# Let There Be Heat!



## jbolt (Dec 10, 2021)

Woo Hoo! Got the new heater fired up this afternoon. Shop has been 40 all week. I know for you northerners that t-shirt and shorts weather but I'm a wimpy Bay Area native.

After much back and forth between forced air or radiant tube I went with forced air. Mr. Heater Big Maxx 50k. Did the propane conversion. Fired right up. 

With 12' ceilings and the thermostat at 60" off the floor it took about 15 min to go from 40 to 55. 55 is plenty warm for working in the shop. At 8' it is significantly warmer. I saved some of the old celling fans from our other house so I will mount one of those to help even out the heat. I'm currently running it off a 100lb tank. We will see how long that lasts.


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## Eddyde (Dec 10, 2021)

Happiness is a warm shop!


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## westerner (Dec 10, 2021)

My next door neighbor has a 32x48, 14 foot ceiling cinder block, trusses, insulation and sheet rock shop. He has a wood stove for heat, far more 'efficient' than my 55 gal drum stove in my 24X28, ten foot high stick built and sheet rocked well insulated shop. 

I don't hang out over there this time of year. It is COLD in that shop. Mine is MUCH more inviting. I burn +- 4 cords of firewood/winter since I retired, and I will not be afraid to set a record for consumption in the future....

I could not afford to heat the shop with propane. Current pricing is just south of $4/gallon.


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## Nutfarmer (Dec 11, 2021)

It's hard to find a wood stove in California. Who can afford has heat?


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## FOMOGO (Dec 11, 2021)

They sure do like to bend you over on propane if you fail to get it in the Fall. Paid $1.75 when I filled three 500gal tanks in September. Then had to put some in one of the rentals in November, and it was already up to $2.60. Do you ever get the sneaking suspicion we're being played? Still need to get one more 500 gal for the shop to be assured I won't run out over a full winter at home. Mike


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## BGHansen (Dec 11, 2021)

Congrats!  You may want to pick up a second 100 lbs. tank.  Conversion to gallons is about 24 gallons = 100 lbs.  I used about 30% of my 500 gallon tank last year, leave the shop at 40 F and bump it up to between 50 - 55 F when working.  That'd be about 6 100 lbs. tanks for the winter.  Naturally, all depends on how much you're running the heater, insulation, etc.  Working in comfort is NOT over-rated!

Bruce


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## Shootymacshootface (Dec 11, 2021)

Very nice!
I use a torpedo heater. Years ago you had to run strictly kerosene unless there were lots of ventilation and free air, or the fumes were unbearable. My shop is in a two car under garage. I use diesel fuel now. The feds took out all of the sulfer and everything else a diesel engine would like. The fuel is crystal clear and burns very clean, better than kerosene I think. I have a carbon monoxide detector in the shop, and the heater never sets it off. I know its working because if I run my Farmall Cub in the garage it goes off after only one or two minutes of running.


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## xr650rRider (Dec 11, 2021)

Torpedo heaters put a lot of water vapor into the air, then it condenses on all your cold equipment.


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## Shootymacshootface (Dec 11, 2021)

xr650rRider said:


> Torpedo heaters put a lot of water vapor into the air, then it condenses on all your cold equipment.


I've never noticed any problems with moisture other than the sweating that iron likes to do when the weather goes from cold to warm.

Having a constantly climate controlled shop would solve a lot of problems.


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## jbolt (Dec 13, 2021)

BGHansen said:


> Congrats! You may want to pick up a second 100 lbs. tank. Conversion to gallons is about 24 gallons = 100 lbs. I used about 30% of my 500 gallon tank last year, leave the shop at 40 F and bump it up to between 50 - 55 F when working. That'd be about 6 100 lbs. tanks for the winter. Naturally, all depends on how much you're running the heater, insulation, etc. Working in comfort is NOT over-rated!
> 
> Bruce


So far in the last four days I've run the heater a total of 30 minutes. Hardly used any fuel. The shop is well insulated and is retaining the heat nicely. Aslo brought the humidity down to 40 from 60. Happy camper so far.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk


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