Cold weather is coming, how will you heat your shop?

Down here in South Texas, I doubt it will get under 60 deg F. this winter with these 100 deg days we been having!

I've got a couple of plug in electric heaters that keep my garage fairly warm. Once I get some blue chips filling the chip pan things warm up rather quickly.

Ken
 
My shop has 6 inches of insulation in the walls and 10 inches in the ceiling. A 5000 BTU air conditioner keeps it like a meat locker if I put it on high. I put in a radiant propane heater last year and have yet to use it. A small Walmart portable electric heater keeps everything at 60 degrees set on it's lowest setting.

To take care of spring and winter humidity and condensation I have a dehumidifier. Zero rust problems.
 
cold weather is coming? you yankees are all sorts of back to front

Summer is just around the corner for us and keeping the shed cool becomes an issue.
Being a refrigeration tech by trade makes that all to easy!
 
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author=Magnum link=topic=3775.msg27750#msg27750 date=1317418999


Problem is, in the winter I can't just go out and flip on the machine and start making parts. Have to make sure everything gets up to temperature before starting to cut.
Click to expand...

I had not thought about that....

I have shop tools in unheated garage, do I really need to let the mass of the mill warm up?
 
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author=sic semper tyrannis link=topic=3775.msg27833#msg27833 date=1317470631
author=Magnum link=topic=3775.msg27750#msg27750 date=1317418999


Problem is, in the winter I can't just go out and flip on the machine and start making parts. Have to make sure everything gets up to temperature before starting to cut.
Click to expand...

I had not thought about that....

I have shop tools in unheated garage, do I really need to let the mass of the mill warm up?
Click to expand...

Not only the mass of the mill but the material to be cut as well. As metal heats up it will expand.Granted the temperature differences are not that great but it is there. Ever taken a bearing and put it in the freezer so it would fit in a hole better? Now think about how much that end mill would shrink/expand as you start milling in the cold with cold parts.

If you start cutting metal while its below room temp, then warm the room as you are cutting, it's properties will change and your part will be out of tolerance.

For small hobby work, probably not an issue, but it is if you want to maintain part accuracy I think.
 
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I have a pellet stove in my shop more than enough heat for 600 square feet.

Terry
 
I live in sunny southern California. A place called San Clemente where the temperature seldom gets as low as 60 degrees and I work in shorts all year. If it does get too cool, I wear 2 pair of socks. I work in the garage with the door open all year long.
 
I was going to join the others from the southern hemisphere and brag about the nice Spring weather but we had a bit of a cold snap today and the temp barely reached 10C (50F) which is quiet cool for this time of year.

On the coldest winter nights it rarely gets below about -3C (26F) so most of the time it doesn't take to much to warm the shop up so I just use a small gas burner for heat.

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Passive Solar................I do have plans to enclose a room for the lather and mill that can be heated on the very bad days.

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