Heating

[Wood spoiler]

As god has turned down the thermostat it prompts the question how to heat the workshop?
I have a shed based workshop. What heating system is safe and effective. I am particularly Keen to avoid igniting the flammable dry wood shavings, etc.
I don't want to invest in buying the whole national grid to carry on turning in the winter!

 

[Bodrighy]

I have a thermostatically controlled oil filled radiator. You don't want anything that has got a flame or anything that gets too hot and could ignite the dust that is in the air. That can be explosive. I find that with that turned on and various motors running the shed gets warm enough to work in though never exactly hot.

Pete

 

[PeterSk]

I have a little oil filled radiator which I use to try and keep the edge of the frost, largely for the sake of all the cast iron in the shop. I'll probably pick up a bigger one soon, as I don't think the one I have is man enough to be effective. I'd not use one of these to heat the shop by itself though, the response time is far too slow.

I use a 3kW fan heater to quickly bring the shop up to temperature, and switch it down to half power once I reach a comfortable temperature, which tends to be after 15 minutes for me. It is kept on a shelf at the opposite end of the shop to keep it away from dust and any of the larger chippings, and is only used when I'm in the shop so doesn't represent any safety hazard, and due to the nature of it's operation it heats the entire shop fairly quickly and evenly

 

[Ad de Crom]

I have in my shop a fan heater which is more effective than an oil filled radiator who I had.
Ad

 

[paulm]

Like the Pete's (!), I have a couple of thermostatically controlled oil filled rads running through the winter to keep things relatively dry and above freezing, so just gentle background warmth to take the edge of the cold, and then top up if needed when working in there with a couple of fan heaters.

The oil filled rads seem pretty safe with no exposed elements, and the fan heaters get the occasional blow through with the air line and seem fine but obviously not left unattended.

Cheers, Paul

 

[johnny.t.]

I put on another couple of shirts :lol: ,although I do have a Greenheart workshop stove comming for the new workshop.

JT

 

[The Shark]

I use a fan heater in my detached single garage. 15mins brings the temp up to a very reasonable level, then just switch it on for a quick burst if the temp drops too much.

As has been said already, it never gets left unattended.

Just something similar to this is all I use, works fine: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... HEATER.htm


Malc

 

[duncanh]

I use a thermostatically controlled oil radiator. It works well and because of the all-round 5cm thick rock wool in walls, floor and ceiling once it's up to temperature it maintains heat pretty well.
If I need a quick blast of heat then I sometimes just turn on the Camvac - it's exhaust vent is usually warm.

Yesterday during the day it actually felt warmer in the shed than in my house.

 

[PeterSk]

The thing with a fan heater is that because it constantly blows air over the elements, any dust that gets sucked in is probably going to fly through the heating wires with no fuss, but if it lands on the wires it is bathed in a good blast of fresh air, meaning that it will burn nice and cleanly and most likely won't make it out of the heater as anything other than ash.

Obviously you still need to apply some common sense with where you put one, but so long as it's not sucking in mountains of sawdust (and if it is you probably have bigger concerns) or shavings then the fire risk is really negligible.

 

[tekno.mage]

I turn in a workshop that is part of a barn - which means it has a very high roof, doors that let drafts in round them and open ventilation slits in the roof :-( Consequently, I don't bother trying to heat the whole space. I put on extra clothes and have a 40 year old (really) electric fire strategically positioned behind where I stand at the lathe.

This geriatric electric fire has a number of benefits - it's basically a very large metal box with a glass front (removable for cleaning) and two electric elements & a reflector inside. It has a low setting (1/2kw) which means it gets nice and warm, but not hot enough to ignite shavings & dust - and at this setting you can actually sit on it to warm up (which I do!!!) or leave glued items on top of it to dry. There have been occasions when it gets turned up to 1 glowing bar or 2 glowing bars (2kw), but not often - (too expensive to run & you can't then sit on it!) What I really want in this weather is a heated toolrest on the lathe :lol:

NB. I should point out that my 40 year old electric fire has been upgraded to us a modern 3 pin 13A plug with square pins & heavy duty mains cable, BTW

 

[shroom]

In the past I used a paraffin heater and to be honest it never occured to me that it was unsafe, ooops, maybe it was. The problem with any temporary heat is that it makes any steel/ metal condensate as the heat kicks in. Would it make sense to have a least a little low heat permanently in situ?

 

[yellowbelly]

shroom my old man used to leave a calor gas heater on with just the pilot light lit in his greenhouse right through the winter never lost any plants and warm enough to start the seedlings off earlier, 7kg bottle would last all winter

 

[Wood spoiler]

Thanks for everyones contributions.
Now I know which heaters I need to Nick from the house - and if the wife complains I can quote you all and say I wouldn't have taken them but I was told to ......
Cheers all
Colin