Shop heating question

a bit of context:-

My shed is 30m^2 in area and about 100m^3 in volume. The walls and roof have

5" of PU foam in the SIPS and the floor has 100mm of EPS under 8" of concrete. At the moment in the UK the average temperature is about 4-6 C with highs of 11 and lows of 2. The temperature in the shed has varied between 15-19 C in the last two weeks according to my thermo-humidigraph. There is no heating at all. There are two computers, a box of disk drives and a sump pump. When I'm in the shed there are 450W of fluorescent lights, plus whatever machines I'm running, plus me.

Last summer, I had to run air conditioning to control the temperature and the UK doesn't have hot summers. This summer I hope to have the ventilation system sorted. At the moment there is no deliberate ventilation and there is only about one air change every 5 hours from leakage with the door shut (I _like_ SIPs :-)

Four sheets of plywood. maybe 3/4" doubled up if the soil is a bit dubious. Then four container jacks. Lift the whole lot up in the air, machines and all. Then slide the insulation under it.

Infra-red is good, so long as your hands don't stick to the hand wheels on the tools :-0

I wish I had known more about building a cellar 3' below the water table before I did it...

Regards Mark Rand

Reply to
Mark Rand
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It would be tedious, but you could probable glue rigid foam board blocks together with construction adhesive, glue them up into the cavities under the container, and then fill the gaps at the sides with expanding foam from one of the dual 20# "froth packs" which are basically a lot of "great stuff" in a more economical package.

Reply to
Pete C.

The biofuel powered heaters undermined the structure of the last shed that was here when i moved in, nothing like stepping through the chipboard flooring INTO a gopher hole.

Reply to
Brent

Farmers near you? Anybody nearby still use rectangular bales?

Surround the container with haybales sides and top. Build a ridge and put a cheap ass tarp on top to shed moisture.

Ventilation will be important for the occasional paint job, combustion air and general well being.

pick your prefered heating method.

$.02 from NW PA.

Mark

Reply to
Mark Dunning

Bingo.

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner

Not enough head room for a infrared tube heater, most of them need 10 feet or more of head space or they get wayyyy too hot on your head! Greg

Reply to
Greg O

Reply to
RoyJ

its appears that although the 45K unit looked good its designed for about 600 square feet and i have 160 square feet, some rough calculations were done further down and it seems the best way to describe putting a 45Kbtu heater in a 20 foot shipping container would be ... Volcanic

the thing is it seems if i get the insulation to a full R14 then electric is a very viable option as even my tools will contribute a significant amount to the heat of the shop

or i will be looking at a VERY SMALL heating solution and installing a heat recovery ventilator (Air to air heat exchanger)

Reply to
Brent

Boiling Brains is low on my list =)

Reply to
Brent

Cable or tools tools win

Heck what i Budget towards beer gets shifted to tools and i leave the house dry frequently

Reply to
Brent

So, look for a used RV furnace, they're smaller than the Mr. Heater unit, both physically and in output. The one in my ~60 ish square foot truck camper works well without incinerating me.

Never underestimate the heat output of a 10kW welder :)

Reply to
Pete C.

Tiny direct vent heaters. "Legal in Canada and all us states except Mass"

8000, 11,000, 17,000 btu/hr, propane or NG. No experience or affiliation, just the first place that comes up on the web looking for a basic direct vent heater in a small size.

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Reply to
Ecnerwal

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Reply to
Pete C.

Synchrowave 200.... ONLY Six Kilowatts =)

Another 1HP on the Mill approx 2HP on the compressor. What i HAVE learned is that i need to worry more about sinking the heat in the summer but a 10K BTU window is fairly common here and i might be able to find something more efficient as well

Reply to
Brent

Thanks for the links, I need to figure things out since canadian prices are way different with Propane Gas diesel and Heating oil all significantly higher than the US but with Electric at an average of

5.5C/KWH (But with time of day billing) I need to get my fuel costs for Propane, Oil, and Hydro and run the numbers before i figure out which solution to run with. the other thing is because i am intent on preserving the mobility of the container it means i have to rule out natural gas and have to do a tank propane or heating oil solution

Also Ontario is one of those places that takes a VERY low view to non certified installations and uses of gas appliances so i know I'd need a gas fitter in and possibly even a gas fitter to even buy the needed parts. I dont consider that safety factor a bad thing just another item on the list i need to consider

Thanks so far i've gained a huge amount of insight and info by the way

Reply to
Brent

Run a time of day thermostat with electric heat, and crank it higher when the price is low - with insulation, the mass of the tools will carry for a while when the price is higher.

With an 85% efficient furnace, electric at 5.5 cents is about equal to LPG at $1.25/gallon. Oil under the same assumptions would have to be about $1.89 to compete.

Electric is smaller, more portable, and easier for you to install, and probably cheaper to run. Done. You might even start with just the dehumidifier, lights and tools - but with time of day metering, a small electric heater that cranks when the price is low will cut your overall bill even more. You could borrow a trick from some shops that use radiant floor heat (too much hassle for your setup, IMHO) and connect small heating elements to any heavy machine bases - making sure that the machines are warmer than the air, which keeps off condensate and rust.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

I'm sorry... I haven't followed any of this thread; just happened to read this one post. Have you considered something like these "portable" heat pumps?

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Reply to
David Courtney

Syncrowave 250 here. Noticeably warms my unheated shop in the colder months. Now that I've got the shop a bit better insulated, one of those Mr. Heater Maxx 75k heaters will be going in eventually.

I find heat a lot more tolerable, even in TX summers. Pre insulation a little 5,200 btu/hr window A/C kept things comfy on all but a few 104 degree days. With the insulation I expect I should be fine.

Reply to
Pete C.

they are going to turn up time based metering here with off peak down to 3 cents /KWH and peak close to 10

its HUGELY in my best interests to do everything i can to get as much of my power use offpeak as possible but that was going to be another project for another post and day

I'll take pictures and post them as i finish the container

i'm still whittling away at getting the delivery and paint phase pictures up.

and the warm machines is an awesome idea too a 2800 pound mill could hold a good deal of latent heat in its base =)

Reply to
Brent

With that kind of a delta, I'm thinking deep cycle battery bank and inverter to run the machines, and heating some good thermal mass like a heating element in a hunk of concrete, all charged off peak.

Reply to
Pete C.

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