Shop heat

tomstractorsandtoys · Nov 11, 2022

I have a very well insulated shop that is 32x40 with 16 ft high walls. Has spray foam in walls and ceiling. I have floor heat as well. I find
the floor heat makes my feet sweat and prefer to just keep the floor warm. I had a fuel oil furnace for some extra heat but it needs work and
I am tired of dealing with stove pipe. How big of a LP unit would you recommend? I found a good deal on a 60,000 btu 97% efficient.Is this
enough or should I have bigger? Thanks Tom

cjunrau · Nov 11, 2022

Ad a fan to the ceiling to move air around and your feet will probably stop sweating.
You are the first person who wanted something else once they had floor heat that I have heard of.

Russ from MN · Nov 11, 2022

It depends if your going to keep it a constant temperature of want to warm it up in a hurry. I would think that 60,000 high efficient one would be fine, but I don't see you on the members map so I don't know how cold it gets in your area. A ceiling that high will take a lot more heat than I'm used to, I only have a 9 foot ceiling, maybe a couple of ceiling fans would help.

fastfarmall · Nov 11, 2022

I don't have floor heat, but my feet also sweet, when i am in a floor heated shop !

ADB-Ia · Nov 11, 2022

Add me to your list of people who don't like floor heat. Hot feet is one reason. A second reason is the slow response when cold air is introduced, like when you have the door open for even just a few minutes while moving something in or out. The cold air clicks on the thermostat calling for more heat. It takes time to heat the air up in a passive system and by time your air temp is warm enough to shut the thermostat off, your floor is too hot for the next couple hours. Or if you need heat for a cold morning but it warms up to a nice afternoon, your floor is still hot because the concrete retains the heat. I prefer a furnace.

Blackhole49 · Nov 11, 2022

Look into radiant tube heaters. I've had them in both my barns since 02. Much better and more efficient for high ceilings than forced air. All the heat is reflected down.

Scott 730 · Nov 11, 2022

(quoted from post at 10:04:27 11/11/22) Add me to your list of people who don't like floor heat. Hot feet is one reason. A second reason is the slow response when cold air is introduced, like when you have the door open for even just a few minutes while moving something in or out. The cold air clicks on the thermostat calling for more heat. It takes time to heat the air up in a passive system and by time your air temp is warm enough to shut the thermostat off, your floor is too hot for the next couple hours. Or if you need heat for a cold morning but it warms up to a nice afternoon, your floor is still hot because the concrete retains the heat. I prefer a furnace.

I have my thoughts on floor heating systems, but hesitate to post much because I usually get shouted down and told I'm crazy.

I would never have a floor heat system where the thermostat senses air temperature for exactly the same reason as posted above. You open a door and let cold air in and immediately the stat tells the boiler to kick in, which will run until the call for heat is satisfied. Now your floor is above target temperature. I would rather find a comfortable, constant floor temperature and regulate the floor heat with a floor sensor. Then have some kind of air heating unit which senses the air temp for the times you need to supplement the room air temp.

Flame suit on,,,,,,,,,,,,

J.Wondergem · Nov 11, 2022

I think it will work. I have one, not sure what my BTU is right now and my shop is 12 foot celling but it does real good with just a hood in place of a Pentium.

coonie minnie · Nov 11, 2022

I agree with blckhole's comments. Check out the radiant tubes before making a decision. A lot depends on how you use the shop, and the frequency with witch you are opening the door in the winter.

flying belgian · Nov 11, 2022

I have tube heat and just love it. However,,all,, the heat is not reflected down. Crawl up to your ceiling sometime and you will see what I mean.

Dieseltech · Nov 11, 2022

I have a 40 X 80 with 14 foot ceiling, one inch Thermax on side walls and 1 foot blown insulation above. Heat I use when outside is above freezing is an L B White LP gas furnace with 168,000 BTU capacity. Below freezing I use a Shenandoah 140,000 waste oil furnace. I'd think the 60,000 would work OK, might run a lot if windy outside.

cjunrau · Nov 11, 2022

Yep. We have water return temp around here.
Not room temp at all. That is why I found it strange
that someone would get to hot. Most set the temp
about 10-15 C.

cjunrau · Nov 11, 2022

If your return temp is where the thermostat is then even when you open the door the floor has so much mass it only takes a few minutes and its warm again. Here we have the pump running all the time. The water circulation keeps the whole floor exactly where you want it. But each person is different. If you dont lay on the floor under cars and always standing then a cooler cement iss sad no big deal.

showcrop · Nov 11, 2022

2X what Scott 730 posted. It is well known that time lag is the major drawback to in floor radiant heat. If I had one I would plan on 30% of my heat coming from the floor and supplying the rest with a quick response unit like ceiling propane radiant or a wall mounted catalytic propane unit.

moresmoke · Nov 11, 2022

My shop is slightly smaller than the OPs. 6 in fiberglass in the walls, 16 inches on the ceiling. I have a 85k btu hanging heater, decent but not high efficiency. It is well sized for the building in ND. I would think the OP would be well served by his choice.

Pete in Holland MI · Nov 11, 2022

We have radiant hot water heat in the floor of our house.....and love it. Dead of winter (west Michigan), floor surface is 80-85 degrees is all. Yes, raising the temperature in the house takes about 45 minutes per degree. Lethargic for change, but it is very constant. There is a wall thermostat for temperature control, and the boiler only goes up to a certain temperature, so the floor won't get too hot on a high temperature change.

I'm not seeing in floor radiant heat a good choice when you need to change temperatures a lot (like changing room temp from 40 to 70). But once the house mass achieves a temperature, it is very constant.

Maybe in your barn, if you can't regulate the room temp when you fling the doors open for a while, a radiant heat source may be best to supplement your in floor heat.

Good luck !

jhwis · Nov 11, 2022

How warm do you want it? Where are you located?

KL in Wi · Nov 12, 2022

I nave a 42x32 shop with 14ft ceiling. It's heated with a overhead radiant tube furnace. I wouldn't have anything else. Nice even heat. No blast of air when it starts up. Very fuel efficient. Last year it used a little over 400 gal of LP, I'm in Wi, about 40 miles SW of Green Bay so, it gets cool here some days -20 and lower. I have a ceiling fan which I run at low speed so you don't feel any air movement.

jaoneill · Nov 12, 2022

FWIW, my own experience, as well as that of a younger brother who has a plumbing heating company, has been that the 95% and up units are grief. Look for one in the 90%-95% category and you will be much better off in the long run. That extra little bit if theoretic efficiency isn't worth the aggravation.

Jim

Levi81 · Jan 14, 2024

Scott 730 said:
I have my thoughts on floor heating systems, but hesitate to post much because I usually get shouted down and told I'm crazy.

I would never have a floor heat system where the thermostat senses air temperature for exactly the same reason as posted above. You open a door and let cold air in and immediately the stat tells the boiler to kick in, which will run until the call for heat is satisfied. Now your floor is above target temperature. I would rather find a comfortable, constant floor temperature and regulate the floor heat with a floor sensor. Then have some kind of air heating unit which senses the air temp for the times you need to supplement the room air temp.

Flame suit on,,,,,,,,,,,,

Usually the temp sensor is outside and fires the boiler based on outside temp

Shop heat

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