Of shops and heat.
Posted by
Heuver, Brad (B.R.)
on 2000-12-20 11:07:36 UTC
My shop is in Detroit MI. Its been in the 20's F here for the last
3 weeks or so. My shop is 750 ft^2, and is not insulated. The walls are
just 5/8 plywood (T1-11), and there is 24 ft of uninsulated aluminum garage
door cooling down one side.
My heat is 100% wood. I've got a Johnson woodburner that is built as a
firebox in a box, with about a 2" air gap around the 4 sides (not the front
or back, for obvious reasons) There is a sensor in the gap that runs a fan
to force the heat out into the shop.
With this arrangement, I have been able to work comfortably in the
shop throughout the dead of winter, and have never had moisture issues, or
any condensation, even when working on dripping, snow covered cars. The
wood heat it nice and dry. When I first get out there, it does take about
15 mintues of babysitting the fire to get it really going well. The actual
time to get the shop into the 60's does depends on the outside temp, and the
wind speed. With no insulation, I really do loose a lot of heat, but I have
been able to work in a short sleeve shirt even when the outside temp was 12
F! You do have to wear layers, as it starts out cold, and the temp
continues to rise over the first few hours.
As an added bonus, you can melt pot metal, and small quantities of
aluminum in the heater, and if you need to anneal some steel, if you toss it
in the woodburner when you let it burn out, and it does a fair job.
Wood is free for the taking all over my area, as most people think
it is too much work to have a real fireplace, and have converted them over
to gas.
Brad
3 weeks or so. My shop is 750 ft^2, and is not insulated. The walls are
just 5/8 plywood (T1-11), and there is 24 ft of uninsulated aluminum garage
door cooling down one side.
My heat is 100% wood. I've got a Johnson woodburner that is built as a
firebox in a box, with about a 2" air gap around the 4 sides (not the front
or back, for obvious reasons) There is a sensor in the gap that runs a fan
to force the heat out into the shop.
With this arrangement, I have been able to work comfortably in the
shop throughout the dead of winter, and have never had moisture issues, or
any condensation, even when working on dripping, snow covered cars. The
wood heat it nice and dry. When I first get out there, it does take about
15 mintues of babysitting the fire to get it really going well. The actual
time to get the shop into the 60's does depends on the outside temp, and the
wind speed. With no insulation, I really do loose a lot of heat, but I have
been able to work in a short sleeve shirt even when the outside temp was 12
F! You do have to wear layers, as it starts out cold, and the temp
continues to rise over the first few hours.
As an added bonus, you can melt pot metal, and small quantities of
aluminum in the heater, and if you need to anneal some steel, if you toss it
in the woodburner when you let it burn out, and it does a fair job.
Wood is free for the taking all over my area, as most people think
it is too much work to have a real fireplace, and have converted them over
to gas.
Brad