Workshop with the furnace in it?

I've been doing it for fifteen years so far. Would "ducted intake air" be the same as my cold air return ducts? The only problem so far was when my young son spotted the bright red oil valve handle one day. Cost me $120 to get it turned back the way it was supposed to be.

- Owen -

Reply to
Owen Lawrence
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I thought you had a great idea there, Glenna. So I floated it by my wife; went over like a lead balloon. :)

- Owen -

Reply to
Owen Lawrence

LOL!!!

Some ladies have no sense of humor.

I must admit that when my ex dragged his feet for years to remodel our kitchen and I had enough, he didn't even get a vote in where the table saw was. He did, however, get to move it upstairs to the dining room; that seemed only fair to let him be involved. (He also did the plumbing and had a great time assembling the copper pipe, and he helped me lift the

4x12 header into place where I removed the wall. If memory serves correctly, he also held the upper cabinets in place while I secured them to the wall. Unlike our sons' room in the basement, on which I did well over 3/4 of the work, I did *not* refer the project as "ours" or "his.")

Before anyone thinks I was a bit hasty, he had promised since 1972 to remodel the kitchen. I lost my patience in 1981 and took matters into my own hands. Oh, he did *let* me use his van to haul plywood.

Thank you for the hearty laugh, Owen, or rather thank your lady. :-)

Glenna

Reply to
Glenna Rose

Now I don't feel quite so bad. It took me six years to install the dishwasher, and most of that time was just trying to figure out how to cram it into our dysfunctional kitchen. (Last time I buy a house from someone who made their own remodelling decisions.) But the cabinet surrounding it is full of mortise and tenon joinery and is by far the strongest thing in the kitchen. I believe I'm facing rework of the rest of the kitchen eventually, and the thought of all that running up and down the stairs because I can't measure right is rather daunting.

To be fair to myself, I didn't spend six years installing the dishwasher; it all took about three weeks. The floor in my son's room was another story. It got started and finished Easter weekend. The floor one year, the trim two years later. However I'm rather proud of myself. These are projects I actually finished!

My wife "let" me put a trailer hitch on her car; I haul plywood in a utility trailer now. The truck concept flew about as well as the dining room workshop.

By the way, Happy New Year everyone!

- Owen -

Reply to
Owen Lawrence

I'd say no. Maybe too literal in my lack of interpretation, but I picture a duct which takes in air for combustion from outside the place heated.

Of course, I'm not a heating service man either, so my furnace has been working 25 years without one. It's less efficient, so they tell me, but it does help exchange air within the dwelling.

Reply to
George

Blowing or vacuuming the air intakes out will make a huge difference.

My first experience with clogged intakes was when the wife decided to place the cat litter box and bowls next to the furnace. The intakes became clogged with hair! No permanent damage was done, but if it goes a while, soot can build up in the chimney.

My guy showed me how to clean the intake area. I vacuum the burner area about every 3 months, he cleans annually, and all is still well

6-7 years later.

Barry

Reply to
Ba r r y

How do the pros heat their shops?! I have not seen them all, but the ones I have been in had funaces! Greg

Reply to
Greg O

My dream would be in-floor heating. Being able to use below-ground as the heat source as they did in by-gone days would be ideal. I'm really considering some day down the line of doing just that. It would mean raising the garage floor for the extra concrete to hold the piping which needs some careful thought but could work. In 1976, after buying my Mercury Bobcat, I took a powderpuff mechanics class at our local college. They have in-floor heat (electric there) in the shop and it's great!

Glenna

Reply to
Glenna Rose

========================= Lol.... I spend way too many winter evenings laying on cold concrete under a car... (I restore & build cars as a hobby)... Spending a few thousand dollars on a 4 post lift has kept me off the floor for the last 15 or so years...lift worked so well I now have 2 of them plus a low level lift just do do brake work with...

My wood shop however is now located on the second floor over one of my garages ..heated by a 116,000 BTU natural gas furnace BUT my feet still get a little chilly ...Guess I can't have everything...

Bob Griffiths

Reply to
Bob G.

Just make sure that it's repairable. I have a friend who used to have in-floor heat in the house her father the architect built (not sarcasm-he really was an architect and apparently a pretty good one--if his design went bust anybody's can). One day one of the pipes busted and it turned out that she could have forced-air heat and central air installed for not a whole lot more than it would cost to tear up the floor and fix the pipe, so she doesn't have in-floor heat anymore. Note that that wasn't just the contractor's opinion--her brother, also an architect, agreed with the assessment.

Reply to
J. Clarke

All of the commercial shops I've seen have had natural gas and/or wood heat (those with wood heat were more what I'd consider "factories" than "shops", and they burned hardwood scrap).

I have some difficulty thinking of myself as a "pro"; but my shop /is/ a commercial shop, so I guess the label might apply...

I don't produce enough scrap to heat my shop (that's a gloat!) My primary heat is from solar panels; and I have a natural gas furnace to provide "make-up" heat. The furnace (a 100kBTU Reznor) has piezo ignition; and it's shut off during, and for some time after, opening or using any volatile materials.

Reply to
Morris Dovey

The point I was trying to make is the "sky is falling" bunch that thinks a furnace in a woodworking shop is a bad idea! A pro shop probably has a paint booth IF they do any finishing them selves. Other than that differance they all need heat too! So the prophets of doom can run and hide, but I see no problem with a furnace in a wood shop, as long as some thought is involved!

If you are doing finish work you should have some fresh air ventilating the shop for your own good. I often open a window, crack open the door, and leave the heat on. It gets the fumes out, fresh air in for me, and no worry about blowing myself up! Greg

Reply to
Greg O

Right-o. My (rented) shop space has no windows and the door is a generous 45'x12', so once it's been opened, the shop cools down fairly quickly in winter. I worked through the first winter without the furnace; but often found myself having to choose between wearing heavy gloves or working with numb fingers - neither option seeming particularly safe. I gave the furnace a /lot/ of thought before installing it.

Good plan. Most of my stuff is coated with paint that doesn't present much in the way of fire hazard. The furnace draws its combustion air from the shop; and so helps draw in fresh air while it's running. When I need to spray volatiles I shut down the furnace, do my spraying, set a timer to restart the furnace the following morning, and go home. The structure is leaky enough that after twelve or fourteen hours it's safe to run the furnace again.

I can understand how people who work with alcohol/acetone/toluene thinned finsishes can (and probably should be) nervous; but I agree with you that a well-designed, properly vented spray booth or room is probably a much better solution than working in the cold.

Reply to
Morris Dovey

Yes, that's right. He said a large flexible hose, like a clothes dryer exhaust hose, is run from outside the house and attached to the air intake of the burner. Only some burners have a mount to easily allow this. Ours doesn't....

-Brett.

Reply to
Brett Viren

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