I was looking for a electric heater for the room I'm building to house my lathe and mill
inside my garage. Since I heat the house with propane, it was pointed out to me that
electric when considering the cost of a gas furnace is the way to go.

I was looking at floor mounted heaters when I came across ceiling cove radiant heaters.
That sounds interesting. Anyone have experience with them? Heat is heat but since I
plant to keep the room at idle when I'm not in there, having directed heat at me where I
stand between lathe and mill (located opposite) sounds like a good plan.

Northern michigan, R30 ceiling R22 to R26 depending on which wall.

Comments welcomed.

Wes

--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

On Jun 13, 4:43*pm, Wes wrote:
I was looking for a electric heater for the room I'm building to house my lathe and mill
inside my garage. *Since I heat the house with propane, it was pointed out to me that
electric when considering the cost of a gas furnace is the way to go.
...
Wes

This seems like a good time to ask the old question again. Does anyone
know of a small gas forge that doubles as a room heater?

jsw

Jim Wilkins wrote:

This seems like a good time to ask the old question again. Does anyone
know of a small gas forge that doubles as a room heater?


Can I put a setback thermostat on that?
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Wes wrote:
... Heat is heat but since I
plant to keep the room at idle when I'm not in there, having directed heat at me where I
stand between lathe and mill (located opposite) sounds like a good plan.
....

Sounds like a good plan to me, too. I will add this: comfort in a room
is a matter of radiated heat. Using a furnace or radiators to heat the
air is only the first step of comfort. It's only when the heated air
has heated the walls, furnishings, etc that comfort is achieved. It's
the heat radiated from the walls, etc that does the most to warm you.
So, doing it directly with radiant heaters makes a lot of sense.

Bob

On Jun 13, 4:57*pm, Wes wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:
This seems like a good time to ask the old question again. Does anyone
know of a small gas forge that doubles as a room heater?

Can I put a setback thermostat on that? *

A nightlight bulb on a timer, under the thermostat.

jsw

"Wes" wrote in message
...
I was looking for a electric heater for the room I'm building to house my
lathe and mill
inside my garage. Since I heat the house with propane, it was pointed out
to me that
electric when considering the cost of a gas furnace is the way to go.

I was looking at floor mounted heaters when I came across ceiling cove
radiant heaters.
That sounds interesting. Anyone have experience with them? Heat is heat
but since I
plant to keep the room at idle when I'm not in there, having directed heat
at me where I
stand between lathe and mill (located opposite) sounds like a good plan.

Northern michigan, R30 ceiling R22 to R26 depending on which wall.

Comments welcomed.

Wes

--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller



You dont want to have your iron chill down so it takes a half a day to bring
it up to a reasonable temp. I would try to seal up all the air leaks and
then set the thermostat to hold 45 deg. while you are not there. Think of
those machines as big ice cubes if they get cold. A hot air propane heater
will make your machines sweat and rust if it vents into the room. The high
efficiency gas furnaces that put out water are real nice if you can get one
cheap.


Electric is the cheapest in the short run and for the size of the room there
won't be much difference in the difference.

Build yourself a wind generator and tie it to a radiant heater. 500 watts
should be enough running continiously.

John

"John" wrote:

You dont want to have your iron chill down so it takes a half a day to bring
it up to a reasonable temp. I would try to seal up all the air leaks and
then set the thermostat to hold 45 deg. while you are not there. Think of
those machines as big ice cubes if they get cold. A hot air propane heater
will make your machines sweat and rust if it vents into the room. The high
efficiency gas furnaces that put out water are real nice if you can get one
cheap.


I'm building the room very tight and I'm using electric heat to keep any moisture issues
from happening. Since there is nearly two tons of metal in the room, I'm not going to be
able to cycle too low.

I've been playing with a couple calculators on the net and it looks like I could keep it
at 70F for 240 bucks a year if I plugged the right numbers in.

Wes

"Wes" wrote in message
...
"John" wrote:

You dont want to have your iron chill down so it takes a half a day to
bring
it up to a reasonable temp. I would try to seal up all the air leaks and
then set the thermostat to hold 45 deg. while you are not there. Think of
those machines as big ice cubes if they get cold. A hot air propane heater
will make your machines sweat and rust if it vents into the room. The
high
efficiency gas furnaces that put out water are real nice if you can get
one
cheap.


I'm building the room very tight and I'm using electric heat to keep any
moisture issues
from happening. Since there is nearly two tons of metal in the room, I'm
not going to be
able to cycle too low.

I've been playing with a couple calculators on the net and it looks like I
could keep it
at 70F for 240 bucks a year if I plugged the right numbers in.

Wes


Putting a small fan in the ceiling to blow the hot air to the floor will
reduce the heat losses in the ceiling.


John

John wrote:

"Wes" wrote in message
...
"John" wrote:

You dont want to have your iron chill down so it takes a half a day
to bring
it up to a reasonable temp. I would try to seal up all the air
leaks and
then set the thermostat to hold 45 deg. while you are not there.
Think of
those machines as big ice cubes if they get cold. A hot air propane
heater
will make your machines sweat and rust if it vents into the room.
The high
efficiency gas furnaces that put out water are real nice if you can
get one
cheap.


I'm building the room very tight and I'm using electric heat to keep
any moisture issues
from happening. Since there is nearly two tons of metal in the room,
I'm not going to be
able to cycle too low.

I've been playing with a couple calculators on the net and it looks
like I could keep it
at 70F for 240 bucks a year if I plugged the right numbers in.

Wes


Putting a small fan in the ceiling to blow the hot air to the floor will
reduce the heat losses in the ceiling.


John


And increase heat loss at the floor which probably has less net
effective insulation than the R30 ceiling. Then again I hate cold
floors, insulating mats help a lot.

CarlBoyd

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:22:15 -0400, "John"
wrote:


"Wes" wrote in message
...
"John" wrote:

You dont want to have your iron chill down so it takes a half a day to
bring
it up to a reasonable temp. I would try to seal up all the air leaks and
then set the thermostat to hold 45 deg. while you are not there. Think of
those machines as big ice cubes if they get cold. A hot air propane heater
will make your machines sweat and rust if it vents into the room. The
high
efficiency gas furnaces that put out water are real nice if you can get
one
cheap.


I'm building the room very tight and I'm using electric heat to keep any
moisture issues
from happening. Since there is nearly two tons of metal in the room, I'm
not going to be
able to cycle too low.

I've been playing with a couple calculators on the net and it looks like I
could keep it
at 70F for 240 bucks a year if I plugged the right numbers in.

Wes


Putting a small fan in the ceiling to blow the hot air to the floor will
reduce the heat losses in the ceiling.

Perhaps even more than a small fan. A ceiling fan made a huge
difference in my garage/shop which I keep above 60 year round in MN.
Figure your ratio of wall area to ceiling/roof area: I'll bet you'll
find that the roof has significantly more area so you don't want hot
air up there.

On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:46:56 -0400, CarlBoyd
wrote:

John wrote:

"Wes" wrote in message
...
"John" wrote:

You dont want to have your iron chill down so it takes a half a day
to bring
it up to a reasonable temp. I would try to seal up all the air
leaks and
then set the thermostat to hold 45 deg. while you are not there.
Think of
those machines as big ice cubes if they get cold. A hot air propane
heater
will make your machines sweat and rust if it vents into the room.
The high
efficiency gas furnaces that put out water are real nice if you can
get one
cheap.


I'm building the room very tight and I'm using electric heat to keep
any moisture issues
from happening. Since there is nearly two tons of metal in the room,
I'm not going to be
able to cycle too low.

I've been playing with a couple calculators on the net and it looks
like I could keep it
at 70F for 240 bucks a year if I plugged the right numbers in.

Wes


Putting a small fan in the ceiling to blow the hot air to the floor will
reduce the heat losses in the ceiling.


John


And increase heat loss at the floor which probably has less net
effective insulation than the R30 ceiling. Then again I hate cold
floors, insulating mats help a lot.

The floor interfaces with ground, probably doesn't drop below 45F even
in dead of winter. The roof in Northern Michigan will get a lot
colder than that.