Shopsmith Forums

I have one of those two burner radiant propane heaters, one of those Kerosun Heaters, and a small Kerosene torpedo heater that I use in my garadge/shop. I typically only use the Kerosun Kerosene Heater most of the time though. And, they do a fairly good job of heating the garage. Especially since I installed insulation in the attic overhead. When the house was built back in 72, they did not insulate anything at all in the garage area of the house. The garage doors are also insulated but I would not necessarily call them air tight. And when I'm working in the shop/garage, I will usually move the car out to give me more space.

What I have found that seems to work well for me is that I will light the heater for a while. Once everything warms up (unless the temperatures really dip down in the teens), I will just shut the heater off and for the most part the garage will stay warm for a while. If it starts to cool down again, I will just light it again for a short while until everything warms up again. I don't leave any of the heaters running constantly, so to keep down the fumes.

I have a kerosene heater like this one:



But I found that I couldn't stand the fumes from it. I even left my shop door open and put the heater in front of the door, but the fumes still gave me a headache.

I have one of the smaller electric space heaters and use that when necessary. Looks kinda like this one.



Not perfect, but it doesn't get that cold here for extended periods anyway.

I have an old wood burning box stove, but just don't have room for it in the shop. I thought about setting it up outside the shop, running the chimney pipe through my shop along the ceiling and having the heat radiate from that. But I don't know how well that would work.

I wood suspect that since heat rises and the stove pipe is near the ceiling the heat would stay up there and not settle down to where you are unless you had a fan to blow it around. A couple little fans like you show would probably work on most days.

One of the reasons I considered the Radiant Tube heater was that the Radiant heat heats objects, not the air. Once objects start warming up it does transfer somewhat to the surrounding air. Didn't want to go to the expense of it if I could find a suitable alternative. Small space is my big consideration so large stoves are out.

putttn wrote:One of the reasons I considered the Radiant Tube heater was that the Radiant heat heats objects, not the air. Once objects start warming up it does transfer somewhat to the surrounding air. Didn't want to go to the expense of it if I could find a suitable alternative. Small space is my big consideration so large stoves are out.

I use to be involved in the HVAC industry, commercially. If money weren't an obstacle I would install a radiant tube heater (or more) in my shop. You are right, radiant heats stuff not air so opening the door doesn't suck all the heat (and money) right back out. I find if I'm warm then the temperature isn't so important. And for me the key to keeping warm is in keeping my hands warm so if the things I'm working with aren't ice cold then I can work much longer, er go my preference for radiant heat.

In fact, on sunny days I angle a couple of pieces of ply with reflective coatings in the big door so that they redirect sunshine (heat and light) into my shop.

I installed a 10' long natural gas infrared tube type heater in my small shop when I built it. Insulated the walls, ceiling and under the concrete floor as much as possible and installed an insulated man door. I also installed reflective insulation wrap under the sheetrock to reflect heat back into the heated space. In the winter, I install 2" thick rigid foam in the 3' x 5' window sills facing North. The temperature is set @ 52F when I'm not in there and 60F when I'm working. Since the heater is directly above me, it warms my head and shoulders and the objects (tools). It will keep the shop warm even when outside temps go below 0F. The combustion air is piped from the outside so the heater doesn't get filled up with fine sawdust.

I installed a 10' long natural gas infrared tube type heater in my small shop when I built it. Insulated the walls, ceiling and under the concrete floor as much as possible and installed an insulated man door. I also installed reflective insulation wrap under the sheetrock to reflect heat back into the heated space. In the winter, I install 2" thick rigid foam in the 3' x 5' window sills facing North. The temperature is set @ 52F when I'm not in there and 60F when I'm working. Since the heater is directly above me, it warms my head and shoulders and the objects (tools). It will keep the shop warm even when outside temps go below 0F. The combustion air is piped from the outside so the heater doesn't get filled up with fine sawdust.

All I got to say to you who have the "Tubes"....Lucky Dogs!! Are you running them on natural gas or propane? Do you know how much it's running you a month to have them in your shop/garage?

This is what is most common in our area and it should be the same for you. These come in natural gas (tap off your existing line) or propane. They are vented to the outside and need 110 power or even an outlet with cord. Run a simple low voltage 18 gage 2-wire to wherever you want the stat. They come with hanging brackets and are super easy to install. The louvers on the front can be adjusted to where you want to throw the air.
I turn mine up to 60 degrees, come out 20 minute later and the 3 car garage/shop/gym is ready yo go.
Thye come in 30k-45k-60k-75k-90k btu's.
I can ship you one from Boise for just over our cost (work at an hvac distrutorship) if you want. Let me know

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Northern Tool has a 3 blade radient patio heater designed to mount on an umbellra that works well and could be hung from the ceiling using a plumbing flange and length of pipe. It should easily cover a 10x10' spot in the shop especially if you use some type of curtain to enclosed the work space. I have used a cheap blue tarp clamped to the rafters.