CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Shop Heat Help

My shop is fairly big (30'x54'x12') and is not insulated. I put in a double barrel wood stove since I have a good supply of oak nearby. That stove puts out a ton of heat, but doesn't warm up the shop much - if any. It just radiates through the uninsulated metal roof and siding. If it's really cold and I have to work out there, I'll use the stove just for a place to warm up once in a while. I want to plumb in used oil to drip into the fire.

Someday I want to insulate the shop with the spray-on foam, which I figured would cost about $3-4K. A friend did that with his BIG shop and loves it. He heats it with a corn furnace. Those are great, but expensive up front. Cheap to run though.
 
We have a waste oil burner at our shop at work, its nice...when it works, latly the spark thing has been clogging up on it a couple times a day. Its about 8 year old though so it could be time for a new one.

Might look into a corn burning stove, cheap corn prices it only takes a bout a bushel and a half for a house a day, not sure how much it would take for a shop.
 
Wood stove with a blower.Cheap heat. :waytogo: Beings i use wood to heat my home a wood stove in my shop is a no brainer. i can heat up my shop as hot as i want it even when its below 0.Having thick Insulation and a well stocked shop bar full of antifreeze helps a lot too. :D
 
Wood Stove!!!!! as long as you have a big enough stove! I was working in a t shirt and jeans last weekend in my g/fs dads shop/pole barn while fixing his snow plow truck. Just remember to keep putting wood in it every so often
 
Big enough??

I made a wood stove on steroids out of a 275 gallon fuel oil tank a few years ago!..it had a 2'x2' door,and I stood it on end,bolted the pipe legs to the wall-
and cut several 2" holes in the upper portion with a hole saw and ran 2" pipe thru both sides and welded them in,an used a small blower motor to force air thru the pipes..it also had a forced draft air intake ,I used an old kitchen range "hood" fan thing to really get it cranking when lighting it,or burning wet wood or drain oil..the air intake was near the floor,about a foot up..I put old rotors and brake drums on the bottom to hold heat in from the hot coals..

It really cranked out some BTU's..we used it in a 155'x55' quonset hut at the junkyard..nothing would heat that building,but it did pretty good for 50' in every direction from the stove!...you could stuff half a tree in it at once,and it would burn most of the day,if you left the forced draft off..we could burn a tire or two with the forced draft on without much smoke!--but it would turn orange,and we warped it pretty bad doing that..that thing would melt a smaller garage!..used to put a whole pickup bed's worth of wood thru it in a few days! :eek1: ..

Another neat one we had was made from a huge ocean bouy..it was 6' in diameter!..someone junked 2 of them at the junkyard..we used one for diesel fuel for the loaders,and the other became a stove for awhile..we painted it orange and used it for a pumpkin out in front of the gate during halloween one year..everyone loved it!.. :haha:
 
I run a wood burning boiler in my shop. It is home made, about 3' in diameter, and about 10' tall. Only about 5' up is for burning though, the rest contains glycol. The boiler has a built in temp sensor near the top that pumps glycol through the infloor heating system in the shop. I've got two regular house fans near the furnace, and dang does that thing ever put out heat! I am able to get the shop up to 80 degrees if I keep the wood piled in, and keep the draft intake at the bottom wide open. Shop is big enough to stuff three vehicles side by side inside of it :)
 
Heated slabs are nice!...

Sounds like you built what I should have for my garage..I regret not putting radiant heat tubing in the floor slab now..but I'd regret drilling holes in the tubing if I decided to install a lift more I guess.. :doah: ..

I read an interesting idea on google while searching for ideas..there is one site claiming you can get heat from drain oil and a 55 gallon drum with zinc rods suspended in the oil!...I guess its a chemical reaction..not sure how much heat you'd actually get..it was on one of the "free energy" websites--they claim it will heat a house..but--

I take the stuff posted there with a grain of salt..they also tell how to run you car on tap water,by using stainless steel electrodes in a tank of water with an electric arc passing between them,which separates the hydrogen and oxogen,and they claim you can use a modified carb,and switch back to gas at will!.. :rolleyes: ..it probably works..but reading it,I was wishing I was a neuclear physicist!..it got VERY technical!.. :doah: ..I bet its impractical for daily driving.. :crazy:
 
my vote is for the wood burning stove. man, if i owned the shop where i'm building my k5 - on of my first mods would be a wood stove for that shop. being an arizonan living in oregon doesn't always work so well in the winter. :)

colby stephens.
 
Top Bottom