two apartments upstairs. Man that really opens things up. I have a very old (maybe home made) version of this:



Since we enclosed the old carport and use it as a boiler room/small bench space I'm going to mount it and direct it into the shop through the window that is conveniently behind the boiler. That and a small electric heater ought to keep things comfortable enough. For me in winter that's like 55 if I'm moving 60 if I'm not, but yeah gluing is another thing.

Hanging heavy plastic from the ceiling allows you to section off an area where you can run a space heater while you are working.
Not the best solution but it helps.