Heating your workshop

[Siegmund]

It's that time of year when working in open air comes to an end, for many of us.

 

Both for safety and space reasons, no mixing is going to be happening inside the house. My thoughts turn to providing a suitable workspace for myself outside. Canvas wall tent, possibly, so that I can remove the walls when the weather turns nice in the spring, or of course the more typical metal shed. Either way, there is going to be a need to heat it.

 

The popular choice for heating workshops and cabins around here are the oil-burning monitor stoves, which have a two-way flue that uses outside air for combusion and vents the exhause back outside - though I don't, to be honest, know whether their ignition system is airtight enough to keep the flame from lighting fumes inside the workshop. (An ordinary forced-air furnace often uses inside air and even has a visible exposed flame if you look in the right place.)

Also a possibility are any of the electric baseboard type heaters that pump a working fluid through a radiator. No flame anywhere and no surfaces hotter than 100C. A possibility of electrical sparks as the thermostat kicks it on and off.

 

It seems clear that ordinary hot-wires-inside space heaters or wood-burning stoves are definitely out. Yes, I expect there to be acetone present from time to time.

 

Does anyone have comments on how safe either of the above is for use in a fireworks workshop? Is it necessary to have the heat source in a separate compartment sealed off from the workshop and just blow hot air into the work area through a duct? (A lot more trouble and a lot less efficient.)

[Algenco]

How about a water stove?

Stove sets away from the structure and heats water that is pumped through a radiator, lots of people use them here

[NightHawkInLight]

How about a water stove?

Stove sets away from the structure and heats water that is pumped through a radiator, lots of people use them here

Now there's a thought. You could even use a good ol external wood burner with that method and remain safely away from sparks inside. That would get your workshop cooking. I think you may have just given me the idea that will allow me to work through the winter. The downside would be that it would need to be drained every time you left the shop for the night to prevent freezing.

 

Something very important to consider when talking about heating a workshop in winter is that the humidity will be extremely low if not adjusted somehow. Static then becomes a very real danger. A humidifier, or at the least a pot of water sitting on your heating apparatus is necessary.

[mfstraydog1]

have you thought about using ceramic heaters. the type that one would use in a hot box to dry out pyro.

[Siegmund]

The freezeup problem seems like a serious issue for the water stove. (Drainable nightly, in principle, yes - but filling them and bleeding the air out of them is a pain.) The ceramic option like the baseboard option I imagine the main consideration is avoiding sparking when it turns on and off. You were thinking of enclosing it to isolate it from the fumes, or something?

[dagabu]

Does anyone have comments on how safe either of the above is for use in a fireworks workshop? Is it necessary to have the heat source in a separate compartment sealed off from the workshop and just blow hot air into the work area through a duct? (A lot more trouble and a lot less efficient.)

 

I have the old household forced air furnace on the other side of the wall that blows warm air into the room. It has a heat exchanger so no issues with flame or sparks. The cold air is taken from the other side of the wall so there is positive pressure in the shop with two ground level vents for the overpressure to leave the room.

[Richtee]

. The downside would be that it would need to be drained every time you left the shop for the night to prevent freezing.

Fill it with an anti-freeze mix. Better heat transfer too....

[Mumbles]

Some of the more professional shops I've been in used an isolated water heater, and pumped hot water through the floor or a radiator. I have no idea what kind of energy cost it would be to keep a shop at 60F or so all winter to prevent freezing/bursting.

[Algenco]

Now there's a thought. You could even use a good ol external wood burner with that method and remain safely away from sparks inside. That would get your workshop cooking. I think you may have just given me the idea that will allow me to work through the winter. The downside would be that it would need to be drained every time you left the shop for the night to prevent freezing.

 

Something very important to consider when talking about heating a workshop in winter is that the humidity will be extremely low if not adjusted somehow. Static then becomes a very real danger. A humidifier, or at the least a pot of water sitting on your heating apparatus is necessary.

 

 

Not a problem, antifreeze is added, it's a closed system.

There are a lot of the wood burners around here, they can be placed a good distance away limited only by the cost of copper tubing.

[NightHawkInLight]

Fill it with an anti-freeze mix. Better heat transfer too....

Hmm, I don't know why I didn't think of that. One other thing you would need on that system is a good temp gauge and a pressure blowout. You don't want to be too focused on not causing an accidental ignition and forget the few gallons of water behind you are climbing above 120C. Steam is deadlier than fire.

[Algenco]

Hmm, I don't know why I didn't think of that. One other thing you would need on that system is a good temp gauge and a pressure blowout. You don't want to be too focused on not causing an accidental ignition and forget the few gallons of water behind you are climbing above 120C. Steam is deadlier than fire.

 

 

Water stoves have an open boiler, no chance of that happening.

 

The fire box is surrounded on 3 sides by the water tank, copper coils are used for heat transfer

 

here's an example http://hickswaterstoves.com/

[anapogeetoofar]

What about one of those window unit heat pump/air conditioners? A friend has one of those, he stuck it in a wall of his workshop. It cools the air in the summer, and in the the winter it heats it. Works the same as an air conditioner, but it can reverse the cycle so instead of take heat away, it adds it.

 

Here's how they work: linky

 

Here's some window units: linky

 

Not sure if sparking is a problem or not.

[dagabu]

What about one of those window unit heat pump/air conditioners? A friend has one of those, he stuck it in a wall of his workshop. It cools the air in the summer, and in the the winter it heats it. Works the same as an air conditioner, but it can reverse the cycle so instead of take heat away, it adds it.

 

Here's how they work: linky

 

Here's some window units: linky

 

Not sure if sparking is a problem or not.

 

I would not use that in my shop due to sparks made by contacts, switches and motors.

[Arthur]

I'd suggest that the workshop heater really needs to be oil filled and IP64 or better, It's likely to be a constant electric heater with contacts totally enclosed in a gasketed terminal box. The cable may go to a connector say 10m (yards) away, and the cable may well be more robust than average even steel wire armoured or flexibly braided.

 

This sort of heater does NOT come cheap!

 

Other alternatives in some places may include wearing a thicker overall and doing short sessions in the workshop.

[pogue1000]

Despite having to keep warm in the winter..... wouldnt you have to do something to help with the dry air? Lots of static electricity here in the winter.

[dagabu]

Despite having to keep warm in the winter..... wouldnt you have to do something to help with the dry air? Lots of static electricity here in the winter.

 

Here too, I fix that by mopping the floor when I start to work. With the wet floor and the evaporating water in the air, I ma comfortable. I'm telling you, an old forced air furnace in another room is the way to go!

[OneEyeCharlie]

The fire box is surrounded on 3 sides by the water tank, copper coils are used for heat transfer

 

here's an example http://hickswaterstoves.com/

The problem with Al's post is that I clicked on the link and got sucked into a vortex. Spent almost an hour reading up on WaterStoves, and I don't even need one. Damn you The Internet.

 

[Algenco]

The problem with Al's post is that I clicked on the link and got sucked into a vortex. Spent almost an hour reading up on WaterStoves, and I don't even need one. Damn you The Internet.

 

 

 

it wouldn't be difficult to make a smaller version

[mfstraydog1]

here are a few sources that i found that sells heater. they are a little pricey.

 

www.heater-store.com/electric_convection_hazardous_location_wall_mounted_cabinet_heater_qmark_icg36081_12280_btu_3579_prd1.htm

 

www.ccithermal.com/products-ruffneck.php#page_top

 

http://marcclimatic.com/products/heaters.htm

 

hope it helps

[nater]

Some of the more professional shops I've been in used an isolated water heater, and pumped hot water through the floor or a radiator. I have no idea what kind of energy cost it would be to keep a shop at 60F or so all winter to prevent freezing/bursting.

 

I was in a guys shop (not a pyro shop) who used radiant floor heating, pumping water from a wood stove outside to his barn and I believe to his house as well. His barn was one of the nicest man-caves I have ever seen and the heated floors were great after setting up guns in the knee deep snow. If you were building a shop from scratch and had the space, I think that would be the best way to go.

Edited October 14, 2010 by nater

[NightHawkInLight]

I was in a guys shop (not a pyro shop) who used radiant floor heating, pumping water from a wood stove outside to his barn and I believe to his house as well. His barn was one of the nicest man-caves I have ever seen and the heated floors were great after setting up guns in the knee deep snow. If you were building a shop from scratch and had the space, I think that would be the best way to go.

Absolutely. That's done quite a bit nowadays and works beautifully. The other option to that effect is an infrared heater, which warms the concrete but not the air directly. The heated floor then heats the room for quite a while after the actual heater has been turned off.

[dagabu]

Absolutely. That's done quite a bit nowadays and works beautifully. The other option to that effect is an infrared heater, which warms the concrete but not the air directly. The heated floor then heats the room for quite a while after the actual heater has been turned off.

 

Infrared is dangerous in a flammable environment.

[Updup]

*Sigh*

 

I wish it got cold enough here to need a heater... I cant work in the summer without sweating up a storm.

 

 

[nater]

*Sigh*

 

I wish it got cold enough here to need a heater... I cant work in the summer without sweating up a storm.

 

 

 

I'll take the cold any day. Up here in Northern Indiana we can get some miserable days in the summer. We get some snow in the winter, but if you really want to play in cold, the Mid-Michigan Snowbelt is only a few hours drive. At least in the winter you can always wear more clothes, there's a point in the summer where you can only take so much off and still be hot.

[Updup]

I'll take the cold any day. Up here in Northern Indiana we can get some miserable days in the summer. We get some snow in the winter, but if you really want to play in cold, the Mid-Michigan Snowbelt is only a few hours drive. At least in the winter you can always wear more clothes, there's a point in the summer where you can only take so much off and still be hot.

 

Exactly... 100F dosn't make me happy about going outside. But bundling up is always easy..to think, in a month I'll be able to have a fire and make charcoal, without having to watch the fire from my air-conditioned house =/