Electric workshop heater, fan or radient?

[T i m]

Hi all,

I just stripped down my old workshop fan heater to find both wire elements broken (in more than one place each).

So, I'm in the market for a replacement heater. 20 x 10 x 8' pre-fab concrete garage with a little insulation on the walls (ply lining with some bubble wrap between that and the concrete) but un-insulated corrugated cement fibre roof. My intention isn't really to heat the workshop, just to provide a source of warmth when doing stuff like lathework, when you aren't moving / working much.

So, a mate has one of those cylindrical heaters with the rigid heater elements and that sort of thing may be one of the potential candidates. I probably wouldn't want it to be more than a couple of kW and ideally be quiet and thermostatic. I've seen such on the net for around 30 quid.

I mentioned the idea of one of the wall mounted radiant heaters elsewhere but because I could be working anywhere in the workshop and my bench is at one end and there isn't a lot of spare height or wall space that end (racking and component draws etc), I'm not sure how suitable that would be.

Then I was reminded of the floor mounted radiant heaters and one of the advertised plusses were 'Good for workshops as they don't blow dust about ...'?

Now, whilst the old (metal) fan heater *was* full of dust, I can't really remember the movement of air being a particular issue?

So, what sort of thing do you guys use please?

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Having spent lots and lots of time during location filming in draughty old buildings, my choice by a mile would be a radiant heater. If you can't heat the building easily, heat the person.

[T i m]

Yup, that was my thinking and whilst I've had and used radiant heaters indoors, I'd not tried them in (as you say) in draughty (potentially unheatable) buildings, like my workshop.

That said, most of the ones I have seen and used were fairly flimsy plastic and I've had to rewire them to bypass faulty switches and replace thermal fuses etc?

Cheers, T i m

[Bill Wright]

Since you're a DIYer why not add some insulation? If it's a concrete floor it's very effective to put an old carpet down.

I use an oil filled radiator in the workshop. Totally silent and totally safe.

Bill

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

The floorstanding radiant one I have has 4 bulbs covered by a honeycomb reflector. Each bulb is about 800W and they can be switched individually in any combination.

It also oscillates through about an arc.

Plug into an extension lead and move it to where you're working.

What I did notice is that after being on for quite a few hours on a 4 degree C weekend 2 or 3 weeks ago the radiated heat presumable gets absorbed by the walls which in turn gave a nice background warmth to the un-insulated "garage"

[T i m]

I have considered it Bill (and not ruled it out) but at the moment the 'space' in the roof (traditional pitched roof made from shallow steel 'A' frames) is pretty well filled with long lengths of 'stuff' (and a folding boat). ;-)

But that doesn't work too well when you are welding ... or stripping engines ... ;-(

Yes, we use one indoors but I don't think it would suit my 'I'm in here for 30 mins and I need heat now' sorta needs. ;-(

To be fair, during all but the coldest days and depending on what I am doing a hat and some thin gloves are normally good enough. Not so good (the gloves) when doing fine work though and that is where some form of instant heating would come in.

Cheers, T i m

[ARW]

That would be my choice

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The ones we used were substantial devices designed for heavy use.

[Adam Aglionby]

Electric patio heater or smoker shelter heater true IR heaters

[harry]

Both dangerous when there's wood dust about. Fire hazard.

[Dave Liquorice]

A possible snag with a radiant heater is that you get a hot side/head and cold other side/feet. But for just a bit of warmth for half an hour I'd say radiant is the way to go, anything else will still be heating itself up or the workshop. One of those blown gas powered space heaters would warm the air quickly but the structure will still suck heat away.

[fred]

I use a diesel fueled electric blow heater. They are also available gas fired. Very powerful and heat the place fairly quickly. You could rent one to try it out.

[T i m]

Ah, cheers, another avenue to investigate.

T i m

[John Rumm]

Do you find the moisture produced to be a problem?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They used to be common in garage workshops. Running off waste engine oil.

[Mark]

you need a Licence/ Permit to use one now and thats before you get tangled up with the EU Waste Oil Directive, the fees will be set by DEFRA with an initial application fee of ?3218 and an annual fee of ?1,384. having said the i have one that occasionally catches fire! and heats the barn quite nicely

-

[T i m]

I thought of putting one (or more) smaller ones in the roofspace pointing down but with it would still only be 1m away from my (bald) head and probably a bit close. Plus I thought that they can be quite 'open' and I wasn't sure if the outside of the element was live, in case I accidentally poked a long length of piano wire or steel strip into it?

I'll have a look to consider where I could stand one where it wouldn't also risk heating other stuff in there. I guess that's one advantage of a fan heater in that the heat is carried in a flow of air so not focusing it quite as much (less chance of hotspots on me or other things)?

I do have one of those but 1) they are a bit of a faff and I wasn't sure if they produced a lot of water vapour?

Cheers, T i m

[RJH]

I've one of those halogen 3 x 400W heaters. Seems to do just as you need

- heats what it lights, as it were.

My only criticism is that it does seem quite flimsy, and I have read of bulb failures. But after a year using it as occasional heating for my study (400W keeps it at/around 20C), all fine. Bought one for a mate too, who swears by it as his sole source of heating. £15 Lidl/Aldi.

[T i m]

Hehe.

Mate had one in his (commercial) garage and he he got rid of it when the rules changed and went over to two big gas heaters mounted high on the walls.

When they were installing them (through BG) he questioned their ability (he heaters, not the fitters ) but was assured they would be more than capable.

It turned out they were woefully inadequate and initially they suggested he put them on a timer so they would be on a couple of hours before he turned up. Then he explained that the first thing he did each morning was open the huge doors, letting all the heat out!

They finally admitted they were wrong and upgraded the heaters to something that would do the job.

When he questioned why they didn't listen to him *before* going to all the trouble of making holes in the walls to run the flues (that then had to be blocked up and new hole made in the roof for the new units) they said "We didn't think you would go for the price", even though he hadn't even questioned the price at any point?

Cheers, T i m

(For the Linux accusers ... I'm round Mums on *my* Linux Mint laptop I keep round here) ;-)

[T i m]

Ok. So are they 'elements' or 'lamps' (lamps acting as elements etc) in there OOI do you know?

Yes, mine was, but it was actually quite tough (if you stood on the base etc).

Yes again ... I think I had at least one 'element' fail (or could have been two).

That was more like the sort of money I paid for mine.

One thing I do like for indoors is that they are pretty silent (not even any expansion and contraction noises like with our oil filled rad and certainly less noise than most fan heaters) and whilst I tend to have the radio on in the workshop, something 'quiet' would be preferred over something that was noisy.

Cheers, T i m