Shopsmith Forums

I use one like this onefor my 12x24 shop. I keep it sit on 60° and it doesn't come on very often. I leave it on all the time so the tools stay warm too. So far the wife has not complained about the electric bill, I'am sure if it was a lot higher I would hear about it.

When I got out of the army and went back to school on the GI Bill we rented an apartment in a place called Radiant Court. This was back in 71-72 and part of 73. The reason it was called Radiant Court was that it was done with radiant heat in the floor.

It was quite enjoyable to get out of bed and put your feet on a warm floor when it was -25 degrees out! One of the winters I was nursing an auto battery until we had money to get a new one. I'd bring the battery in and sit it on a plastic pan that was on the floor every night. The car had no problems starting in the morning.

In our case we did find some issues, one was you couldn't keep much on the floor as that blocked the heat, going vertical with storage fixed that issue. Not being able to store things under the bed.... well at least your shoes and such things were warm when you pulled them out but you lost a lot of storage space.

The next issue was that the tubing was embedded in concrete so the mass had to either heat or cool which took time. As a result if it got cold very quickly there was a lag time when you didn't feel very warm, some times it could be that way for days. Like wise if it got warm quickly it could take days for the heat to stop heating.

It was also interesting that the heat was every where, they must have run the tubing in a pattern not knowing where closets, cabinets, etc were going to be. It was odd to open the cabinets under the sink and feel the warmth...... or pull a box out of the closet and have it be warm.

Since heat was included in the rent I have no idea how that part of it went, it would have been interesting to know.

If I were a rich man a very very rich man I would like to have a home with a couple of different systems installed. We have hot air which isn't too bad because you can add humidity to the air in the winter, like wise cooling is easy to add since you can use the same delivery system.

In the house we have up north has radiators, in the cold weather you can use the bathroom radiator to heat your towel and bathrobe, how cool is that! The is also a lag time when heating, the hot air system heats the house quickly. For air conditioning we use a window unit and a stand-a-lone unit that mounts on the side of the house. The cooling unit is next to the stairs upstairs but only blows the air into the hall way.... bedrooms do benefit but it is not like having your own vent in the room. It also gets really dry in the house without a humidifier.

Now as for a shop I guess I'd be looking for the cost of the install and the cost of use and compare based on that. Of course that is only a guess because things change very quickly, like if you lived in northern WI and get hit with the propane "shortage" and prices 3X more then normal plus one of the coldest winter on record.

Ed


[quote="JonE"]Hydronic heat is the safest, cleanest, most effective and efficient way to heat a space]

Twelve years ago I installed a propane-fired 4-inch diameter tubular radiant heater (Detroit Radiant) on the ceiling in my new shop (for my custom closet-shelving business and my personal woodworking—with Shopsmith). It's quiet, makes no blowing, dusty air (intake and exhaust are to outside air), it heats quickly, and is very comfortable. I really love it and would do it again! Yet there are drawbacks: For even heat, it requires a highish ceiling, and it was fairly costly. For some shops, I think it's the best option.