Adding heat to the shop

[Donnie Raines]

I now work out of my 24x24 attached garage(now referred to as "My Shop"). it is well insulated with exception being the garage door...but it is a newer in good shape door. The garage has an attic...which has some of the duct work coming from my furnace to my living room runnign through it. Can I "tap" into these ducts and run one or two more outlets in my shop? I was thinking I could cut branch off with no issue...but not sure if that would be a wise thing to do. The runs would not be far at all...maybe 10-12 foot to center it in my shop.

[Chad Pater]

Hello Donnie,
Let me start off saying I knew very little about this but I remember Chris P thinking about doing the same thing. You might check with him. I beleive some one cautioned that it was against some local code because CO from a car could get though the venting and into the house....You may need to check local codes and such before proceeding.
Sorry I'm not more helpful
Chad

[Donnie Raines]

Makes sense on the fumes....but no cars will ever see this space while I own it.....!

[Jamie Buxton]

That scheme doesn't give you much control about how much heat gets put in the shop, or when it happens. The furnace is regulated by the thermostat in the house, which doesn't sense the temperature in the shop, or whether you're in the shop.

You might consider putting a separate heater in the shop. Consider natural-gas direct-vent wall-mounted heaters. They want one hole through the wall, through which they pull combustion air, and push exhaust. That is, there is no exposed flame inside the shop, and no chemical effect on the air inside the shop. They just give you heat and a thermostat to control it. Garage-sized units cost a few hundred dollars. Home Depot sells them.

[Donnie Raines]

Jamie,

I thought about that to. My thinking was along the lines of some heat is better then no heat. My house sits around 68 degrees and that amount of air would be nice considering how well insualted the house/shop is.

[Bob Reda]

Donnie,,


Most local codes prohibit duckwork in a garage whether it is used as a garage or not. Saying that, ductwork will channel dust and fumes into the remainder of the house. You can regulated heat through ductwork with a damper. The best system I've seen is a Co-ray-o-vac system. It looks like a long tube that supplies radiant heat, its titaly contained, about 98% efficent, takes in outside air for combustion and directs the fumes outside. They make them for garages and such.

[Jerry Olexa]

Donnie, I wanted to do what you want (tap a DUCT into shop). I had 3 contractors out and all said against local code. The concern is fumes leaking into the home. 2 of the 3 admitted they have it in their homes (w a shutoff) but cannot install it elsewhere legally. Sorry maybe different in your area. I ended upw a gas fired unit which is OK but not great!

[Don Abele]

Donnie, in many of the areas I have lived heating my garage has always come up and I've looked into the solution you suggest. As others have pointed out, each and every time it has been against code for the reasons cited. Even if you don't use it as a garage, with garage doors on it, by code it's still a garage.

Additionally, an HVAC guy, who is also a WW, mentioned the possibility of dust getting sucked into the house and that the heater would be uncontrolled and could start at any time blowing air into the shop at an inopportune time.

One last point. If your current heating plant is at capacity for the size of your house, adding additional ducts would rob your house of heating. This is a problem I have with my current house that had an office added and ducts "tapped" into the existing system. The A/C and heat barely keep the place comfortable.

I personally use electric heat in the shop and have several threads covering this. If you do a search, the topic of heating shops has come up quiet a bit and should help you quite a bit.

Be well,

Doc

[Jim Becker]

I'm using three ceiling mounted Marvin electric radient heaters. They have "two speeds" and being radient, warm "things", including "me"...the latter being the most important. On mild days, they do a good job at keeping the shop comfortable and as it gets colder, I'll run out and turn them on before going through my morning routine...you know, food and caffene. On the coldest days, I may fire up a kero heater to get some warm air in the shop, but I don't let it run for a long time...and extinguish the flame outdoors to avoid the fumes. Someday, I'll have a more permanent solution in the building, but for now this has worked out very well and is reasonably economical. I don't have natural gas to the shop (have it in the house) and with the price of propane and heating oil...flowing electrons are looking very good right now.

[Donnie Raines]

Thanks for the responses.

I had the same items at my old house...they do work well. I was hopeing to make a more "fixed" fix and I thought this might work. Everyone really confirmed my concerns with respects to doing this.

Thanks again.