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Heating a Shop

Wyatt Holm

Wyatt Holm

Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Messages
230
Likes
6
Location
Southern Utah
Hello,
I would like a little advice on my shop. I built it from an ocean going container. It is not insulated very well, only in the ceiling. I would like some advice as what to use to insulate it without costing too much money. I would also like to know what kind of heater to use.
Wyatt
 
I built it from an ocean going container.
Click to expand...

what are the demensions, height, lenght, width, i do not have any suggestions but i am curious, how did you come up with this container??? 😕
 
Wyatt, in my limited experience, my preference would be a ridged foam or some type of sprayed on foam. The slightest amount of moisture will condensate on steel if one side is cooler than the other, especially on a ceiling.
 
Wyatt,
Also may depend upon what sort of interior wall structure you have. Blown-in mineral wool and fiberglass batts are both relatively inexpensive. Have always favored built-in electric A/C/Heater window units (my fourth shop in 28 years), but they are neither inexpensive to buy nor to operate, especially when heating. So may not be suitable for your area. But there is no hassle. Heating needs here are minimal, and A/C needs are max. YMMV.
 
I have a Modine Hot Dawg power vented heater to keep the edge off when working in my shop. I have a woodstove for when it's seriously cold -- the heater would do the job, but refilling the 100lb propane tank is a nuisance if I'm using it all the time. If I had natural gas plumbed into the shop, or a big propane tank behind the shop, that'd be the way to go. It's also handy to leave running when I have finish curing and I can't let the shop get too cold.

I wouldn't go crazy with thick insulation, since you don't have too much width between the walls already. I'd attach some lumber vertically every two feet along the wall, with rigid 2" thick R-15 pinkboard in between, then 3/4" plywood or OSB for the interior surface. That also lets you attach cabinets, lights, shelves to the walls easier than bare container walls.

-jon-
 
Whatever you decide to do, Wyatt, be sure to install a carbon monoxide detector in your little shop. Even when you think it's properly vented, things can go wrong in a hurry with heating systems of nearly every variety and we wouldn't want to see your name in the paper on "that page".
 
You may want to look into fire proof spray in foam for insulation, definitely a carbon monoxide detector and then a flame less propane heater.
Even though I have a HVAC duct in the shop, I still use a propane heater in the shop.
 
Wyatt
You've had some good advice here, but some thing to consider is that some of the advice is coming from people with a completely different climate then yours. Different climate implies the same method may not work.

The use of an AC/Heater (small hotel type heat-pump) might be good advice, as you can get very warm weather also.

Considering the construction of every CONEX box I've seen (we use them a lot at work), a spray in foam insulation may be a very good idea.

Unfortunately, neither of these options is cheap.

Something else to consider, is if you are doing any finishing work, haveing any heat-source that includes and ignition source (ie propane, etc) could be a very bad idea

TTFN
Ralph
 
Sheet rock is cheap, and makes an okay minimal insulation barrier. A little bit of rigid foam behind it makes it a lot better. I use one of the oil radiators to keep my shop temperate. No fumes or off gassing.
robo hippy
 
Like Robo Hippy I use the oil radiator in my two car garage. I turn it on an hour before I'm ready to have fun and it will ususally get the temperature up to around a comfortable 65 degrees when it is freezing outside.
 
I'm in Northern VA, where it can get seriously hot & humid, and below freezing as well. I've pretty much taken over all our 2 1/2 car garage with ten foot ceiling as my shop. I thought about a heat pump, but went cheap instead:

  • I use a large Mr. Heater propane (the vertical one on wheels that usually goes on a rafter horizontally) while running my dust collector on high (it's hung from the ceiling). We get about two months of really cold weather and this has worked well for three years now. The heater can make my entire garage about 60 degrees in about thirty minutes when it's 30 degrees outside. This model would probably toast you inside a container.
  • For the rest of the year I open the double wide door and have two portable heavy duty floor fans blowing. They both circulate air and blow sanding dust out. If you cut a vent at the back end of your container and used a fan to either blow in or out, you'd have the same effect. Lots of air circulating will negate high temperatures.
 
I have a container that is used as a storage shed now. Mine wasn't ocean going but still pretty much the same as what you have. I used it as my shop for several years here in Ohio were we can get subzero temps in the winter. I put up 2 x 4's every 2 ft. along the walls and used the pinkboard R -15 in between them. I then covered with drywall. I had an older furnace sitting around that I hooked up for heat. It ran very little even on the coldest days.

I think Barry Elder has the best solution though.

Don't forget your carbon monoxide detector and smoke detectors

Greg
 
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10 mm Coroplast, the corrogated plastic sheets, runs about 16.00/sheet. It provides about a r3 value. Put up two layers and you get a little better than r6...the equivalent to a 2 x 4 wall with 1/2" sheetrock on the inside and T 1-11 on the outside.

Get creative and find this material free from un-elected candidates with signs printed on one side, from beer/wine salespeople, and realtors. Use sub-floor builders adhesive to stick it directly to the steel wall, or staple it to a firred-out wall.

Finally, A ceramic coating (paint) claims excellent heat retention used indoors.
If I had your shop, I would definitely install a wood stove.

Let us know what you wind up with!
 
I will put a few pictures on soon, but I will have to take them first. I like the idea of gluing something to the outside. The summers are generally worse than the winters. I worked out there yesterday, it was a little cold but not near as cold as it was outside.
 

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The air tightness is an issue you need to concern yourself with, for any heating system that produces carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. You need some fresh air.

All that being said, I live in SE Mich, have a very well insulated shop, and use a small 1500 watt electric to keep my shop from freezing. Then when I plan to spend time in it, I use a kerosene heater that does a great job of getting it toasty in just a couple hours. But it is an open flame. So the first thing I do when I plan to use any solvents, or apply a finish, is to kill the kerosene heater. Is it ideal? No, but it does the job and I will probably not change things much.

For summer, when hot and humid is the norm, I do the same as others...open doors on both ends of the shop and use fans to keep air moving.
 
alexc said:
may I just say how totally awesome it is that your workshop is in that? How did you obtain one of these?

Alex
Click to expand...

I bought it.😀 There are a lot of them around. Most are sold for storage. There are companies that fit doors, garage doors and things like that.
Wyatt
 
low cost cooling and heating

Wyatt,

There a couple of low cost methods not mentioned as yet.

One is earth tubes, earth tubes are generally 10'C above ambient in the winter and the opposite in the summer

http://www.thenaturalhome.com/earthtube.htm
http://www.yourenergycompany.net/heat_air/earth_tube.htm

they will cost you some sweat and the price of second hand piping or new PVC plus a fan or two Basically whatever piping of a good sized diameter you can lay your hands to. The beauty of it is that it does not give off any dangerous fumes etc and runs on the cost of a fan

The second is a stove that runs on your lathe chips and saw dust etc made from old oil barrels and stove pipe for a chimney. Depending on the sawdust and how damp it is general run time is about 6-8hrs on one fill up

http://sleekfreak.ath.cx:81/3wdev/VITAHTML/SUBLEV/EN1/SAWDSTOV.HTM

http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=37053
 
I think I have made up my mind what I'll do. I asked my friend about foam, I was thinking the pink stuff, but everyone tells me that kind is expensive. My friend told me that stucco foam about 2" thick would be cheap and work fine. Now I am trying to find a wood/coal burning stove. Thanks for the advice everyone.
Wyatt
 
when you get set up with foam and woodstove, i would like to see your updated salon
 
Wyatt Ask your local insulation installer to give you a quote. It was cheaper to have my attic done by them than it was to buy the insulation myself. In fact they did the attic and under the house and put down a moisture barrier, all for less than it was going to cost me to buy the pink insulation.
I would love to put in a woodstove. It makes common sense. My insurance agent won't allow it. I looked at the seperate building type woodstoves but they run about $8K and up so that isn't an option.
I discussed the heating problem with my propane distributer. I have been using 20lb tanks with a Mr Heater on top. He suggested going to a 40lb or 100lb. It is less expensive to fill these. The tanks are expensive because the price of metal jumped a lot but I did some quick calculating and the 40lb tank would easily pay for itself in the first season and the season is short here in Tenneessee. I may have access to a free 100lb tank so I'm going to look at that option.
I found a passive solar heater in Mother Earth news that you put on the side of the building and just cut slots in the bottom and top of walls to let the heat conduct. I'm seriously considering that. Usually when it's coldest down here it's because we don't have any clouds to hold in the heat. Consequently we do have sun.
 
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