I need Opinions On Heat For My Shop

[smitty0312]

I had somebody really concerned about my gas furnace, is there any concern with having a gas furnace in a shop that has saw dust every where and in the air, or is electric heat the way to go, if you have electric heat, what do you use? My shop is 10 x 24. Any help is well appreciated. 

Edited July 24, 2013 by smitty0312

[ChelCass]

I have propane in mine (much the same as gas) and never had a problem.  I do make sure I vacuum up any sawdust.

[Phantom Scroller]

It's gloves and a coat for me Dan with a electric fan heater not only warms me up but blows the dust to the other side of the work shop to hoover another day .lol  

 

 

Roly.

[Huntter2022]

I have propane heat.

 I have installed gas furnaces in alot of shops and never had a problem with it. Some people install them in, like a closet 

[Huntter2022]

found this link might help

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Heating_a_Woodshop.html

[DonR]

Smitty, I have a thru the wall, heat pump/ air conditioner. It is a Freidrich brand 220 volt and works like a charm and is very economical to run. I whole- heartedly would recommend this to anyone. It was a little pricey but in my opinion well worth it.

Don R

[MrsN]

There was a MythBusters episode where they caused a sawdust cloud explosion. So tons of sawdust and the open flame of the gas heater could be an issue. 

My shop is in the basement, fairly close to our gas furnace. I asked my husband if he was concerned about the fire/explosion possibility. He said that he said that it was far more likely that the air filter would get clogged with sawdust and starve the furnace for air and cause carbon monoxide poisoning. I have seen our air filter, it could happen. We have extra carbon monoxide detectors in the house/basement and check our filter weekly

[heppnerguy]

 as you probably know, I have a small wood stove. it only takes a small fire to heat my shop with it. It is a great outlet for my scrap wood as well. I got the stove for free and It works way better than my previous space heater. One other advantage is if the electricity ever goes out in the winter, we just move out to the shop, build a fire and we are not only comfortable but we also can cook on the stove, if need be. Works for me.   

[artmill]

The only problem that I could see is that if you are doing finishes. The furnace will burn off the gasses from finishes and give a unburned gas odor. I found this out when using our gas cook stove upstairs so I built a finishing booth. Haven't had much time lately to use it but it seemed to work ok when I did. One of these days I will upload the photos. Use extra filters in your cold air return too.

 

Art

[smitty0312]

Thanks for the replies guys, here's want i was told yesterday with someone I work with, if you have a high efficiency furnace, you will have no pilot, it has an ignitor, so no open flame there, once the furnace lights the flame inside is totally concealed, so I  think I will be ok with my efficiency furnace.

[Huntter2022]

The ignitor lights the pilot that lights the burners in the furnace , But yes it is concealed

Go for it Dan 

[bandaideman]

My chop is in one side of the 2 car garage. I do not use the furnace to heat the garage but the furnace and hot water heater for the house are in the garage on the other side. Haven't had trouble so far in 18 years. I do  keep filters changed and have high efficient furnace.

[Clayton717]

I now use a 220 volt ceiling mounted electric heated. works great for my little shop

[heppnerguy]

Dan, I agree with you...  if you can use the already installed furnace, I don't think there is any reason to invest in anything else. sounds perfect to me... go for it.. good luck

[ROBaUSA]

When I built my shop I thought I wanted a wood burning stove so I could get rid of scraps and smell the burning wood. I was talked out of it and I ended up with a all electric 4 ton Train heat pump system. It provides both heat and AC.

 

I'm happy all year round!

 

 

 

Rob

[amazingkevin]

Whiteman make big fire stand far away indian make small fire stand close