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We had a bad ice storm in Oklahoma back in Dec 2000. We were without power for 3 weeks and no water for almost 2 weeks. People go into survival mode real quick. Portable generators come up stolen everywhere. Even the small solar panels from railroad crossings went missing. Good luck you all over you going through that up there.
Speaking of cold, what is everyone doing for heat in their garages? It looks like this cold snap is for real this winter and I haven't bothered to install heat in my garage since building it 15 years ago. At my old house, which we bought from my father-in-law, he had a simple 55 gallon drum that he used in the garage. You can buy the kits online for fairly cheap. I already have someone that can give me the drum for free. I kept about 12 feet of insulated stove pipe from my old house that I can use, so I hope I can get this guy installed in a week or so.
I've got a pair of old non recertifiable propane saddle tanks from an old 88 f450 and am going to cut 1 in half and weld it back together into a stove. Will be putting an end wall on it for feeding, cleaning doors and a stoking vent, will be devising some sort of heat exchanger system so that I can run ducting in the garage and get heat through out. Its a bit of work but I want to start putting in some serious shop time now that I have a decent place to work out of. This garage used to have a gas stove and still has the chimney, I'll be burning wood as its free for me.
I've got a pair of old non recertifiable propane saddle tanks from an old 88 f450 and am going to cut 1 in half and weld it back together into a stove. Will be putting an end wall on it for feeding, cleaning doors and a stoking vent, will be devising some sort of heat exchanger system so that I can run ducting in the garage and get heat through out. Its a bit of work but I want to start putting in some serious shop time now that I have a decent place to work out of. This garage used to have a gas stove and still has the chimney, I'll be burning wood as its free for me.
Wow, ducting, huh? Must be one heck of a garage! Mine is 30x26. At my old house, once you got the fire good and hot, it would run you out of there and this was in a garage with no sheet rock, just bare studs. Wood is a lot of work, so I'll probably just have some delivered. Folks around here can get a pickup truck of seasoned oak delivered from around 75 to 100 bucks.
We've got the better part of 7 months of winter and I'm semi retired with a few projects that I'm behind on. This garage is 24 x 28 and has potential as it was set up properly at 1 time but that was years ago. The electrical needs to be checked out and probably upgraded as this place was built in the 50's but the electrical panel is a lot newer. Theres a 220 feed but its not hooked up and I need a dedicated line that'll handle my lincoln welder that can draw up to 40 amps on a 110 line. Theres a lot of work that needs to be done on this place but it'll be worth it as I'll be able to work from home from now on.
We've got the better part of 7 months of winter and I'm semi retired with a few projects that I'm behind on. This garage is 24 x 28 and has potential as it was set up properly at 1 time but that was years ago. The electrical needs to be checked out and probably upgraded as this place was built in the 50's but the electrical panel is a lot newer. Theres a 220 feed but its not hooked up and I need a dedicated line that'll handle my lincoln welder that can draw up to 40 amps on a 110 line. Theres a lot of work that needs to be done on this place but it'll be worth it as I'll be able to work from home from now on.
Ah, I just noticed you live in Calgary, so heat is paramount for you up there. I had a 220 feed ran for my garage in case I ever wanted to learn how to weld. Still haven't delved into it yet, but I would love to try it. My dad's 77 needs a new rear fender on the driver's side and one of the cab corners needs replacing too. Good luck on the garage, it's really nice to have the work space you need.
Well, I just have a single car garage. I have a space heater set on low, so none of my liquids freeze up, stays around 40-45 degrees. When I want to play in there, I fire up a second space heater. They sit in the middle of the floor so nothing gets hot and sparks up.
The 220 feed will be for an 80 gallon compressor and in the future I'll be looking into a Tig set up. I'll be going a bit overboard on the heating as I need to prevent freeze up or I may be needing to stock up on compressors, its not nice to freeze your compressor on a regular basis. lol
We used to have a pellet stove in our garage as a kid. That thing would make you need to open some doors if you got it going. My dad had a cabinet shop and put one in there. He liked them so much and customers asked about it, he started selling them.
I had a wood stove in my shop, it took to long to heat up and used too up to much clearance space. So I use to run a older style small forced air kerosene, it finally gave up the ghost.
So I went and got a new style Dewalt DXH135HD thermostatically controlled forced air kerosene heater burns at 135,000 BTU/HR and can be used with kerosene diesel, fuel oil or JP-8 fuels. It will be T shirt work temp in the shop in about 10 min.
I had a wood stove in my shop, it took to long to heat up and used too up to much clearance space. So I use to run a older style small forced air kerosene, it finally gave up the ghost.
So I went and got a new style Dewalt DXH135HD thermostatically controlled forced air kerosene heater burns at 135,000 BTU/HR and can be used with kerosene diesel, fuel oil or JP-8 fuels. It will be T shirt work temp in the shop in about 10 min.
Hmmm, Amazon has those for around $300. Now you got me thinking.....
I got my new one from Meeks lumber yard when my old one quit on me on a real cold day. I was under the gun to get heat back in the shop. My old little one was ok, if you run kerosene in it. Pump diesel and it was a smelly beast after a while.
This new one is bigger, more BTU and WAY quieter (that matters when in the shop with it). And I only use kerosene in it, have no smell issues. 14 gal tank, fuel gauge, thermostat, put together in 1 min.
Speaking of cold, what is everyone doing for heat in their garages?
Chris
My garage is about 20'x 55 1/2' but where the cars park (2 1/2 car) is separated with a wall from the rest. I have 2 propane heaters and 3 100lb. tanks. If I do a lot of work out there in this brutal cold the 3 tanks will last most of the winter. If it's not brutal cold then I only need 1 heater on.