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Grumble Grumble winter - shop heater question

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JPSmit

JPSmit

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I have a 16 X 20 double garage that I work in. It butts against the house on one side and has an apartment above it - so, it is bearable for winter work. However, help is always welcome so, I have a little 1500 W electric heater that I set on my workbench or at my feet and it just takes the edge off.

Today, I saw an ad for a 1500W infrared heater that claims to heat 1000 square feet. I think I understand that infrared heats the person (or object) and not the air, but, is this possible (that it should heat the room?) or is 1500 W 1500 W?

I am confused. any thoughts?

thanks
 
Infrared is nice but slow
View attachment 35216

If you need electric..Haven't a clue . But will tell you that will spin your meter so fast it will wear the bearings out.
Actually a pellet stove is a good idea if you have the room
 
JP - you're right - 1500w is 1500w. An infrared facing you will make *you* feel warmer, but won't heat the room as fast. A ceramic will heat a small space like 10x10', a resistance with fan makes *you* feel warmer like the infrared.

But ... 1500w is 1500w. It's the heat output you need, and many 1500w heaters don't use the full 1500w for heat; there's often a fan too, which uses part of the 1500w.

Usually, the "1500watts" refers to the total electric draw of the unit, not the heat output.

Clear as (warm) mud, right?

Tom
 
I have one (if it's the same kind)... and it's very focused heat (and NOT to heat a space in my opinion).

I don't think there is any way to meaningfully heat a 1000 sq. ft. space with a 1500 watt anything heater (in winter).
 
Our garage has a Modine heater that uses hot water from the house but I seldom use it since I usually only need to heat the work area which is about 10 X 20. Mostly, I use two Delonghi oil filled electric heaters of 1500w each. They take about 15 minutes to start throwing heat but, once hot, they're the best small heaters I've used. I think they came from Walmart.

You can put your hand on it without getting burned and they have a flat top so I sometimes put a metal tray on one and heat the tools which helps a bit. These are the ones that look sort of like old hot water radiators. Even though they cycle on and off, the keep throwing a steady heat.

(I've always wondered about rating heaters using square feet - wouldn't cubic feet be better?)
 
x2 on the DeLonghi oil-filled "radiator" types. I've got two, one for each bedroom. Totally silent when in operation.

Also agree on the cubic feet comment; I'm betting they always assume a standard 8 foot ceiling, which is usually much lower than a garage or workshop.

Here's a Consumer Reports summary:

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/space-heaters.htm

Tom
 
DNK said:
Actually a pellet stove is a good idea if you have the room
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X2

Two woods: wood stove. I use a temporary set up run out of a window and it works great. Gotta watch fuel or solvent fumes though
 
Thanks for the input so far. Wood stove is a non starter, partly because of room and pluming and partly because I suspect the building code would no cover it. Likewise I don't want anything combustable. Keep the comments coming.
 
JPSmit said:
Thanks for the input so far. Wood stove is a non starter, partly because of room and pluming and partly because I suspect the building code would no cover it. Likewise I don't want anything combustable. Keep the comments coming.
Click to expand...

..... a very thick pair of lace underwear......:jester:
 
I also have a Delonghi oil filled electric heater. I keep it set at 50F in the basement of our summer house (to keep the pipes from freezing if the oil furnace fails). It's been working fine for at least 15 years.
Like all electric heaters, it's not cheap to run on a regular basis but fine for occasional use.

By the way, someone told me that in Quebec, it's pretty common to see homes with electric heat because the Hydro is so inexpensive. Do you know if that's true?
 
aeronca65t said:
I also have a Delonghi oil filled electric heater. I keep it set at 50F in the basement of our summer house (to keep the pipes from freezing if the oil furnace fails). It's been working fine for at least 15 years.
Like all electric heaters, it's not cheap to run on a regular basis but fine for occasional use.

By the way, someone told me that in Quebec, it's pretty common to see homes with electric heat because the Hydro is so inexpensive. Do you know if that's true?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised though everything goes up. This chart bears out your observation: https://www.ontario-hydro.com/index.php?page=electricity_rates_by_province

Our apartment has electric heat - which I am not crazy about but it is not a big space either. (though my tenant sure likes to stay warm!) ;)

I served a church that had electric heat - and it was killing them (in the 90's!) as the story goes, when they were building the church in the 80's, another church in town burned due to a gas leak - so they went for electricity - bad move.
 
JP - are you trying to warm up that whole garage space to "living room temp"? Or just warm you, in the area where you work at the bench?
 
Electricity was cheap in Seattle compared to the rest of the country.
But still most heated by gas
 
I think a lot of this depends on how often you want to heat your garage up to a working temperature. If you only heat it on the weekends, you may be able to get by with a bigger electric heater. A gas heater is less expensive to run, but if there's no gas line nearby, it may be really expensive to install. The extra cost of running the electric heater may be offset (at least in the short term) by the reduced installation costs.

So, with that in mind, let me slightly hijack this thread with a related question. I have a 5000W 240V fan-forced electric heater in my shop. It works great to heat the shop on the weekends that I want to work out there. However, I would like to have a way to keep the inside of the shop above freezing during the days I'm not working out there. The electric heater does have a rudimentary thermostat, but it doesn't show an actual temperature set point, and it doesn't have settings that cold anyway. Would one of the DeLonghi oil-filled "radiator" type heaters work for this application? I realize it will be expensive to run, but hopefully just keeping the space above freezing wouldn't be too bad.
 
It usually doesn't get very cold around here (though this week has proven me a liar), but when I do need my shop warm I break out my torpedo kerosene heater. Its cheap to run and gets toasty warm in the shop. I have seen several models at different home improvement stores some using propane. Most are relatively inexpensive to buy and run.
 
I have one of those electric, oil-filled radiator heaters too. They do a decent job of warming you if you stay close. They will not do much for a garage or workshop though as there is no circulation and not much warming of the air. We used it for years to keep our dogs warm in a room that was not adequately heated. I think they believed it was their mother. Dogs have passed now so may use it if I have to work in the shop in cold weather.
 
mailbox said:
It usually doesn't get very cold around here (though this week has proven me a liar), but when I do need my shop warm I break out my torpedo kerosene heater. Its cheap to run and gets toasty warm in the shop. I have seen several models at different home improvement stores some using propane. Most are relatively inexpensive to buy and run.
Click to expand...

Do you worry about CO poisoning with a ventless heater like a torpedo heater? If you have a fresh air source I think it would be fine, but in a tightly sealed space I would worry.
 
I put a passive solar air heater (doesn't use any electric at all) on my workshop (south wall), and on my kitchen south wall. Heats the kitchen to 80F on a sunny winter day when the outdoor temp is around 20F. Heats workshop (not insulated) from 20F to around 65F. Almost exactly like this:


FLB3YWXADLEYF7I3IE.LARGE.jpg


Edit: total cost for parts - $35. (plastic sheeting, 2x4s, air ducts)

Note to Keith M: I'm about to grill hamburgers.
 
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