Heating woodshop

[putttn]

I'm sharing my shop with my garage and my wife has allowed me on end of the garage and the area in front of the cars. Thankfully it's fairly deep so I have enough room to make it all work, even though it's tight.
It's cold in my part of the country and even though the garage is fully insulated and has drywall and FRP paneling on the wall and ceiling I need auxillary heat to be able to work for any period of time. Yesterday I used a propane tank with one of those little heating elements on the top of the tank. It seemed to do a pretty good job getting it up to 60 while it was in the 30's outside. I could live with that but after breathing the fumes for 6 hours I had a pretty good headache. What do you fellas use? My garage is a 3.5 car with two story in half of the garage.

[beeg]

I could live with that but after breathing the fumes for 6 hours I had a pretty good headache.

It sounds like your LUCKY to be alive. That headache probably was caused by carbon monoxide.

[putttn]

I'm not sure that propane heaters produce carbon monoxide? I know the heatershavebeen used for years in heating enclosed areas.

[letterk]

You have to ensue you have a fresh air source for the combustion products. From my understanding Propane burns pretty cleanly, but it consumes oxygen for combustion. In a enclosed garage without an fresh air source a worse case scenario is that it can start to burn less clean as it starts to consume oxygen. Thus causing a must greater output of carbon monoxide.

A headache is one of the first signs of carbon monoxide. It would be recommended to purchase a carbon monoxide tester, which can cost $20 to $30 dollars. Probably better to get one with a digital display, but keep in mind most of them don't show a number anymore until you reach a minimum like 30PPM. The old ones use to show everything and I think people seeing small amounts became worried.

[fiatben]

My first thought when I read the description of the space was that you're heating an awfully big area to work in a small one, especially if part of the garage is 2 stories! Not knowing your actual layout, it popped into my head that a hanging curtain (tarp) similar to an oversized shower curtain that enclosed your woodworking space would vastly reduce the amount of heat you needed, eliminate drafts from other parts of the garage (especially if a door needed to be raised) and control sawdust from getting on everything (which it will eventually do anyway).

I've thought about doing something similar for my lathe area in my drafty old barn.

[putttn]

The little propane heater seems to get things fairly warm fairly quick and aiming it at my "area" works well. I had though of getting one of the gas fired overhead tube heaters but it's a considerable investment and since I do not have gas in my area I'd need to get a propane tank set up outside.
Are any of you using a different type of heat for your work area?

[fredsheldon]

After blowing insulation above my garage and insulating the double garage door I was able to heat my garage to 72 degrees with just one of these heaters last night with the outside temp being 45 degrees. I bought 2 thinking I would need both. It took about 30 minutes to warm things up enough to do some painting.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_5445-24099-6759 ... 1090662300

[rpd]

I have been using an electric radiant heater that I got from Lee Valley. It takes the chill off and lets me work in comfort. The climate here on the coast is a bit milder than where you are.

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[moggymatt]

PUTTTN,
I'm in your neck of the woods too. Turns cold quick here doesn't it? I have a detached 3 car garage and do not run my propane heater in it because of the moisture it puts in the air and because propane is so expensive now. Pellet or wood is the way to go around here.

[wrdavis]

I use a small electric heater with low-med-hi settings and has a small fan to blow the heat out. Normally sits on the floor near where I'm working. Here its on the SS to allow cleaning the floor.