Corelz125- I'm ok into the 40s, but this is just too much. I don't like to wear gloves around tools and it's hard to handle project parts when my hands are numb! Hopefully our weather here in SW Missouri will shift toward bearable.
Sounds like one of those portable oil filled radiators would be perfect for you. They’re very safe and pretty efficient. You just gotta give them a little time to get ahead of the curve!
Is your shop insulated? That’s another huge issue.
We don’t have cold here like that, so I’ve just got a little IR heater hanging from the ceiling facing the bench. The IR is great because it actually heats the solid items in the shop, not just the air. Very helpful…to get it up above 52, ‘cause that’s about as cold as it ever gets in there! Seriously, the insulation really helps with that…even if it is only Cali winter weather.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Yes, the area of my shop is insulated. I've used some little electric space heaters in the past, but wasn't great. I'll have to look into a portable oil filled radiator as I don't know anything about them. Thanks for that recommendation.
Have to laugh...reviews on radiators range from "it's great" to "didn't work" (seems like damage in delivery is part of the latter). Just said to my husband that I probably shouldn't read reviews anymore 🤣
You can drive yourself crazy reading reviews these days. Some people open the box and leave a review. Then you don't know if the person got paid or got the item for free. On job sites we had the oil filled radiator style heaters. Depended on the size of the area we were in. Most of the time we had multiple radiators
The benefit to them is they’re safe. You can let them run with minimal supervision and there’s essentially no fire risk. That’s said, you need to run them for a long time as they’re slow to heat the space.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
In the "good old days" reviews were actually helpful, especially if there was a common theme that seemed to pop up in several (either positive or negative). I agree that now it's hard to tell what's real, fake, or paid.
im just sick of the ones that give a 1 star based on how the packaged arrived ! i dont care if ups smashed the box, what does it have to do with the product ?
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Some weren't very big. Maybe 10'x12' they weren't insulated very well but they weren't out in the open. That's why we were allowed to use those radiators. FDNY has a lot of rules what could and can't be used. Years ago we had propane heaters going. . Nothing like cigarettes and propane heaters inside a con ex box in the morning
I use one of the oil filled radiators in my green house. It isn't insulated (just thin poly-carbonate panels) and it will keep the green house in my set range between 52-57 even when the temperature gets down to the low 20's like it did this week. My unit is uses about 1500 watts on high. For a larger shop, you might need two or even 3 of them but they would probably need to be on separate circuits to keep from tripping the breakers. A fan on low blowing on the vanes will improve heat movement.
Before I added a minisplit, I used to have a portable AC with heat pump function in my shop that would keep the shop temperature in a workable range on all but the coldest days. For a portable AC/Heater, it needs to be a double hosed one so that it doesn't suck in cold air to replace the exhaust air. If you have a window, a window unit will be more efficient. I also had a radiant heater positioned over my work bench that would really help because the radiant nature means that you instantly feel the heat if you are in front of it. I only ran that when I was out there but coupled with the portable HVAC unit, I could pretty much use my shop year round. When the portable unit broke (I got it used and it lasted over 10 years), I replaced it with a mini-split which is a game changer. The minisplit is the most important power tool in my shop. I can use my shop year round even when the outside temperature is 110 or 15 degrees F and I have no insulation on half of the walls, except for sheet rock, and the metal garage door just has 2" styrofoam insulation.
BTW, if you have any wood glue or water based finishes out in your shop, you might want to bring them inside. Some of them can be ruined if they freeze.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
The shop is kept at a constant 50 degrees, when I go out I bump it to 65 or so, wait 30 minutes, and then I can take off my heavy outer clothes, and run around with a T shirt on. I don't have AIR, ounce in a while I wish I did, but heat is a must here. Trying to do woodwork in the 20's or less, just doesn't work. At 40 cast iron takes on a different life, where a touch can send your entire body into shock. Kept 50 or better, and it's just cast iron.
Our house AC bit the dust a few years ago. It was cheaper to replace both the furnace, and AC coil, rather than just put in a new coil. so we did, and the guys moved the old furnace out to the shop. I built a stand to mount it up into the air to their specs. It houses 4 sets of filters, and the furnace itself stays dust free, runs fine, and just has an outlet pointed toward the shop direction. I thought without ducts it would be weird. It heats like it's supposed to, and soon the entire 32 x 48 shop is toasty. If/when it bites the dust, the plan is to mount one of those propane shop furnaces in it's place. All of the work for propane is already done, to hang and vent a burner unit would be 2 hours of shop time, and a few bux for parts plus the cost of whatever unit they used. I own a 500 gallon tank, this year it was $284 to top it to 80%. I think it's easily worth that to be comfy. I have less than a grand in getting the old furnace back and running, they did all the heavy lifting, all I did was build the pedestal it sits up on. That was about 1/16 of my total plywood scrap pile, and some screws. I run it from September through April, kept at 50. Some days it hardly runs, others it runs almost all day. I might run out of fuel if I kept it at 65 or better all the time, not sure, but I have no plans to keep those mice that comfortable. When I'm back there, they scatter and leave, so my Wife, and I, are the only ones taking advantage of 65 degree temps back there.
I'm trying to do some epoxy work repairing a toboggan I made for the kids when no sleds could be bought the last time we had a good snow here. The 5 minute stuff is taking more like an hour and the 24 hour stuff seems to be taking forever! An electric heater is helping a little but likely helping Duke Energy a lot. The heat pump room A/C - heater unit won't work under 44° so it's essentially useless for heat.
