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Thread: Need help sizing Hot Dawg Heater

  1. #1

    Need help sizing Hot Dawg Heater

    All,

    I'm looking to size a Modine Heater for my woodshop. Based on my research it appear model HDS 60 or HDS 75 would be appropriate.

    Here are my shop details:

    Location: Buffalo, NY
    Size: 23' Wide, 36' Long, 14' High
    Insulation: I have 2X4 wals and plan on using batts. The ceiling will have more insulation.
    Usage: I would like to keep the shop at 50 degrees during the winter when not in use and bring it up to a comfortable temp in 30 minutes or so
    Fuel: Natural Gas

    Anyone have a similar setup that can share their experiences?

    Adam

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Custer, Wa.
    Posts
    11
    My shop is 28'wide x 36'long x 14' walls. Using 2" blanket insulation, covered with OSB. I've been using a 75k BTU Hot Dawg, for the last 7 yrs. I turn the temp down to 45* at night and 62* while I'm in the shop. Works great!!!

    Your winters are probably worst than ours (6 miles from the Canadian boarder on the left coast), though we do get snow and periods when the temp hovers in the teens for a week at a time. You will have better insulation, so the 75 btu unit will work. Besides, the price difference is negligible in the overall project.

    Good Luck

  3. #3
    Thanks for the confirmation Greg.

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Moore View Post
    My shop is 28'wide x 36'long x 14' walls. Using 2" blanket insulation, covered with OSB. I've been using a 75k BTU Hot Dawg, for the last 7 yrs. I turn the temp down to 45* at night and 62* while I'm in the shop. Works great!!!

    Your winters are probably worst than ours (6 miles from the Canadian boarder on the left coast), though we do get snow and periods when the temp hovers in the teens for a week at a time. You will have better insulation, so the 75 btu unit will work. Besides, the price difference is negligible in the overall project.

    Good Luck

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Central WI
    Posts
    5,666
    does the hot dawg use a sealed burner? Dave

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Mid Michigan
    Posts
    3,559
    I have the 75K Hot Dawg. The only thing I would differently is I would pay the extra dollars and get the unit that uses outside air for ignition. My shop is 30x40x10. In the cold Michigan Winters I keep the thermostat set at 50 degrees and when I work in the shop I turn the heater up to 65 degrees. After the shop gets to temp. the heater comes on around 3 times an hour. The bad thing about setting the temp low while not in the shop is hand tools are so cold they hurt my hands and they never get warm enough to use comfortably during the cold season.
    David B

  6. #6
    I have gone thru one winter (with some very cold spells) using a 75K external combustion Hot Dawg heater. I am located in SE Colorado. My shop is 24' by 20' with an 8' by 10' "bumpout". The somewhat difficult to describe ceiling varies from 9' to 12' and from 12' to 14'. The ceiling is 2" by 8" construction with 1 1/2" foam and 6" fiberglass insulation. The walls are all 2" by 6" with fiberglass insulation. The construction was very tight. There are two metal doors - one 36" and the other 40". There is a total of about 25 square feet of double paned glass windows. This last winter I set the thermostat to 50 degrees between 6 PM and 7 AM and 68 degrees between 7 AM and 6 PM. During a cold spell with night lows near 20 degrees below zero the shop would be toasty warm when I got out there about 7:30 - 8:00 AM. I only noticed the heater on a total of 3-4 times during the day. I think the 75K heater was probably a bit overkill in my situation but I love the result. By the way I went with the single penetration exhaust / intake air manifold. This uses a 4in. exhaust inside a 6in. air intake. Both ducts are single wall - about 22 guage. The 6 in. duct has never been more than slightly warm to my hand. If you wish I could give you more info on how I mounted the heater. Hope this helps - and good luck. - Ib

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Monroe, MI
    Posts
    11,896
    First, you really should get someone to run the heat load calculations on your shop. When I installed mine, I worked for an engineering firm and one of the mechanical engineers helped me with it.

    I've got the 75K version heating my 30x32x12 shop. I keep it at 42 all the time, up to 62 when I'm working or have a project at critical stages. Generally I'll leave it there if I'm going out every day. I warm it up to 70 or so when finishing but that will change with my new finishing room. Mine was propane for the first 6 years and got converted back to NG right before winter last year when they ran NG to our house. When I was on propane, I had a dedicated 100gal tank. I'd use a tank of propane out there at about the same time as a 330gal tank on the house with that usage pattern. Obviously the more time I spent out there, the faster I'd go through it. But it wasn't terribly expensive.

    Mine uses air from the shop. With good dust collection and an air cleaner I've not seen any problems. In fact the only problem I've had is that twice over summers I've had spiders clog up an orfice in the gas valve, which was easy to fix. Hasn't happened in a while so I'm not picturing where they were getting in--seems like it had to do with the ignition or something like that.


  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Milwaukee, WI
    Posts
    900

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    1,740
    Another thing to insulate is the floor if you have a slab. In the winter I can feel the cold coming up from the floor and it works the heater a bit harder.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Mid Michigan
    Posts
    3,559
    Prior to having my slab floor poured my contractor covered the area with 2 inch rigid foam board. Wish I had put in floor heating as well but the cost was too much for me at the time.
    David B

  11. #11
    There is an HDS and and HD version. The HDS version draws air from outside.

    Adam

    Quote Originally Posted by David Kumm View Post
    does the hot dawg use a sealed burner? Dave

  12. #12
    Actually my shop is on the second floor of a garage/barn. I will have to insulate under the floor. The garage ceiling is not finished and this sounds like a perfect use for spray foam... Sounds like big $$$

    Quote Originally Posted by Don Jarvie View Post
    Another thing to insulate is the floor if you have a slab. In the winter I can feel the cold coming up from the floor and it works the heater a bit harder.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    1,740
    Spray foam would be good but its also a garage. Use as much fiberglass insulation as you can and cover with 3/8 inch sheet rock. The 3/8 rock is fairly lite so it can be managed alone.

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