Need new kind of heat.

I lost my hot water heat generating stove a year and some ago. Previously I could keep my wood shop @ 50 degrees in the dead of winter with one radiator.

My 18 X 32 shop (10ft. ceiling) is very well insulated. I don't have time to cut wood. I also have natural gas dead head piped out to the Pole building.

I want to heat the uninsulated side and the wood shop side.

So my question is; I am thinking of using a simple plaque type infra red wall mount heater for the wood shop. I have heard that the give off lots of water vapor when heating. Is this really an issue with the dry winter air? Or is it just an issue on those days with higher humidity during the transition weeks going into Winter and going into Spring? The saying in Michigan is "if you don't like the weather, then wait 5 min."

If this is a real problem then it might make sense to go with a vented box type natural gas blower/heater.

Anyone with experience concerning this?

I have had a Hot Dawg heater from Modine since 2004.

I could not say enough about how happy I am with it.

I only have propane, no natural gas available.

I will be installing an electric heater - ONLY - because I now have solar.

Soo - my vote for you is the Modine Hot Dawg. - source, www.littlegreenhouse.com

Go with vented to avoid rust. Modine, reznor etc. I have a Dornbak made in USA.

I've had 2 of those unvented heaters and in both cases the moisture is considerable...the odor is also objectionable. The first one I bought and put in my insulated garage. I ran it for one day and had a reason to look in the attic. Water was absolutely dripping from the roof decking where the moisture had penetrated and condensed. I turned the heater off and donated it to Goodwill. Then we moved the new place had one in the area the previous owner used as a shop , same results. I ran it one day and then removed it...this one went to the trash.The ceiling hung units such as a Modine (mine was a Sterling Garage Guy) are much better.

The Modine Hot Dawg is a vented heater.

So the next question. Is it necessary to get an outside combustion air model? I am considering a Modine 30,000 btu model. I expect with the extremely well insulated shop that this will be more than adequate. I don't do a lot of spray finishing and do have dust collection and a room air filter.

For the uninsulated side I am still thinking about an infrared plaque type heater. The barn is way to well ventilated. (think sieve) The roof steel is over plywood so condensation drips shouldn't be too much of an issue. Heating the objects in the room will be the only way to hold any heat. I do have a salamander type heater and the stink is bad and it takes quite a bit of time to get it comfortable.

Retired now, but when i was working..road building company..in our shop we had those tube type heaters up near the ceiling. Shop was 70 x 100 ft, about 20ft high. I must say, they were quite good, all of us in the shop worked in shirt sleeves. Recovery was also good, as when we had to open an overhead door to get machinery in or out. Had six doors..all doors were 14ft high, and 12ft wide. Just relating shop size to give you a idea of what we heated. I was impressed. Location was west of South Bend In. Perhaps this would work for you. YMMV bill

Another vote for the Modine Hot Dawg. I have the 30,000 BTU unit. Mine is over 23 years old, has hung in three different locations and has been changed from LP the NG and back to LP. Works great!

My shop is 26x26 with 10 foot ceilings, well insulated.

I "could" do it with a 40,000 as calculated, but I went with a 60,000 BTU unit.

I can heat the shop is 15-30 minutes from 50 to 70 no matter what the weather is outside. BAM.
Saturday morn I put the heat on, then have my breakfast. When I go into the shop it is nice and warm.

I like that - it does come in handy.

NOW - I have installed a tiny 17,000 BTU electric. I don't have full power to it yet. It is rated at 7500 watts but I have it at 5000 watts because I still need to wire it up for the higher wattage. Even at the 5000 watts it will raise the temp in the shop when it's in the 30's outside but it takes a while. At 5000 watts it can maintain the temperature in the shop.

So, I can get the shop warm with propane then maintain with electric. Electricity is free - propane is expensive.

I am glad I oversized the Modine, and I don't believe there is any difference in operating cost.

I wish I had buckets of cash to throw at the problem...........I am looking at the 30,000 BTU unit because the 18 X 32 X 10 shop is so well insulated. The outside walls have somewhere around R-30 with aircraft insulation. The ceiling only has R-12 or so but it is tight and wood so it holds heat well.

I'm just trying to figure out how many BTU's to put in the uninsulated front shop. A company rep told me a 60,000 infrared unit should be fine but I have my doubts. I'm thinking about a 100,000 btu unit. The barn is open up to the roof/peak with a vented peak to boot. I may just have to put up some kind of air barrier to attempt to keep heat in the shop. I do need it heated so I can weld up equipment this winter. I am going to put up a heat shield over the heater Maybe just a 4 x 8 sheet of something non- flammable. It's a gamble but I am thinking about a plaque unit over the tube type because they are about $600 cheaper.

As to the direct vent question (outside combustion air), the Sterling I mentioned above did have direct vent and all things considered i prefer that . The internal working are protected from the fine dust that can do strange things to electronics At the time I bought the Sterling it was the only ceiling hung unit I could find with direct vent, though since then I see many of the others now offer it as well. one word of caution about the direct vent, I paid about $250 for the kit to do that and it turned out to be a really not-so-special collection of standard venting hardware. I could have probably bought some off the shelf stuff and did it myself for $50. Should you choose to go the Modine route, I would just buy the furnace and then figure out what might be needed to make it direct vent (if you want).

I think I may just get a regular Modine heater and box the combustion air in from the other side of the shop wall.
I can get the 45,000 BTU unit for $505. The separated combustion/exhaust air model costs $400 more and I just don't see the extra expense.
I will definitely get the exhaust piping locally. I can weld any parts needed to make stuff like thimbles. One section of double walled stainless pipe should work well for a wall penetration. I probably have half the parts laying around already.

I do have to run about 50 ft. of black pipe for the gas. Checking the chart it looks like 1" for the first 30-40 ft. or so.

Sometimes it's good to not to rush to decisions. I got to thinking about the gas load from the house and realized that I will have to run a new line just for the barn.

I did bury a 1" pipe when I upgraded the electrical to the pole barn. I will have something around 120' of pipe from meter to burner. I think the barn load may be somewhere around 150,000 BTU,s/hr when both heaters are running. So it looks like I need to run 1" most of the way and just stub off 1/2" pipe for the last 6 ft. or so. On the bright side I will have another tax write off.

Awaiting a call from the gas company engineer to get stuff approved and launched.