a mate of mine has given me a blown air heater from a council flat which
runs off gas. i have bulk lpg at home and will either have to get 47kg
bottles, or run a pipe the 20 meters down to the garage. or there are
paraffin/diesel heaters sold by machine mart..what are the pros and cons of
each...ultimately i want to have a heat source that is cheap to run for
occasional use, and heats up my workshop fairly quickly, is controllable so
it don't over heat the place.

tia

Steve

r.p.mcmurphy wrote:
a mate of mine has given me a blown air heater from a council flat which
runs off gas. i have bulk lpg at home and will either have to get 47kg
bottles, or run a pipe the 20 meters down to the garage. or there are

The pipe will be the cheapest way, probably.
However, you really want to consider insulation first.

Electricity + insulation can be cheaper than gas + no insulation.

"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message
...
a mate of mine has given me a blown air heater from a council flat which
runs off gas. i have bulk lpg at home and will either have to get 47kg
bottles, or run a pipe the 20 meters down to the garage. or there are
paraffin/diesel heaters sold by machine mart..what are the pros and cons
of
each...ultimately i want to have a heat source that is cheap to run for
occasional use, and heats up my workshop fairly quickly, is controllable
so
it don't over heat the place.

tia

Steve


A salamander heater that runs off old car engine oil is great. They can be
a bit Smokey Joe though, so make sure you get a good flue system. They're
also cheap and cheerful on running costs. Get a local garage to supply you
with the old engine oil and you're off and running. My one is never off,
summer and winter, because it also heats the water for washing up after I'm
finished.

on 03/01/2005, BigWallop supposed :
A salamander heater that runs off old car engine oil is great. They can be
a bit Smokey Joe though, so make sure you get a good flue system. They're
also cheap and cheerful on running costs. Get a local garage to supply you
with the old engine oil and you're off and running. My one is never off,
summer and winter, because it also heats the water for washing up after I'm
finished.

I once saw one of these (or similar) in a local garage. Very effective
it was too. The owner had run the chimney flue up at an angle through
several adjacent bays and added a fan blowing on the flue to help
circulate the warmed air.

Another idea might be a stove capable of burning wood off-cuts, if
start up time is not an issue. Local joinery companies give off-cuts
away for free.

--


--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.org

A salamander heater that runs off old car engine oil is great. They can
be
a bit Smokey Joe though, so make sure you get a good flue system.

I have to de-lurk to share a cautionary tale here,

The Fire Brigade rolled up at a small workshop in Lochgelly, smoke belching
from every pore of the building, and a frantic wife yelling for help. Once
rescued her husband said he thought it would be safe to fire up an old,
unflued, Aga in the workshop, because he was cold, and the bag of coal
stated quite clearly that it was "Smokeless Fuel" !!

lurk

"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message
...
a mate of mine has given me a blown air heater from a council flat which
runs off gas. i have bulk lpg at home and will either have to get 47kg
bottles, or run a pipe the 20 meters down to the garage. or there are
paraffin/diesel heaters sold by machine mart..what are the pros and cons
of
each...ultimately i want to have a heat source that is cheap to run for
occasional use, and heats up my workshop fairly quickly, is controllable
so
it don't over heat the place.


First of all contact www.secondsandco.co.uk and see what insulation they
have going cheap. As it's not for a house, any old tat will do - I got
loads of 120mm sheets for a tenner each and lined an outbuilding with them.
I would then it with a small LPG driven heated air 'blaster' (not sure what
the correct term is) as this gets all the air up to the same tolerable
temperature rather than creating a warm spot you have to sit in front of to
keep warm.

"Karen Greenall" wrote in message
...


A salamander heater that runs off old car engine oil is great. They can
be
a bit Smokey Joe though, so make sure you get a good flue system.

I have to de-lurk to share a cautionary tale here,

The Fire Brigade rolled up at a small workshop in Lochgelly, smoke belching
from every pore of the building, and a frantic wife yelling for help. Once
rescued her husband said he thought it would be safe to fire up an old,
unflued, Aga in the workshop, because he was cold, and the bag of coal
stated quite clearly that it was "Smokeless Fuel" !!

lurk



ROFL !!! Nice one.

On Mon, 3 Jan 2005 21:19:57 -0000, Mike wrote:

I would then it with a small LPG driven heated air 'blaster' ...

But remember that every kg of gas burnt produces a kg of water. So for
an unflued appliance thats going into the space. So as it cools down
condensation might be a issue... Hmm, isn't that where we came in?

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 3 Jan 2005 21:19:57 -0000, Mike wrote:

I would then it with a small LPG driven heated air 'blaster' ...

But remember that every kg of gas burnt produces a kg of water. So for
an unflued appliance thats going into the space. So as it cools down
condensation might be a issue... Hmm, isn't that where we came in?

IIRC natural gas is mostly ethane, CH4, with a bit of methane - C2H6
Out of 2 O2 + CH4, you get CO2, and 2 H2O.
CH4 has a weight of 16 mass units, H2O 18, so the total weight is 36/16ths
of the gas input, or about double.

For oil heating (where there is more carbon) there is less water produced,
and it does go down to about the same weight.

On 04 Jan 2005 14:26:42 GMT, Ian Stirling wrote:

IIRC natural gas is mostly ethane, CH4, with a bit of methane - C2H6

erm, Methane is CH4, Ethane C2H6. B-) But natutal gas is mostly
Methane.

However the OP was going to use 47kg cylinders of presumably Propane
or his bulk LPG supply not natural gas...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 3 Jan 2005 21:19:57 -0000, Mike wrote:

I would then it with a small LPG driven heated air 'blaster' ...

But remember that every kg of gas burnt produces a kg of water. So for
an unflued appliance thats going into the space. So as it cools down
condensation might be a issue... Hmm, isn't that where we came in?

IIRC natural gas is mostly ethane,

LPG is propane or butane. And the air blaster I was thinking of blows air
over a heated element. I think blowing the combustion products of any gas
directly into a garage is a rather quick way of avoiding part P - and
anything else HRPrescottness can think up.

"Mike" wrote in message
...

"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message
...
a mate of mine has given me a blown air heater from a council flat which
runs off gas. i have bulk lpg at home and will either have to get 47kg
bottles, or run a pipe the 20 meters down to the garage. or there are
paraffin/diesel heaters sold by machine mart..what are the pros and cons
of
each...ultimately i want to have a heat source that is cheap to run for
occasional use, and heats up my workshop fairly quickly, is controllable
so
it don't over heat the place.


First of all contact www.secondsandco.co.uk and see what insulation they
have going cheap. As it's not for a house, any old tat will do - I got
loads of 120mm sheets for a tenner each and lined an outbuilding with
them.
I would then it with a small LPG driven heated air 'blaster' (not sure
what
the correct term is) as this gets all the air up to the same tolerable
temperature rather than creating a warm spot you have to sit in front of
to
keep warm.


how much do these things cost to run? i.e. gas vs. paraffin/diesel?

Steve

"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message
...

"Mike" wrote in message
...

"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message
...
a mate of mine has given me a blown air heater from a council flat
which
runs off gas. i have bulk lpg at home and will either have to get 47kg
bottles, or run a pipe the 20 meters down to the garage. or there are
paraffin/diesel heaters sold by machine mart..what are the pros and
cons
of
each...ultimately i want to have a heat source that is cheap to run for
occasional use, and heats up my workshop fairly quickly, is
controllable
so
it don't over heat the place.


First of all contact www.secondsandco.co.uk and see what insulation
they
have going cheap. As it's not for a house, any old tat will do - I got
loads of 120mm sheets for a tenner each and lined an outbuilding with
them.
I would then it with a small LPG driven heated air 'blaster' (not sure
what
the correct term is) as this gets all the air up to the same tolerable
temperature rather than creating a warm spot you have to sit in front of
to
keep warm.


how much do these things cost to run? i.e. gas vs. paraffin/diesel?

I think costs per unit energy for these fuels are fairly similar assuming
you mean red diesel and not automotive stuff. Gas is a bit more of a pain
to refill though if you are using cylinders but for deliveries there's
little to choose. If you are talking about large tanks then I seem to
recall that oil tanks have a larger planning exemption than gas.

"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message
...
a mate of mine has given me a blown air heater from a council flat which
runs off gas. i have bulk lpg at home and will either have to get 47kg
bottles, or run a pipe the 20 meters down to the garage. or there are
paraffin/diesel heaters sold by machine mart..what are the pros and cons of
each...ultimately i want to have a heat source that is cheap to run for
occasional use, and heats up my workshop fairly quickly, is controllable so
it don't over heat the place.


If it came from a council flat its almost certainly designed and built to
use natural gas NOT propane so unless you are very well clued up about gas
combustion and there is a propane conversion available its best you forget
this idea. Try a portable unit designed to use Propane or the kerosine ones
are a decent alternative, rlatively simple and for occasional use should be
ideal.