Shop temperature control

@woodchucker Think your trees are suffering from heat and possible drought. In S. NH the trees are doing ok. We had a lot of rain this year. No premature leaf drop.
 
probably the heat. Like I said earlier, we have had a lot of rain over the summer. I've never had a green lawn in the summer, my volleyball courts usually brown out and you can see the spots where the setter and others stand... Not so much this year, the rain kept them well hydrated and recovered the grass that got crushed.
 
To answer your question, sort of. Maintaining a constant temp is what is best for your machines. Turning the temp down is what is best for your wallet. You need to decide what compromise you are comfortable with. Every one of us has that line drawn at a different place.
All heaters should be on thermostats, Set the small heater 5°F higher than the bigger one(s), This way if the small one can keep up it will be the only one running, and will only run if actually needed. The bigger one will only turn on when the small one can not keep up, so it may never actually run at all.

Any combustion heater that leaves its exhaust in the same area it is heating WILL cause moisture issues. No way around that. If you have a heater that exhausts ti the outside then the combustion moisture will also go out side. The other down side of exhausting inside is that it WILL reduce the oxygen (O2) content of the space and it WILL release toxic gasses into the space, like Carbon Monoxide. That is why many heaters have an O2 monitor built in to shut it down before the O2 gets down to a dangerous level. Even the manufactures know that their product is trying to kill ya. Unfortunately O2 monitors are pretty expensive. Normal O2 level is about 21% dropping just 3 percentage points to 19% is considered oxygen depleted air and not good for you.

As for my shop, I have the dehumidifier on 24/7/365. It only actually runs when needed. Almost never runs in the winter. ALso remember that a dehumidifiers net output is heat, it will help to warm the space it is in. It is useless if you do not have a hose attached to get rid of the water. I have a 100 pint unit that means it could fill the 1 gallon bucket and shut off in about 2 hours. heat and cooling are not issues, My shop is in the basement so the temp tracks pretty close to the house temp. My furnace does not use outside air for combustion this means it uses inside air, because it is blowing inside air to outside that means it MUST draw outside air into the house. This does a great job of keeping the inside air fresh and healthy to breath. In an area known for high radon levels my levels are well below what radon abatement services are hopping to achieve. This is an issue with modern well insulated and well sealed buildings.
 
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Funny how things suddenly move along. This is the quick warm up part of the equation.

Last year I installed a Heat Storm Tradesmen patio heater on the end wall of the shop at the ceiling. It has only one temperature, 1500 watts. It doesn't even have a switch to go bad. Just plug in and go. Works well for a quick shot of heat.

20230910_180016.jpg

I decided last year that I wanted another one at the other end of the shop because then I would be warm on both sides. We are talking instant warmth. In order to do that I would need a 10 gauge circuit that can handle 30 amps. You can see the new outlet in the above picture.

Today I found 25 ft of 10-3 for $20 at the flea market.....that got me looking and I got 50 ft of 10-2 for $73 shipped. The new Heat Storm Tradesmen was $60 shipped. The 30 amp single pole switch is $17 shipped. Another $30 in stuff from Home Depot and everything is on the way.

When I walk in the shop I can flip the switch and have near instant heat that cost $0.41 an hour. It gets too hot with one after an hour so this is just a quick way to get warm and shut it off. Not maintaining throughout the day.


Yes, there is more efficient heat. No. This will not cost me more than a few dollars a month because of the way they will be used. Figure a dollar a week. Yes. They will add latent heat as they warm the machines and everything in the shop. No. My daughter is not allowed to sun tan in the shop......

That inexpensive piece of wire really reduced the over all cost of this part of the project so it put the new circuit to the top of the list. Lol.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3861098974...I3B3TI3SPu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 
 
I now have a Heat Storm Journeyman on both ends of the shop with dedicated single outlets for each. The flip of one switch turns on both. It takes about 10 seconds to start feeling the heat from both heaters simultaneously.

It's 44⁰ out this morning. No way my shop will need heat right now. It will be pushing 80⁰ this next week. I can't believe I'm looking forward to winter. Lol!
 
Batmanacw said:
My shop is pretty small. 12 x 20. It is very well insulated. It has stayed right at 70⁰ all summer with me only running the AC while I'm in their for about $0.07 an hour. I'm rarely in there all day so cooling has been crazy cheap this year.

In the Ohio winter I've been keeping it around 40⁰ with an oil filled radiator heater. Then I heat it up when I go in there. That was partly a portable buddy propane heater and another electric heater like the radiant heater I mounted at the end of the shop.

I've decided to eliminate combustion in the shop to avoid the moisture that comes with it.

If I run my oil radiant heater at 600 watts non stop for 30 days it will cost me $59. That would put me at 50's to 60's depending on the outside temperature. It cost me around $0.20 to run a second electric heater at 1500 watts for an hour to kick the temperature up to around 60⁰ where I like to work. The secondary heater would probably only add a dollar or two a month because of the short duration of use.

What I don't know is how much efficiency is gained by maintaining the warmth in the walls, floor, and machines. If I maintain 50⁰ I wonder if my oil heater will run non stop or catch up and shut off occasionally.


No....I'm not installing a mini split in my tiny shop. My window unit is costing my less than $10 a month.

I'm more interested in how things will go by keeping it warmer all the time. Less temperature swings would be nice. I live in the frozen tundra.
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i know you said no split system but a hp is way more efficient at heating the space long term that straight electric and will save you $$$ in the long run.
 
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