Propane heat queston

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David M

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Joined
Jan 21, 2009
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883
Location
Norton, Va. 24273
does anyone here use a propane forced air heater ... thinking about getting a small one ( 50,000 BTU ) ...
1 do they use allot of fuel , i have a few tanks to rotate from grill and camper
2 in using it does it make or does the shop have much condensation.
will the lathe , band saw , scroll saw flash rust if using it ?
3 just need to heat about 1/2 of the shop during cold weather .
I will tarp off the other side ( storage ).shop is about 20 x 24, insulated


other option is move into basement for the winter , but it damp at times .

David
 
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My experiece says yes the condensation is bad. I would seek out an alternative but if you cant, a small box fan to circulate the air would most likely help keep surfaces dry.
 
I use a 55000-85000 btu unit forced air. It works great. People are concerned about co2
yes it's suppose to be used in a ventillated area. Testing mine put out 16 ppm co2 which is within the limits of NIOSH TLV for 25 ppm. It's also your O2 that can lower a bit as well Mine dropped to 19%. Regarless, if you fell tired, yawning, headache time to get to fresh air. The best thing to do when using one is open a door/ window to allow for some fresh air. I vent my DC right outside my shop so I am pulling in 1000 cfm of fresh air from all the small cracks through the shop and the bay door. Hence I sm getting a fresh air exchange.
Condensation yes it happens a bit as well. Due to high Humidity levels and the rapid temp change it causes moisture. But not enough to wet down my tools and rust everything out.
 
Last edited:
Chief Hill said:
I use a 55000-85000 btu unit forced air. It works great. People are concerned about co2
yes it's suppose to be used in a ventillated area. Testing mine put out 16 ppm co2 which is within the limits of NIOSH TLV for 25 ppm. It's also your O2 that can lower a bit as well Mine dropped to 19%. Regarless, if you fell tired, yawning, headache time to get to fresh air. The best thing to do when using one is open a door/ window to allow for some fresh air. I vent my DC right outside my shop so I am pulling in 1000 cfm of fresh air from all the small cracks through the shop and the bay door. Hence I sm getting a fresh air exchange.
Condensation yes it happens a bit as well. Due to high Humidity levels and the rapid temp change it causes moisture. But not enough to wet down my tools and rust everything out.
Click to expand...

Cheif,

Its carbon Monoxide that is the real touble. CO, not carbon Dioxide CO2.
 
I use propane heat, but not one of those cylinders. Any type of gas or liquid fuel burned in the shop is going to introduce something like 1 gallon of water per hour into the air. They are not efficient and not exactly safe for a woodshop. I use the Modine ceiling mounted furnace. It bolts directly on the ceiling so as to not take up shop space. It is propane heat, with a blower and a thermostat to control the temp, and I believe mine is 30,000 BTU and my shop is 1000 square feet and heats up quite quickly. I use 250 gallons of propane/yr and I live in Michigan..it's cold here! I don't have the heat on all the time, just when I'm in the shop and that is usually 3 days a week. The furnace is perfectly safe for in the shop even though it is an open flame. This is because the air being burned is not shop air. Air comes from outside to be burned and impurities or exhaust is vented outside...just like a home furnace but a smaller more compact scale. I paid for this heater, installed and everything, and it was $1000 total, about 7 yrs ago now. It has been more than worth it!
 
As a guy working in the Fireplace and Stove Industry I may be able to help.

For your first question, there is roughly 90,000 BTUs in 1 gallon of Propane (92,000 to be exact) so divide the input BTU or your appliance to 90,000 and you will see how many hours of burn you will get from 1 gallon of fuel. In your case where you are looking at a 50K BTU heater you will get just under 2 hours of burn for 1 gallon of propane.

Question 2 - Condensation. HELL YES you will get TONS of moisture from burning propane. For every gallon of fuel you burn you will get back 3/4 of that gallon in the form of water vapor.

If it were me, I would look into either a small Direct Vent gas stove (one that can vent through the wall) or a Natural Vent (B-Vent is another name) that will vent through the roof. Or if electricity is relatively cheap for you look into one of those industrial electric heaters. 250 Sq. Ft is not much space and should be easy to heat.

Good Luck

-Dan Horowitz
Deep in the Woods of Maine
 
Mudpuppie said:
does anyone here use a propane forced air heater ... thinking about getting a small one ( 50,000 BTU ) ...
1 do they use allot of fuel , i have a few tanks to rotate from grill and camper
2 in using it does it make or does the shop have much condensation.
will the lathe , band saw , scroll saw flash rust if using it ?
3 just need to heat about 1/2 of the shop during cold weather .
I will tarp off the other side ( storage ).shop is about 20 x 24, insulated


other option is move into basement for the winter , but it damp at times .

David
Click to expand...
I just got back from picking up a radiant tube heater for my new shop. Construction is starting 11/30/09 (I hope). The nice thing about the radiant tube is that there is no exposed flame. They are a bit spendy, $800 to $1,000 for a 40,000btu model but since it can take in outside combustion air and vents the gases back outside it eliminates condensation issues. The are available in both natural gas and propane versions. Good luck!
 
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