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I have just built a new workshop. and can't go near it at the moment its to cold.
Has anyone got any advice on heating it.
Its 6m x 6m
 
I use my garage and fitted the green sheet insulation meant for use under wooden floors to insulate metal door

I also have an oil filled radiator that plugs into the mains in there. 3 settings 0.75KW, 1.5KW. 2KW. I set it to 1.5KW and half scale on the thermostat and the garage is warm but not hot and very comfortable to work in :)

Seems not to cost too much. Originally about £30 from B&Q

Tony
 
Neil
No insulation yet but its on the cards.

Tony
Oil filled radiators sounds promising it's B&Q at the weekend to check them out
 
I use fan heaters.

Takes a while to warm up, I probably could do with an upgrade - however once it is warm it stays warm.

The main door is electric roll up one, which keeps the rain and wind out - it is also insulated.
 
I have a wood burner in one corner of my workshop:-
Dscn1359s.jpg

It would be better out a bit more from the wall but does heat the place quite well. The shop is about 6.5 metres by 5 metres and was built by the last owner of the house. He was into forge work, I have reused the flue he left in the wall :D
I am in the process of putting insulation in to the rafters and am going to line the bi-fold doors as well, he did not need this with a forge running!
I bought a unit from Maplin which displays the temperature and relative humidity. We have had 2 to 3 inches of snow and the temperature in the shop came down to 2 degrees C. I fired up the wood burner and in half an hour it was back up to 12. I am sure the insulation will help a lot.
I am also looking at using the blower from our old tumble dryer to pull the hot air down from the apex of the roof, I think that it should give a more even temperature.

The wood burner is the ideal way of using up the shavings from my planer/thicknesser, nodout Alf keeps warm by hand thicknessing all of the stock :wink:
 
Hi elmo8

To "seal" the gap around the door the easiest way is to use plastic damp proof course http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?ts=69032&id=11557

You can then insulate the door itself with polysterene sheeting available from B&Q/Wickes etc. at about ten pound for a pack of four. You'll probably want two packs to allow you to attach to the interior of the garage door but cut out holes for the lock etc.

I used two sheets of a product called Celotex to completely seal off the garage door. I built a frame using 2x2 and 4x2 off the interior wall and the Celotex completely covers the garage door but does not touch it. I also used four of these http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?ts=69721&id=73487 I placed one bottom left and bottom right of both sheets to give them some support. It now means that I can open up my garage door in about two or three minutes.

Celotex was the product raved about on ukdiy, it is not cheap but the thermal value leaves polysterene sheeting in the shade. I think it's about twenty pounds a sheet from Jewson.

Lastly, I sealed up any gaps with builder's expanding foam. I intend to replace the window and door with double glazed units, but that is for another day.

I would suggest that you sort the insulation out first as I think it will then give you a better idea of the type of heater that you require.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Neil
 
I use a 2KW electric convector heater which warms up the air a lot quicker than an oil filled rad. The convector heaters have a fine wire element at the bottom which could cause a problem if you have a lot of dust flying around.

In a 14'x8' shed with 1" polysterene insulation I can get from 2-3 degrees C to 16-18 degrees in about 2 hours.

AndyP
 
I need to find a system to heat my new workshop (aka the air craft hanger) was looking at a wood stove but don't think I'll be producing enough 'offcuts' to feed it.
 
Charley et al

We have a woodburning stove in the living room (more for the aesthetics than the heating, although it's rated at 7kw!). For a cheap (actually free!) supply of logs I contacted a few local tree surgeons - they're a helpful bunch. One of them even drops logs off when they finish a job. You'll need a chainsaw (or a bowsaw and lots of energy) and a splitting axe, but there's no better way to warm up on a frosty morning than to spend half an hour chopping logs (DAMHIKT).

For more info on heating with logs see ... http://www.britishbiogen.co.uk/bioenerg ... atwlog.htm

Regards

eeyore
 
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/gallery/det ... age_id=127

(Above - ahh, working temp in half an hour!)


https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/gallery/det ... age_id=124

(My electric radiator from "Argos".



See https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/gallery/cat ... p?cat_id=8

for more pictures.

Elmo, my workshop is small, and is basically a stud construction with 3 x 2 timber. It is feather edge on the outside, over a covering of roofing felt (all vertical walls). The space between the timber is insulated with polystyrene, the 50mm thick stuff from Wickes. I did this on the roof also.
The inside is lined with 18mm Chipboard sheets. The floor has carpet tiles, and the roof has a thin MDF sheet, holding the polystyrene in place.

THe only uninsulated bit is the door - which is 18mm Plywood.

The workshop is 10 x 8 foot - and you can see the size of electric heater I use. I do tend to switch on the power to the workshop about half an hour before I go out, and the radiator is "always on" - at heat Min, and I switch it to MAX when I start working.

Adam
 
Well this is serendipitous. Having just had the filament on the quartz heater busted, and had to pay up the equivalent of a new heater for a replacement :shock: , I've been thinking about alternatives myself. After all, you can't be keeping warm by planing stock all the time :p Plus it's more of an instant heat provider, rather than an ambient heat one, which is really what I need.

I must say, short of having the place plumbed for central heating (apparently not an option. I wonder why...) the old wood burning stove does appeal. We already have two in the house, and oh boy, does it get toasty. :D I do wonder if I generate enough waste to keep one going though, but maybe the warmer atmosphere would tempt me out there more often so the problem would naturally solve itself? :lol: FWIW, The Hot Spot seems to be the place to go for workshop stoves, able to burn shavings and sawdust too. http://www.thehotspot.co.uk The one real off-putting aspect, apart from the cost, is sacrificing floor and wall space to it. Not a problem for aircraft hangar owners of course. :(

Cheers, Alf
 
I have to say I definately use my workshop, loads more since I got a heater in there - it's just less demoralising - the idea of going out when the outside air-temperature is 0degC!!

Adam
 
I suppose I'm lucky, my workshop is in my cellar.I don't often need any heating but when I do I use a small fan heater. The downside is I have problems with projects of any size, I have to assemble them upstairs.Another problem is the dents and bumps on my head, must get a hardhat.
 
I was working in someones shop a few years back, they had a wood burning stove and no heating.

It hardly kept the place warm, the immediate area around it was warm though - it smells nice, and its a great way to get rid of the off-cuts, when I have a bigger workshop, I might consider one.
 
I would post piccies of my insulation and heater for your info but haven't a clue how to start (OK I do know that I use a camera)
 
My workshop is the stable end of an old coach house, approx. 15' x 15', built of stone and brick, with a lot of heat loss into a loft above. I put in a concrete floor so it's pretty cold in there. (The other end is a double garage with access from the workshop so one day, hopefully, that will become an extension of the workshp - she doesn't know that yet!)

Set up initially for woodturning I realised that I would have plenty of shavings to dispose of. I also, fortunately, have an unmlimited supply of logs so the heating answer for me seemed to be a woodburner.

I installed a Hotspot Relax R.3 which has proved to be excellent although I used stainless steel flue pipe rather than the Hotspot galvanised stuff which seemed a bit flimsy.

It certainly does the job, although obviously it does take up a fair bit of space, is easy to light and control, and gets rid of all the workshop rubbish. It wouldn't survive on that alone though - I do use a fair few logs.

FWIW. Trev.
 
Many thanks everyone.
One thing is for sure, I will have to insulate first and go from there
Another thing which isn't helping things is the concrete floor, its like standing on a frozen pond, but I've just had some rolls of rubber matting
so we will try that on the floor

Thanks again

Elmo
 
Elmo8,

Learn from my mistake. If there's one thing I regret most it's that I didn't do anything about the workshop floor before I started gathering all my bits and bobs about me. It's not only concrete (which is a killer on the legs and back, not to mention dropped tools) but it's not level either, so assembling anything larger than a box quickly becomes a nightmare. If you can't do the whole floor, at the minimum I strongly urge you to make sure the area for your workbench and assembly area is at least level, but better still build a wooden or ply "dais". I'm currently looking into doing that now and the prospect of having to move so much stuff before I can even measure up properly is daunting to say the least. :cry:

Cheers, Alf
Using anti-fatigue mats in the interim - on a slope... :?
 
Know how you feel, Alf - my floor is level but it's still just as cold and hard. Had I been wiser at the start I would certainly have put a plywood, or similar, 'topping' on it but, as you say the prospect of doing it now is pretty daunting so I'll probably now just settle for what I've got (happiness is wanting what you have, not having what you want!?).

FWIW for those embarking on setting up a new workshop. Trev.
 
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