I know it's an old subject. I plan to heat my insulated 210 sq ft ww shop with a 240v, 4800w construction heater. I have had a subpanel installed in garage. Shop is converted attached garage. Location is ON, Canada.
Question is...any issues I should be concerned about?
Thanks for any replies
Possibly cooking yourself... 4800W seems like a lot for an insulated building that small, even in the frozen Great White North. :-)
Maybe not in ON, but here in New England that would cost you about 73¢ an hour to operate.
Your electricity runs 15¢ / kWHr? That is some of the highest priced electricity in the country then. Even here in AZ, our rates, while not low run about 10¢ / kWHr, so his cost to operate would be about 50¢ per hour. Not wonderful, but still only 68% of the number quoted.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Yes, with the ACs running in this heat, my bill that came yesterday is $216.
I successfully heat my 330 sq ft shop with the same style heater. I wired in a thermostat (originally designed for a baseboard heater, wall-mount) and the temperature swings about 5 degrees between shut-off and start. At night I turn it way down..of course.
In summer, same shop is cooled with a 10,000 BTU Fedders. Extra filter packs added to keep the unit clean.
In either case, it allows me to work with the shop closed in order to keep the noise down. I like my neighbours and they like me..I want to keep it that way.
R-12 insulation is all I used and the steel door cladded with 1 1/2 pink rigid styrofoam.
In SW Ontario, I pay a around 100 Kanuckistani dollars per month when faced with extreme heat/cold.
Probably fairly easy to install some type of digitally operated timer. It would eliminate those times when you might forget to turn the thermostat down.
Can I assume that $100 is for the shop alone and doesn't include your residence?
You can. The residence is on another property and comes to a bit more in summer (central AC), but a lot less per month in the winter. (Natural gas heat) Just checked... during all that heat, my electric bill came to $137.00 for the house for the month of July. In winter it takes 2 months to go through the same amount of electricity. It used to be much higher, then my wife started using a clothes line and I installed a gas convection oven/range. When the dryer dies, it'll be going to gas as well. My buddy in Toronto did that, and couldn't believe the savings.
I had thought of that, but my schedule is such...that there isn't one.
I work when I can. I also spend a lot of time outside the shop during installs, doing my dog-and-pony show when I sell a countertop etc. Sometimes I do not see the shop for 2 days... sometimes I'm in there well past midnight.
Might be overkill. My shop is only about 175 sq ft (unforunately) but I heat it with a cheap 1500watt electric heater in Spokane WA (climate zone 5, if you're a gardener). It is well insulated.
At night I turn the control down to almost its lowest setting and the temperature is usually about 50F in the morning. Takes about an hour to warm it up to 60F which is a comfortable working temperature for me.
If you get a lot of below zero days my heater might not be enough for you, but it might well work even in that case if you didn't let the temperature drop as much at night as I do.
I just installed a similar unit in my 320 sq ft (more or less) shop last winter. Didn't notice an appreciable difference in the electric bill (we are total electric).
What I have done and intend to keep doing is just crank the thermostat down to the point it keeps the shop around 40 degrees or so when I'm neither working in it or have glue setting up, etc.
I found that by so doing, I can come home in the evening, bump the thermostat up to 70 degrees and come out to the shop in 15-20 minutes and hang up the coat or jacket and work in shirtsleeves.
All I'm using is the built-in thermostat on the unit. If I begin to forget or need something more exacting, I may go for the wall unit but don't presently foresee the need.
Also have the 10,000 BTU through wall A/C I installed this summer. Has a nice timer that will either turn on or turn off the unit in 1-12 hours. Added to that is a digital thermostat which will cycle the compressor (though not the fan) to keep the temperature set.
It's been hotter than hell here in the Chicago area the past couple months so if I'm working at night, I probably have the A/C on. Gonna work the following morning? No problem. Set the timer to kick it on at
8 or 9 AM and I walk out to a cool shop.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.