heater for the shack recommendations

[N3DRB The Derb]

last night the undersized space heater I was using to keep the radio gear above freezing crapped for for good. overtaxed the tiny thing. R.I.P.

For the nite I turned the baseboard heat up in he laundry room and left the connecting door open. Gotta get a heater today.

1 car garage sized ......garage. insulated wayne dalton door. What kinda heat making thing would you use?

[WD8BIL]

Can you do gas?

Heater

[N3DRB The Derb]

nope, we dont have any gas lines out here, only in the industrial areas.

Bud, that does give me a great idea - she will be using propane to power her torch for beadmaking!!!! viola! Get one of those radiant propane jobs!

I never would have thought of that if you hadnt mentioned gas. 

[Mike/W8BAC]

It's an obvious conclusion Derb but I have to say you will need ventilation to run a propane heater of any kind. They use up oxygen and give of carbon monoxide. You might be happier with an oil filled radiator type electric heater or one of those parabolic inferred electric heaters. Cleaner and safer in my humble opinion. Happy new year!

Mike

[KF1Z]

Get a "direct vent" model heater......

Don't have to worry about the fumes, and your insurance company would be much happier!

[N3DRB The Derb]

She's really serious about safety, lotsa beadmakers have dropped over dead from bad vent issues.  I'll get the safest one I can find. The idea of using her propane bottle to also heat the shack would have never occurred to me myself. AM Fone expands yer mind.   

[KB2WIG]

Go with the Propano.... My sys has direct air feed from the outside, and exhausts a few feet above ground level via an outside wall.. It don't hurt none to buy yerself a CO detector to go along with yer smoke detector....

When I was a young JN, we had a natural gass water heater that vented into a brick chimbeley. Over the years, the vent got clogged with brick dust, soot etc, as the chimbeley filled up. I can still remember the pukeing and  headack from this near dirt nap....  Don't let anyone JS the venting....

klc

[K1JJ]

She's really serious about safety, lotsa beadmakers have dropped over dead from bad vent issues.  I'll get the safest one I can find. The idea of using her propane bottle to also heat the shack would have never occurred to me myself. AM Fone expands yer mind.  

How big is the exisiting propane bottle? The gas goes fast when used for heating the shack. Buying it in small bottle quantities is more expensive.   Maybe a tank outside is the answer.  The gas company will usually drop a tank free if you use their gas delivery.  (At least it used to be that way)

I once installed a wall-mounted propane heater in my storage trailer that used outside venting. Easy job, really.


BTW, I use a 1500W electric oil-filled heater in the shack as an add-on when it gets really cold. These outside squirrel cages for the rigs sure are cold in the winter... .

T

[k4kyv]

I use a vented propane heater with outdoor tank as the main heat source for the shack.  Since it's 24' X 32' with 12' ceiling, heating it is  like heating a barn, even though I do have some insulation over the ceiling.  So the best I try to do with the propane heater is to take the chill off and heat the building to 50°-60° F.  If I tried to make it cosy warm inside, the hand on the gauge would move towards zero about  like the second hand on a watch.

So I use an auxiliary radiant heater when I am operating on the air, and using a warm jacket and hat, I remain perfectly comfortable.  The heater is one of those "quartz" units with coils of fine wire inside glass tubes, and a parabolic reflector behind the coils.  It is rated for 1500 watts.  It has a low-power setting, but in low power mode it puts a bunch of hash into the receiver, so I keep it on high power.  It is thermostatically controlled.

[WD8BIL]

We use a blue flame propane ventless at the cabin. Going on 7 years now. Low oxygen and CO detecters always active and never an alarm. Of course the trailer is not air-tight by any stretch but it keeps 70 degrees inside when 10 outside. It's rated at 10,000 BTU and lasts almost 4 full days on 20lbs of propane.

[W3SLK]

Derb, although I like Buddly blue flame job. I reccommend the radiant brick style

http://www.heatershop.com/indoor_brick_heaters.html

I owned one of these in my first home and it pretty much kept the whole house warm. It only needs the door opened once, for fresh air, it has a lo O2 cuttout and thermostat. But because the combustion is fairly efficient, its by-product is water so you also ad some humidity to the house as opposed to drying out when using baseboard electrical. You can get them with a circulation fan installed but it will increase the frequency you need to clean the orifice. Other than that they are like a Popeil cooker, "Just set it and forget it!" 

[Jim, W5JO]

Get a heater that is shaped like an old radiator.  They have oil in them and blowers to circulate the air through the fins.  Mine is 1500 or 600 watts switch selectable.

[K5UJ]

Interesting how many use supplemental shack heaters.  It was -2 here this morning; I think it is around 9 now.  The basement got down to around 50 and since I have had a few QSOs it is up to 60.  Like Don, I wear a parka down there to operate if I have to.  Fortunately the furnace is next about 5 feet from the chair I sit in to operate.  It's a 50 or 55 year old Luxaire with a vent on it I can open to let out hot air into the basement but it has to be at least -15 outside before I do that.  I also have some electric space heaters I can put at my feet but that's another last resort.   Anyway it's kid of good to know I'm not the only one with a cold shack in winter hi hi.

[KE6DF]

I agree with Jim. Those radiator like oil filled electrics are great.

One nice feature of them: If someone throws a towel over it or it tips over it isn't likely to start a fire.

I have two computers -- one desktop and one tower type and I leave those on all the time in my shack.

Makes it the warmest room in the house in the morning.

I'm not used to the problem of really cold weather, however, having grown up in Phoenix and now living in Central California.

But chances are if you leave something like a 200 watt computer and perhaps a 100 watt light bulb or two on all the time it will keep the temp from falling too low -- if the place is insulated.

We you want to use the radio, just turn on your 4-400 rig.

[flintstone mop]

You're gonna hate me, But AXE your electrical contractor, when he figgers out your GFI to wire in some 220 circuits for baseboard heat. And there are baseboard heaters with the magic oil in them too.
Electric is a little cheaper and safer.
The propane is ungodly expensive and the other solutions using 110V whatever type of heaters ain't gonna cut it with the WX that is heading your way. Those 110 volt things heat up wiring too.
Our highs for the next week will be in the low 20's and single numbers at night with some wind.

Think ELECTRIC Tim
PHRED

[W1UJR]

I heat the entire three sections of the radio barn, photo below, with a single Rinnani 1004 - now called a "ES38", works like a charm!
Simple install, one hole through the wall, handles both intake and exhaust duties, run the gas line, plug into 120VAC and you are done.
If you're watching the game on TV at the same time, may take 15 minutes or so. That simple.

Rinnani heaters rock, very quiet, efficient, and lots and lots of heat output.
The photos below show how well it works.  

http://www.rinnai.us/direct-vent-wall-furnaces/browse/

 +    =  

[flintstone mop]

I feel a surge commin on!!!!
THey have interesting models there!!
Phred
Tim, can you describe the construction of your area that you want heated?
I found that I could maintain a comfortable temp of 68 by leaving the fourescent lights on. My two man-caves approx 12X12 feet, drop ceilings, walls, insulation behind the walls, and doors. The lighting fixtures are two.  4-tube 4 foot long fixtures. Added about $30 a month to leave on, but it will be an added expense replacing tubes and a possible fire hazard of the ballast overheating. Sop it's back to using space heaters only when I'm down there.

[w1vtp]

<snip>

....Think ELECTRIC Tim
PHRED

Probably good advise except in NH.  We number among the highest rates in the nation.  We're still paying for the abortive Seabrook Nuke  plant.  DONT GET ME STARTED

[WA3VJB]

insulated wayne dalton door

Alright so you got an insulated door.  That's one big wall in a room you're trying to heat.

What do the other walls look like ?  I seem to remember some photos of the GE BT-20A in your garage showing finished but unpainted wallboard, hopefully some R-11 or so insulation between the studs.

How about above the ceiling ?  

Do you have a soffit vent (intake under the eaves) and ridge vent (outflow along the peak) ??

Unless you've got a bunch of insulation in the crawl space no wonder you're having trouble keeping much heat inside the room.

Some garages do not include a pull-down ladder and attic space. It may even be worth cutting the ceiling drywall and putting an access panel/crawlthrough up there to lay down some 'glass.

[W3SLK]

Ahhh Bruce, is Nancy aware of the type of 'heaters' you are using? 

[W1UJR]

Ahhh Bruce, is Nancy aware of the type of 'heaters' you are using? 

They come with the heater for "testing" purposes, Mike, they leave when requested! 

[K5UJ]

I found that I could maintain a comfortable temp of 68 by leaving the fourescent lights on.

Fred.  What's this 68 degrees and comfortable all about?  Turn that thermostat down to 50 right now.  One must suffer for AM.

[N3DRB The Derb]

yeah it's  R-11 between the drywall and outside wall. My former bossman finished it out and did the wiring which will be brutally inspected without mercy
this tuesday. she brought home a 18 dollar space heater  to tide us over while we decide what we are gonna do with a more permanent solution.

[KE6DF]

"we are using an efficient ceramic tower heater in the bonus room"

I believe that all electric resistance heaters are equally efficient due to conservation of energy laws of physics.

If they draw 1000W from the electric circuit they will generate 1000W worth of heat.

Now the infra-red dish type heaters may feel warmer when the energy they produce hits your skin, but if you put one of them in a room and measured the temperature of the room after a time it would be the same as any other type of heater drawing the same wattage.

And 10 x 100 Watt light bulbs would also produce the same amount of heat as a 1000W heater or a transmitter that drew 1000W for filaments.

In the case of a transmitter, if you are actually radiating energy out the antenna, then that energy doesn't go into heating the room, but the filaments and inefficiencies in the power supply and bleeders and plate dissipation etc. is equally effective as a electric space heater.

The main exception to this would be a heat pump which doesn't use the electric power to create heat.

Instead it just moves it from outside the house to the inside.

They can be much more efficient than electric resistance heaters.

But those don't work when it is really cold. They are best for mild climates.

And this is probably all stating the obvious. :-)

[N3DRB The Derb]

 I can literally keep the shack warm by using the linyar - that thing does throw some heat when the maul is down. Here's hoping the electric gets fixed Tuesday.