Safe workshop heater?

[Jester129]

I'll rephrase my question - what do you use to start these heaters please?

 

[artie]

I use a 12v power supply, I think it's 10 amp.

The idea for using a battery is, in the event of a power failure it will allow the heater to continue or go through it's cool down cycle.
If one of these heaters is suddenly switched off it overheats enough to be damaged.

 

[Robbo3]

I'll rephrase my question - what do you use to start these heaters please?

Good Question. I forgot to say in my previous supply.
You can use a 12 volt car battery. Some can also run on 24v by changing a setting in the menu.
I use a 12 volt, 30 amp, Regulated Power Supply connected to the mains, eg
- DC 12V 30A 360W Voltage Transformer Switch Power Supply LED Strip Lighting Parts | eBay

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[Jester129]

Thanks for the replies. Based on these, I think a 12v 'leisure' battery (read caravan' battery) is the way forward, with a smart charger to keep it topped up, is the route I'll take. I hope this will work with the 8Kw heater that is now on order.
When I eventually sell my bungalow to down-size to a smaller one nearer or in the nearest town, the (soon to be) extended garage should be toasty warm so I can make stuff through the winter.

 

[furnace]

Thanks for the replies. Based on these, I think a 12v 'leisure' battery (read caravan' battery) is the way forward, with a smart charger to keep it topped up, is the route I'll take. I hope this will work with the 8Kw heater that is now on order.
When I eventually sell my bungalow to down-size to a smaller one nearer or in the nearest town, the (soon to be) extended garage should be toasty warm so I can make stuff through the winter.

There are two ways of doing this:
1. A 12V supply from a 'leisure battery' and a mains powered charger
2. A mains powered 12V supply and a backup battery
Like @Robbo3 and many others I use a mains powered 12V supply, but also have a small rechargeable battery. There's a module that senses if the mains has failed (power cut) and switches the supply to the battery so it can shut down safely. I charge the backup battery once a year.

I think the heaters are excellent.

Installed the backup battery (Yuasa, sealed, rechargeable burglar alarm style) this one and automatic switch this one today. If the 12v from the mains transformer fails, the relay opens and the backup battery 12v is utilised. There is about a 30milisecond switchover delay where no power gets to the heater. When the battery then kicks in, the heater goes into its shutdown cycle. I bought the 30amp switch since the heaters draw around 12amps in startup mode and I wanted a bit of headroom. It was only a couple of quid more expensive that the 12amp version.

All does exactly what I wanted.

 

[sneggysteve]

Earlier in this thread infrared heaters were mentioned - are there any problems with dust? Assuming I clean any dust from the unit every time before use, is dust in the air a problem when sanding on lathe?