Re: Electric Heater

It all depends on how much you're in the shop and how you heat it as to

> where the 800 hours falls. My guess is that for most of us, 800 hours of > use would take us out quite a few winters.

Yeah, unfortunately. :(

Reply to
Silvan
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Todd-

That's the one disparity that didn't completely make sense to me. I came across one website that indicated that 10W were needed for every square foot...approximately. So for my 20' X 20' shop of 400 square feet that comes to 4000W. The unit I purchased produces 5600W, which supposedly is equivalent (don't know the conversion factor on this one) to 19,000 Btu. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how I fare. The price difference between this and the Hot Dawg 45,000 Btu unit was $300 (not including the venting and the thermostat for the Hot Dawg), and installation of that Hot Dawg would've increased that difference.

The other factor was that I was told by one contractor that if my gas unit caused a fire and I didn't pull a permit, my insurance company wouldn't pay for anything. So pulling permits would've tacked on even more money. I'm "comfortable" with having a person I know do the electrical work for the electric heater without pulling a permit, but I was a little leary about the gas unit when you consider the factor of the gas lines, the electrical lines, combustion in the heater, and the proper exhausting of the by-products. I guess I've got a little fear of the unknown to not pull permits in that case...and so I went with the safer, cheaper option.

This is not likely going to be a permanent home for us, so I thought a temporary, cheap solution might be prudent in this case, especially given the complexity of decisions and the money involved with going with a gas unit.

Thanks, DW

Reply to
Denver Woody

I suggest that the dust warning related to accumulation in the heater which would reduce proper heat transfer - resulting in overheating the element. The forced-air is probably only somewhat forceful, so the unit should probably be blown out with compressed air periodically. The insulating dust would also reduce the heating efficiency, so if the unit does not suffer meltdown, longer runtimes would increase the cost of operation. No mention was made of a thermostat - is one available?

The propane or fuel-oil construction heaters have a more forceful circulation due to the combustion which occurs in addition to the fan.

Reply to
Tom Kendrick

This unit does have a thermostat. As a unit "designed to be placed on the ground", it probably is already going to see more dust exposure than a ceiling or wall-mounted gas unit. Blowing out the dust (I do have a compressor, thankfully) is a good idea.

Thanks, DW

Reply to
Denver Woody

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