Shop Heat Question

[Yonak Hawkins]

..Sounds like a great system, Randy. I especially like the part about playing with the dogs as part of your daily exercise.

[Stew Hagerty]

If I had a well insulated stand-alone shop, I'd put in a mini-split heat pump. Properly sized it will keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

[Steve Goetz]

Tom, I'll have to agree with Yonak.....you do have a great looking shop! Thanks for the input. I didn't think about the clearance requirements.....need as much working space as possible!!

[Steve Goetz]

Thanks everyone for the input. I think I'm going to look into strictly gas since I already have gas plumbed to the building....the wood stove sold the other day anyway!! Stew, I've briefly looked into the mini-split heat pumps....do you have any recommendations on a brand? I may even look into a sealed combustion high efficiency forced air unit and run a small plenum. I could always add a/c later on!

What say the masses?:
mini-split heat pump?
conventional high efficient forced air?

-Steve

[Jim Matthews]

If you're not in the shop everyday, mini-split can be cheap to operate.

That breaks down, if it's a daily user.

My guess is that you'll be looking for more
ways to ventilate waste heat, than searching
for heat sources.

http://blog.cmiac.com/2011/06/27/why...-one-you-have/

[Stew Hagerty]

Stew, I've briefly looked into the mini-split heat pumps....do you have any recommendations on a brand? I may even look into a sealed combustion high efficiency forced air unit and run a small plenum. I could always add a/c later on!

What say the masses?:
mini-split heat pump?
conventional high efficient forced air?

-Steve

My shop is in my oversized 3-car garage, and is attached to my house. My furnace is in the garage so I opened a vent into it. I get both heat & cool that way. Even before I did though, my garage never got below about 50*. IN very cold weather I have a small electric heater that I turn on and that keeps it at around 65*. For the summer I have a Whynter portable A/C unit. It's a dual hose model and since I have no windows in my shop, I cut holes through the wall for the piping. Between the vent from the house and the Whynter unit, the garage stays a very comfortable 65-70* even on the hottest days.


As for a mini-split, Klimaire is supposed to be an excellent brand. They make a wide range of sizes, in both A/C and Heat Pump models. I was looking at the mini-splits but for my purposes, what I have now works great.

[Jim Andrew]

There is an Orshelyn store in a local town that sells an outside wood burner,forced air, that you can set outside your shop, and blow the heat into your shop. I have both a propane furnace with AC, and an outside furnace, and I use the wood burner most of the time. If I need a quick warm up, I use gas. Replaced the AC in the house 3 years ago, and put the old unit in the shop. Nice to have cool on a hot day, but you have to insulate accordingly.

[Bill Bukovec]

A gas heater connected to a programmable thermostat would be nice. That way, the shop can be heated up on Saturday morning before I get out there.

In my ideal shop, I'd have a gas heater to keep things warm when I couldn't tend to the fire. But still have a wood burner as a main source of heat.

I'm grateful for the little wood stove I have. Can't wait to get into the shop on Saturday (tomorrow)!

Bill

[Stew Hagerty]

Hi Steve,
However, don't forget air-conditioning. Hot and humid is even worse than a cold shop. That wood stove isn't going to help in that department.

I got one of these from Amazon. It works great. Part of my disability has to do with my internal thermostat. I cannot take heat. Anything above 70* makes me uncomfortable, and once it hits 80* I'm done. This unit pumps enough cool air into my shop to keep me comfortable on all but the hottest days. Oh, and my shop takes up about half of my over-sized 3-car garage. I do get some extra cooling from a vent I added to my furnace pipe, but not nearly enough as my new Whynter Portable A/C unit.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1