Question:
I am looking to buy a heater for my garage workshop. Anyone have
any experience with the coleman or reddyheater brand? I am concerned
about fumes, exhaust and dust since it is used for woodworking.
I have seen forced air and convection types. WHich is more suitable?
Answer:
-I have a two car un-insulated garage with a 55,000 BTU reddyheater. A full
tank (5gals of kerosene) lasts about 9 hours. It generally warms the garage
25 degrees higher than the current temps. After a few hours there is a
noticible odor. My carbon digital monoxide meter doesn't register anything.
It does generate lots of moisture. I turn it off when I spray and haven't
noticed any blushing in my lacquer finishes so I think I'm ok. It is forced
air and does make noise. I would think that a convection heater just sends
the heat straight up where a forced air unit moves the air around before
going straight up. I don't have a problem with dust; it doesn't push the air
that fast. I would prefer a heater that exhausts to the outside, but I
don't have the spare room.
-I use a 55k BTU propane heater to heat my 12x30 shop. I don't know the
brand. It's the tube shaped heater that hooks up to a propane tank. It
seems safe as the outside of the "can" is cool enough to the touch. The
flame is kept inside the can, but with the fan blowing it shoots out quite
warm air out the front. I'm sure it would start a fire if pointed close to
something flammable. I keep it well clear of any flammables. I have not
noticed any water problems in my shop. Typically the shop is 45-50 degrees
and I warm it up to 55-60 degrees. Sometimes warmer, but that seems
comfortable to me. When it gets to this temperature I use a small electric
heater to keep it at that temp. I do this for two reasons. One is I don't
like the flame going too much so I prefer the electric over the propane open
flame. Second is I have a thermostat on the electric and I don't on the
propane. This combo works quite well, although I would really like a
permanent heater installed tapped into my natural gas line (too many other
needs first though).
BTW, I have the electric heater on a timer (similar to the ones used to turn
on a bathroom heat lamp). This way I know the worst case is if I leave the
shop and don't turn the heater off (if I expect to come right back or I
forget to turn it off) it will go off automatically in less than 60 minutes
depending on how much time was left on the timer.
