Comments on: Keeping Warm?

By: Kevin Harwood

Kevin Harwood — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:16:03 +0000

I use a couple of electric heaters in my uninsulated, rented NJ shop. Have talked to my land lord about insulating a couple of times, and hopefully we will get it done this year. If the LL will pay for the materials, I will do the installation.

In the mean time I can get the inside temp 15 or 20 degrees above the outside temp. Precludes doing much work when it’s below freezing… I’d really like to hear if anyone has info about small externally vented propane heaters.

By: Thomas Turner

Thomas Turner — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:32:10 +0000

I live in Klamath Falls, Oregon. We have geothermal water at very shallow depths of around 100 to 300 foot. I heat my home with this heat source.

My shop is in the basement, and if you place a thermometer on the floor under a rug, the temperature, summer or winter is 97 degree F. This is because the ground temperature at 2 meters is 98 degrees. I use a swamp cooler in the summer to keep the shop cool. Easter Oregon has very dry summers, so this works very well.

I also heat my driveway to keep from shoveling snow. Gives me more time to work in the shop.

By: Wayne W

Wayne W — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:24:38 +0000

My shop is 24x14x8, and insulated. I bought a used woodstove from a mobile home for $50 but had to spend $500 for the metal chimney. If I am only planning to be in the shop for a short time, I use the electric furnace I salvaged from my house (I disconnected all but 5KW of the heating elements) when the heat pump was installed. By running the furnace fan without heat, it works well as an air filter too. I leave the furnace set at about 50 degrees to keep the shop dry in the winter and prevent condensation in the humid Seattle area. I can open two skylights in the summer to help cool the shop or provide additional ventilation.

By: Kevi Kutzscher

Kevi Kutzscher — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:45:31 +0000

For years I had the same propane heater to warm things up. Worked great, but I was not crazy about the open flame either. A few years back, when my Dad passed, my Mother said that she no longer wanted to use the pellet stove that they had used to heat their house. I changed out the stove in my house and put the new one in my living room. The ousted stove went into my shop, where it happily perks away all winter long, keeping things between 50-65 degrees, depending on the outside temp. Upstate NY gets pretty chilly in Jan.-Feb. (sub zero), so I am very content to leave the TV behind and go out and “make some sawdust” in te middle of winter.

By: Brian Graham

Brian Graham — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:04:21 +0000

I built a 24′x36′ shop with 10′ ceiling and attic.The whole building is well insulated and I heat with coal,the stove is an older Harman wood/coal and a loaded stove will burn for almost 24hours.The good part is the shop is always 80deg and the concrete slab is warm.

By: Mike Du Long

Mike Du Long — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:16:18 +0000

For the last forty two years I have frozen in my shop during the winter and suffered thru summer heat. I now have moved my lathe and most of my tools into my warm/cool basement. Precious has complained a little about the sawdust on her washer and dryer, so I started doing the wash and low and behold the dust problem has disappeared. I also have made a sanding vacuum box. Cuts down on most of the dust. Takes some of my time to do the laundry but has made for a much nicer work space for me. It has been hard getting rid of forty three years of accumulation in the basement. But we all have too much stuff that we keep. My goal this coming year is to make my basement more shop friendly. Wish me luck, it will be a huge challenge.

By: Ralph Quosig

Ralph Quosig — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:22:16 +0000

Most readers probably know this but in the cold it’s important to warm up powered tools before putting them under load. I burned out a hand-held circular saw in MN years ago…took less than a minute. Thanks

By: Bill Cannon

Bill Cannon — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:25:28 +0000

I’m in mid southwestern Ontario, Canada very close to Lake Huron’s shore with very strong winds off the lake. My shop is a 28 x 28 metal clad building with 6″ insulation in the walls and 12″ in the ceiling. The shop is heated by infloor hot water heating supplied by a domestic hot water tank. The thermostat is set at 60 degrees to during the heating season to maintain a very low humidity to keep my hobby wood dry and prevent any moisture from affecting my aray of equipment. This is a very satisfactory way of heating the shop and is cost effective.

By: Frank Snyder

Frank Snyder — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:08:44 +0000

I have been a hobbyist woodworker in Upstate NY and the Winter was always a miserable time to work in an unheated garage. I just moved this summer and at my new house I have a 28×30 2 car garage/ wood shop that will never see a car parked in it. I just had a Modine Hot Dawg closed combustion 45k btu heater installed and couldn’t be more happy. It was 10 below today and in 20 minutes I was up to a balmy 62…

By: Mike Nickens

Mike Nickens — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:55:29 +0000

I’m in New Jersey and use a propane heater in my 8′x15′ shop. Works well. I do have a problem in that enery metal tool in the shop gets a layer of moisture on it when I turn the heater on. Any one else have this problem? Any possible solutions??

By: » Xmas Roundup: Woodworker’s Night Before Christmas, Keeping Warm in the Woodshop, Easy Way to Cut Plywood - ToolCrib.com Blog

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:13:48 +0000

[...] Keeping Warm in the Woodshop “I take my furnace for granted. Although I leave the heat off when I’m not working, my [...]

By: Luke Johnson

Luke Johnson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:07:45 +0000

I had a chance to move to the San Diego area years ago & we did. We go to the snow(a couple of inches in the mountians yesterday) or the beach. I am insulating & dry walling but its to keep down the summers heat.

By: Ben Wilson

Ben Wilson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:36:22 +0000

I use basically the same torpedo heater as above except it uses Kerosene. I wired a 120 volt thermostat that was designed for baseboard heaters and control my heater with this. I generally set the thermostat for about 55 degrees and keep plenty warm. I did insulate my walls and ceiling to help keep the warmth in but at $4.00/gal of K-1 it can be a little expensive, but it does keep me out of trouble and in the garage most of Saturday (unless it is a good ski day).

By: Tom Reagor

Tom Reagor — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:29:27 +0000

For years I have heated my shop with an 1896 Round Oak brand cast iron pot belly stove I bought at an auction in July (always the best time of year to by heaters of any kind). Anyway it was in pretty good shape when I bought it except for a broken vent damper and a local welder was able to piece that back together for me. So some stove black once a year and a little touch up on the painted emblems in the ornately cast iron and I am set for the season.

This beautiful antique stove sits in roughly the center of my shop with a long run of single wall pipe just over my head which switches to triple wall just before it goes thru the wall to a chimney stack outside. I have mounted a small blower from an old down draft cook top to the wall just where the vent pipe exits the building blowing back along the length toward the stove and with wood plentiful in my back yard I can heat my 20 X 40 shop to a comfortable 55 degrees on even a near zero degree day.

Plus I get the added benefit of a great conversation piece as guests admire my restored antique while I work on their peice of furniture.

By: Chris Marshall

Chris Marshall — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:16:40 +0000

Jim, What part of Ohio are you in? I’m located just outside of Columbus, but I was born and raised in MN. Can’t shake the Minnesotan out of a guy, especially in the winter, when it comes to furnaces and heat!

Tim, is it common for garages in Missouri to have ducts running through them? Why is that?

Larry, does the foam board fit tight between your wall studs and fill those bays? Do you glue it in place with construction adhesive, or it just sitting behind drywall? That stuff must offer pretty good R-value.

Thanks for writing in, guys!

By: Larry Ray

Larry Ray — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:39:44 +0000

I have insulated my shop with a min. of 3′ of foam board. (inexpensive if bought from a roofing supply house, and they will cut it whatever thickness you want). I use an electric heater, 1500 watts keeps it about 60 degrees. I have a picture window and a 8′ X 3′ half glass door.

By: Jim Brown

Jim Brown — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:47:08 +0000

My shop in Ohio has had the heat on already. I use that little propane torch thing also, hooked up to a 100# tank. I keep a sharp eye on it. Don’t care for that open flame either. Summers are better with a window a/c. I sure like the double doors up though. I have no windows.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:29:52 +0000

I live outside of Missouri. I know how the winter is up there, my brother in law lives there. I do have the great pleasure of having a heated and cooled garage. It is still cold. There is only 1 duct in there and its about 55 with it being about 25 outside. I’m thinking about adding another duct on the shop side. So if you have duct work running thru your garage, add a duct in your garage, and just shut it off when not working out there.. Stay warm & great wood working !!!