Hi all,
What with the colder weather just around the corner, an old man's thoughts turn to keeping warm. There are various space heaters on the market. Electric ones are just too expensive to run and the only other alternatives seem to be propane or diesel types, but which is the best bet overall in terms of, well, everything?
ta, cd.
Sorry, I meant paraffin or kerosene when I said 'diesel'.
Sigh. I should also have said moisture is an issue here - would like as little condensation as poss without going 100% electric.
I'll be the first to say insulation is the first thing to consider.
A dehumidifier might be worth considering as dry air feels less cold than damp air, and it will offset any output produced by an unvented burner.
What needs keeping warm? You or what a space heater heats (i.e. space)?
If it is you, consider infra-red. It is astonishing how warm you can feel with even a 150 watt red glow pointing at you. Lidl usually have some fairly inexpensive ones sometime around now.
I wouldn't have thought that propane or (road taxed) diesel would be cheaper than electricity.
If you want to avoid condensation and ventilation requirements you'd need a room sealed gas heater such as a Baxi Brazilia, with an LPG conversion kit. Or could you get mains gas to the workshop?
Owain
no-one's mentioned solid fuel. I guess you've discounted the idea of hassleful free heat.
NT
Anyone tried heated clothing?
Something like
Or since this is DIY
Unless you are going to leave it on permanently, electric is the best choice as the actual heater will be cheapest by far. Infra red as others have said.
If permanent, then entirely different ball game. Insulation, draught proofing and can you extend your house heating (CH radiator)?
Unless you will be using the workshop for long periods of time I think electric would take too long to warm the place up.
I use a diesel fired blow heater. It warms up the place very fast and if I'm feeling chilly I can stand in front of it for a short time.
Condensation can be a problem but I cover all horizontal machine surfaces with made to measure panels of ply and throw a cloth over other items that are prone to rusting. The occasional application of machine wax helps also.
I find for short periods of use in my relatively small workshop that an electric fan heater is remarkably effective. I'd endorse IR radiants for larger workshops or prolonged working (from experience in various industrial workshops, rather than my own).
What kind of building is it, how big, and how well insulated?
If the answer to the latter is "not well" then, is there scope for improvement?
I find fully electric in a 17' x 12' workshop that is fully lined with
2" of PIR foam to be relatively cheap. I have a wall mounted fan heater with an external stat to keep it about about 5 deg. I can turn that up when I am using it, and also supplement it with a standalone halogen heater. Only really needed for 20 mins to get the place to a comfortable temperature, then the fan heater will maintain it.
I use a heat pump.
Kindly expand..
I briefly considered an air source heat pump for my carpentry tenant. AFAIR for around 1000ukp I could get his partitioned off office up to a reasonable temperature.
Heating the remaining 120 m2 was out of reach. Intermittent occupation did not help. Ideally something over 10deg.C for gluing.
Currently he is exploring electric fan heating spread across 3 phases. The roof has 75mm of PIR foam but the walls are 4" block. Internal insulation would be extremely disruptive and external leaves the thermal delay of heating the walls.
This is a 12K btu aircon unit which puts out 3.6Kw nominal with a nominal efficiency of 300% into 7 x 20 x 20 ft. The floor is uninsulated, the walls have 1" of glass fibre insulation, topped by 1/2" ply, with bubble insulated metal doors. The ceiling has 4" of glass fibre under 1/2" plasterboard, topped by 3/4 inch plywood. Plus all the rubbish stored in the loft in case it is useful! It takes about 1/2 an hour to heat up to 26C with 5C outside temperature.. Also useful for perhaps 1 day per year as air conditioner!
dehumidifier plus fan works very well for drying clothing
I kind of wonder how practical it would be to take a fair number of scrapped fridges that work, and use their mechanics to heat a house.
NT
That's impressive. How much?
I paid about £230, some years ago. I think the best going price for a similar unit now is around double that. Many hotels and pubs are now using these units to reduce heating costs without requiring boiler installations and oil tanks. Secondhand units can be found for about £100, but will require regassing. Should be less than £100 for the service. Cars are £50-85 for the service.
How about a li'l ole pot-belly stove?
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