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Shop Heat

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Fast Freddie

12-01-2002 14:21:48




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I've got a 30'x40'shop with 10'ceilings.Fully insulated.How do I determine the BTU's needed to heat this thing?I don't want a sauna room ,just a comfortable work area.(at least 50 degrees)I live in the mid atlantic region of the country.Any help will be gladly accepted.Thanks!




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John Humphrey Morocco IN.

12-03-2002 20:53:52




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
30X40X10=12000X5=60000BTU. If the building is inslated properly, a 60 to 70000 BTU heat unit do the job. The reason a 100,000 BTU furnace only produces 70 to 80,000 BTU output is that the waste BTU is used to carry the products of combustion up the vent stack.



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JT

12-02-2002 08:15:02




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
Your local furnace rep should be able to size what you need.

A quick word about waste oil. I considered it for my shop. Have some friend in the area with them. One thing I noticed is they take a lot of room most need their supply tank inside and even the gun types require maintenance more often than anything else.

LOL
JT



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Keith

12-02-2002 04:59:00




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
Heres a thought. I have a 36'x60' insulated pole barn. A buddy gave me a 55,000 btu kerosine forced air torpedo heater which does a nice job of taking the chill off. The draw backs are vetilation. My wife is a teacher and the books she has stored out there she says smell of kerosine. This unit will run me out after about a hour or so. I then light up a little kerisun to maintain the heat. I have a wood fireplace insert in my home and have plenty of wood to use. I am considering installing a pot belly in the barn.
I think it would be the cheapest way for me to go.
One thing I did check into is a waste oil heater.
These are a bit expensive though. Low end one 75k btu will set you back almost 2k. I have access to all the drain oil I want but think that is to much. One thing that worries me about the torpedo heater is not being there with a two foot flame coming out of it. Also fumes from solvents and paint worry me. I like the idea of pulling up the lawn chairs and making a pot of joe around the pot belly. It may be this winters project after fixing the PTO on my Super 55 Oliver.

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Skinner

12-03-2002 19:03:59




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 Re: Re: Shop Heat in reply to Keith, 12-02-2002 04:59:00  
Cleaning and adjusting your torpedo heater will reduce the smell and the flame. Mine is a 155,000 btu and is has very few oders and no flame or soot either. Ear Plugs are a must!!!
I use it to bring the shop temp up (30'x50' non insulated) then use radiant heat to pretty much keep it there. Works great, I can heat my shop from 30ish to 60ish in about 30 or 40 minutes.



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scooterhead

12-02-2002 04:21:10




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
Stick ya a wood stove in the corner and get a few extra chairs for when your buddys come over .



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Lavoy

12-01-2002 20:16:37




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
I live in East central North Dakota so our weather gets a little cold. I heat a 36 X 32 X 11 shop with a 75,000 BTU forced air furnace. The furnace man recommended 35,000, but I thought he was nuts and told him to put in a 75,000BTU unit. He was right, I was wrong, should have been 45,000 at the most.
I have 6" fiberglass with 1 1/2" styrofoam outside of that in the walls, and R40 blown in the ceiling. Insulation guy said for up here, R50 in the ceiling would have taken at least 7 years to pay back the extra cost, and that was at 75 degrees, I only heat to about 50-60 degrees.
Lavoy

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CNKS

12-02-2002 17:54:53




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 Re: Re: Shop Heat in reply to Lavoy, 12-01-2002 20:16:37  
For my 30 x 30 insulated work area (Kansas) a 50000 btu overhead gas furnace works fine. Runs more than I like, but the sliding doors are not sealed.



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Scott Green

12-02-2002 03:26:32




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 Re: Re: Shop Heat in reply to Lavoy, 12-01-2002 20:16:37  
I can relate to that being wrong deal. One of my shops is 26 x 32. Well insulated. The heating man told me a 50,000 BTU unit would be plenty. I said to put in a 65,000 BTU unit in. So he did. Guess what? The heating man was right. The 65,000 BTU unit has heat settings which range from 1 through 10. At 1-1/2 , it is unbareable. Even to hot for working in tee-shirt.



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WD-9

12-01-2002 17:29:47




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
This may be a bit more than you asked for but here goes:
Q=U*A*(Ti - To)
where
Q= heat needed (in Btu)
U= 1/Rvalue Ti= inside temperature desired
To= typical outdoor winter temperature

Assuming 60 degrees indoor temp, -5 outdoor, R10 in walls, R15 in ceiling and roughly 2 complete air changes per day 100,000 Btu's (that's output not "sales" size) would be sufficient, I heat my small shop (30x30) with wood but I have an abundance of trees falling down. If I was doing it again I would go with a low intensity infrared heater. If interested I could give you a list of manufacturers for the infrared heaters.
Good luck.

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Dave Merdian

12-02-2002 08:14:35




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 Re: Re: Shop Heat in reply to WD-9, 12-01-2002 17:29:47  
I have a shop heater and it says 100,000 btu input and 80,000 btu output. Can anyone tell me what the difference is?
Thanks Dave



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WD-9

12-02-2002 16:14:04




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 Re: Re: Re: Shop Heat in reply to Dave Merdian, 12-02-2002 08:14:35  
The furnace is generating 100,000Btu of heat but it is an 80% efficient system it only has the ability to give you back 8/10 of the input, thus the 80,000Btu output.
This sounds pretty pathetic but all of our truck engines lose more than this as the chemical energy of the fuel is lost as heat rather than being converted to mechanical power.



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Rick

12-01-2002 17:00:39




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
In my second shop I went from forced air furnace to radiant heater. I like those alot better than forced air furnace. Your furnace company will have charts to go by.



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Mac

12-01-2002 16:38:38




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
check google.com for BTU calculator. Pretty simple to figure with the calculators on web.



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G Taylor

12-01-2002 15:47:30




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
How air tight the shop is and if the system is forced air or infrared matters.



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Andy

12-01-2002 14:56:51




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 Re: Shop Heat in reply to Fast Freddie, 12-01-2002 14:21:48  
75 BTU/cu.ft. is what I was told here in SE PA



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