Natural Gas Garage Heaters - The Heater Shop

Looking for a heater for my garage workshop. Came across the

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site. They have a wall mounted natural gas heater which is ventless and claims to be suitable for dusty workshops. Just wondering if anyone has any experiences with this heater good or bad.

Thx.

Reply to
Tony DiBratto
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don't have this one but it will pull the dust into the bottom and "burn it off" just like the ones you can get at the borg. I have an infrared or catalyst type and I like it (yes, it still "burns off" the dust). there are others that feel that your shop will blow up if you use these and only recommend a sealed burner unit, $$$.

BRuce

T> Looking for a heater for my garage workshop. Came across the

Reply to
BRuce

Have you looked into the Modine Hot Dawg? Here is the web site

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seen them reveiwed in one of the magazines (can't remember wich one), they got a great review. Jim

Reply to
Jim Heater

Ventless is a poor idea for anywhere. The moisture produced from burning gas will raise the humidity of your shop greatly. Go with a vented unit heater, Reznor, Modine, plus others out there are much better. Greg

Reply to
Greg O

This is nonsense, yes there is water vapor produced by burning propane BUT it is not enough to raise the humidity any higher than a usual summer day in the southern US. Perhaps even less.

I have used mine for 2 full seasons, (closed shop, no windows, 13 x 27) this will be the third season and there isn't anymore dampness in the air than at any other time. My tools don't rust any faster in the winter than at any other time.

if you subject your shop to rapid temperature swings you will get more rust from that than any propane heater.

BRuce

Greg O wrote:

Reply to
BRuce

Having been to Atlanta in August I'd say you're correct. About 85% to 100% humidity at 75 degrees, dropping to about 55% - 60% at 100 degrees.

Does anybody know what that would equate to when the temperature is dropped to say

40 degrees?

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

BRuce said

I'd be more concerned about vapors from finishing products. Turning the heater off while you're spraying or the can is open should mitigate any danger from that.

Yes, sawdust in the air can explode when exposed to open flame, but it has to be in a rather narrow range of concentration. 20% comes to mind, but I may me misremembering.

Reply to
Wolf Lahti

Well, others here have stated having moisture problems with unvented heaters. A second reason I would not have an unvented heater is you are exhausting the burner right into you working/living area. You are also slowly depleting the oxygen that is being used for combustion. It is so easy in the majority of the situations to install a vented heater that a non-vented unit makes little sense. Greg

Reply to
Greg O

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 20:38:03 GMT, Nova brought forth from the murky depths:

Bloody cold, Yack. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

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Meterological calc online. Will this help?

----------------------------------------------------------------------- A PSYCHOLOGIST looks at everyone -else- ||

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an attractive woman enters the room. || Full Website Programming

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Reply to
tecwhiz

Not so. There is an O2 depletion sensor on the unit, and it shuts down if that happens.

What does the vented cost? You can get a 25,000 Btu unvented for under $150, IIRC. Installation costs maybe $30 more.

Charlie Self

"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken

Reply to
Charlie Self

Got rid of my kerosene and unvented wall heaters which I have been using for years and installed a 45K btu propane fired Modine hot dawg, It works like a charm and keeps my shop nice and comfortable along with no odors from the other heaters. Cost was approx $500 for everything less cost for a propane fill-up. Well worth the cost as far as I am concerned.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

In my opinion, you can do it right or you can do it cheap, you can't have both! I am a heating and AC tech, I would not put an unvented heater anywhere! You are spewing exhaust back into your working area! I would bet the owners manual for the heater requires the operator to keep a window or door cracked for fresh air. Do it right, put in a Reznor or a Modine Hot Dawg. You would not install a gas furnace in your house and run the exhaust into your living room, would you? You can build nice cabinets with a $199 table saw too, why would anyone buy a Unisaw? Greg

Reply to
Greg O

You've never seen anything cold (glass, can, bottle) sweat on a typical summer day? Hell, it doesn't even have to be cold.

Humid air + cold surfaces = condensation.

I've seen it in my own shop. While working at the propane retailer I was asked what could be done about it by people having problems, notably their tools getting wet.

Reply to
Mark

Well, it's sort of so. It doesn't have to deplete enough oxygen to trip the sensor to make the air "funky."

Mine is propane, but I'd be surprised if natural gas is any better. I run my un-vented propane heater out here in the den to take the chill off in the morning, but I can't tolerate leaving it going all the time.

Even just running the pilot for a few hours does something nebulous and intangible to the quality of the room that causes it to have a bad vibe. It just doesn't "feel" right. Too little oxygen, too much CO, too much humidity, byproducts from the fart-smelling stuff they put in the gas... Damfino. It doesn't trip the CO sensor, but the air just doesn't feel right.

Reply to
Silvan

why would anything be cold? It has been in the shop and I specifically addressed large temperature swings. if your leave the heater on pilot and the temp gets to 35 and then you run out and jack it up to 65 then you are going to get condensation regardless of the type of heat. propane may put some additional water vapor into the air but it won't make any difference in the rust factor.

BRuce

Mark wrote:

Reply to
BRuce

I believe that this is another of the religious wars. There are no right answers just opinions. I have 3 unvented heaters and would buy another in a minute. One in the "garden shed" to keep the plants warm through the winter, one in the shop to keep me warm in the winter and one in the new craft room above the shop to keep SWMBO warm in the winter. None of the heaters manuals mention opening a window, there is no window in the shop and one window in the craft room.

I do have unvented gas logs in the house, the manual does recommend either opening a window a small amount of leaving the flue open slightly, and I do leave the flue open about 1/3. The CO2 monitor has never registered anything but 0.0

FACT: I don't have a problem with air quality, I don't have a rust problem. those are things I can prove by the past 2 seasons.

OPINION: I don't have a dust explosion problem and I don't have a solvent fume explosion problem. Both due to the small volume of dust and the type of finishing I do.

BRuce

Charlie Self wrote:

Reply to
BRuce

I've never seen one that does. These things have been in use in Yurp for a couple decades with few problems. They've been in use here about 5 years.

Some people can't afford the top of the line stuff, just as your later analogy, the $199 saw versus the Unisaw, shows. Many people can't afford a Unisaw, many more can afford the $199 saw (and the steps upward).

No. And you're not doing that with these units, either. Check them out before you jump all over people for using them. They are not constructed like the catalytic heaters or salamanders. Burn efficiency, IIRC, is in the 99.8% or so range. They are not recommended for use in small rooms, generally, but there's enough air exchange in rooms over about 10x10 to allow their use.

Unvented gas heaters are not ideal solutions, but they are not as bad as you make out.

Charlie Self

"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken

Reply to
Charlie Self

thanks Charlie, didn't know they had been in use that long. One more fact for the file.

BRuce

Charlie Self wrote:

Reply to
BRuce

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