thats only cause your cheap.

ohhh!!! i mean frugal. yea,yea thats the word, frugal.

 

Have a 'pot belly', not me, wood burning stove. Thought about using it, but it's a cheap model and not very efficient, and wood not cheap anymore. Can relate to old coats and gloves, this will be the first winter for the building and for these ole bones any thing would be an improvement, add little heat even better.

dave

 

A couple of winters ago I used a small (and I mean small) wood stove that I mounted on casters, with a homemade flue that came out the back of the unit, angled down, out the garage door along the ground, then up. Unfortunately I didn't make the flue long enough so the back of my white house ended up black from the soot and smoke. Also, taking it apart to close the garage door for the night was the pits because I'd have to wait for it to cool down enough to touch it, even with welding gloves.

If my garage were insulated (plaster walls slimmed over wire mesh), I'd make a new hot water heating zone for the garage, and turn it up an hour before I'll be in there for a night of work, then turn it off when I'm done.

Another option I considered for a while was plumbing hot water baseboard heaters down the center of the garage, and feed that water heated by the woodstove which I'd put outside with a huge coil of pipe inside to heat the water. But with pressure valves, air traps, pumps and a small tank it started to be a huge hassle I wasn't into at the time. So I went back to gloves and an old winter coat which is covered with oil and grease anyway.

I did buy a small ceramic heater that's about 8"x6"x6" which I intend to sit on whatever machinery I'm using, pointed at me and the machine, so I can touch it without my fingers sticking to it.

Fingers and cold metal are not a good mix.

The problem is I don't have enough power in the garage for my lathe and other machinery, AND the small heater, so I'll have to run an extension cord from somewhere into the garage under the door for it, since I don't have any available breaker slots at the moment.

stupid old house wiring grrrrrr.

A friend of mine heats his garage with a honda 4-banger. The engine sits outside on a homemade metal stand, and the coolant is plumbed to and from the engine to a ceiling mounted heat exchanger inside the garage, with a fan behind it blowing down.

Kinda cool actually, and the engine only has to idle. But it's not very efficient as far as fuel usage for heat. Though the heat exchanger and the engine were free, so that has a plus to it.

Just random, irrelevent, undercaffienated babbling on my part.

 

Do you have access to any quantity of used motor oil? A lot of places have to pay to dospose of it so you may be able to find a shop that is willing to give you theirs, or some of it.

What I'm getting at is, you could build a used oil heater. http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_...earth/me4.html

 

How cool, interesting to read the process designer(s) worked thru in perfecting their oil burners. Do not know whether I would have access to used oil, would be interesting to find out. At this point, kinda looking into the 'salamander' type forced kerosene heater but did 'bookmark' article for future references.

dave

 

I used to heat my 20x24 garage with a 15 amp electric heater[15$ model]. On low setting. in cleveland ohio.used a 30,000 btu propane torpedo to blow directly on me when on the floor. nice 70 degree breeze. the trick was it was insulated with drywall. I did a load calculation on an insulated 12x30 room that calculated out to less than 12,000 btu an hour. comfort was work the work and money to insulate. got ride of the 100,000 kerosene salamander, the infared propane heater, the wall heater,etc. any shop can be calculated as to total heat needed to ballance any type of wall, floor, or roof combination. Codes say that every house is supposed to have this done. Cheep hvac installers just guess, which is why I had never even heard of btu calculations. good luck.

 

I just found the best source of heat in the garage.

Accidentally, dump acetone into your spray bottle (instead of oil) and spray your lathe or mill's cutters with it while using it.

Very warm, at least briefly!

 

what about a wood stove? you can burn up all your trash and stuff and to move the hot air place a fan behind it.

 

hey furball. Ive seen the type of used oil heater you mention..........good lord man that will polute the air for a square mile.......Funny thing ,my neighbor who built a garage decided to get rid of some building materials one night by burning it,within 10 minutes the fire department was there puting his fire out,I think he was burning PVC,,,,,lol

 

As note, this is hopefully a year or so short term fix. Eventually hope to build garage and will be using min. 2X6 studs for framing to give extra space for insulation. Now matter of making choice between amount of btu and brand of kerosene forced air heater. Looking at 110 to 125k btu and now matter of deciding on brand. Website for one being considered has referral source for recondition units. Expect will select within next day or two. Decisions, decisions.

dave

 

Burning waste oil is only dirty, sooty, and pollutes if your burner design sucks or isn't kept clean.

You can build a waste oil burner yourself, as there is no shortage of details on the web. It's nothing more than a pump, an ignitor and a flame box.

You can also use something like this as the foundation:
http://cgi.ebay.com/BECKETT-OIL-BURN...QQcmdZViewItem

Personally, I'd want the "fire" not in the garage... and transfer that heat inside using hot water, or forced air, or whatever you choose. You can put the furnace outside on a cement pad, and build a small structure around it (that's ventilated of course) that matches the exterior of your house, garage, or barn.

The heat source can be almost anything, chosen by what fuel is most available to you as well as what is more convienent. Operating a wood stove is nearly free for most people, as there's wood all over the place. Just the time and energy to hack it up to fit. And some gas for your chainsaw. Waste oil is good because most shops pay to have cooking grease and motor oil removed... so you can usually negotiate a no-cost option for that as well. But then you'll have to have a tank, a transfer pump, some basic filters, etc. And the time to "refuel" by getting the oil in the first place (or firewood).

Running off your home's natural gas, propane, or heating oil is the most convienent as once you install everything and hook into the house, it's always available for minimal effort. Turn on switch, enjoy warmth. But you pay for those fuels so you're trading cost versus convienence.

If I had the time and energy, I'd relocate my wood stove over by the inground pool pump and filter, and plumb it into the lines, running and extra, smaller diameter line over to the garage. Then all winter long, I could heat the garage AND the pool throughout the winter

But I will never get to it, hence the need for a coat.

 

THE WASTE OIL BURNER I SAW HAD A ROCK AND A LINE THAT LET THE OIL DRIP ON TO IT. WHEN THE OIL HIT THE HOT ROCK IT WOULD SEPARATE AND BURN .......a REAL pos.

 

When building a nominal 6" wall use 2x6's for the top and bottom plates but use 2x4 studs on 12" centers staggered so they are on 24" centers at both sides of the wall. This allows more insulation space and also a ton of sound insulation. Cut the bottom plate with a saw as shown. Notch the 2x4 studs as shown. Apply the sheetrock with silicone beads and screws as shown. You can also add a second layer of sheetrock with a bead of silicone and screws also if needed. Insulate with rock wool or fiberglass bats. 3-1/2" bats can be applied from both sides of the wall. Just remember to slash the vapor barrier on the unheated side.

 

Good old fashioned "home recording studio" wall construction!

 

Appreciate the suggestion, never occured to me so went and bookmarked diagram for the 2x6 top and bottom plate and stagger the 2x4 studs as indicated.

Majority of the home in this neck of the woods heat with wood stove. Apparently, local wood cutters are getting in on the energy crisis seems as the price of barrel of oil goes up so goes price for cord of wood. Not like the ole days, not much wood to scavenge around here anymore. Owell, guess wood cutters have to make a living, it's not like they get a discount at the gas pump.

dave