Radiant tube heat anyone?

[68 HEMI GTS]

Trying to decide what to heat the outbuilding with. It’s roughly 2,000 sq ft with a 13 ft ceiling. Gotta use LPG for fuel. Undecided between a house furnace or two 30 ft radiant tubes. Any of you guys have experience or recommendations?

 

[David Stillie]

I had a 30 ft propane fuelled tube heater in my 30x40 garage. It worked great. The garage was uninsulated except for the roof, which was r60. It cost me $700 Cdn. to fill the twin tanks. It would last me two years. I would do it again if I ever had to.

 

[dla4567]

Heating all the time and insulated- 90%+ house furnace. (Preferably 2 stage).

uninsulated or just heating when in there- radiant tube heaters.

 

[Cranky]

Glad I live in SE Texas lol. I use a small propane radiant heater and a couple of electric radiant heaters (when needed) and place them where I'll be working. They don't raise the temp all that much but the roof isn't insulated but it gives me some relief when the temps do drop and sometimes they drop into the 30's here. Been a long time since since I've seen mid teens here.....

 

[mrhemi]

I had a shop at one time heated by one, 16' high ceiling. I found that it tended to dry out the paint (lacquer) on a finished car. Even with the cover on it. The shop was narrow, so the heater was over top of the car. In subsequent shops I have used what are called wall mount furnaces (Hunter brand in my case). Worked well and safe in a garage as they are closed combustion chamber. My current and final shop has radiant in floor heating. Highly recommended if you haven't poured the floor yet. All of my applications have been natural gas, but no different than propane other than lower cost if available.

 

[Sahara]

My shop is 24 by 40, ten foot ceilings and I live where it actually gets cold. I use a radiant tube heater along one 24 foot end. Works great, I love it and recommend it highly.
One thing you should do, though, is circulate air or you’ll get cold pockets in the far corners because the air doesn’t move. I have a three foot, cheap ceiling fan that I leave on slow speed, 24/7/365. Makes all the difference. You don’t have to make a a breeze, just move the air.

 

[Builderguy]

What is in this garage? Tube heaters are best suited to spaces which have objects in them that can be heated and hold this heat. Like parked cars. large equipment, etc. The system works great in this case. If you plan on opening and closing the exterior doors on a frequent basis the tube heater will struggle a little as objects (cars) will lose their stored heat but it will heat back up as the concrete floor will slowly release it's heat. Forced air 92+ (100,000 or more) will turn a lot of air over quickly and recovery is relatively fast. My friend put hot water heat in his concrete but put in a temporary forced air until his wood burner was installed. He likes the forced air so much he hasn't even added water to the boiler yet and he doesn't plan to. On the other hand a pole barn that I worked out of for several winter months in central Michigan, had one long tube down one side with the reflectors pointed at a 45 to the center of the barn. Huge overhead door opened maybe twice a day. Loved working there, nice and quiet even heat. I will use the tubes in my barn but you do what you feel comfortable with; however, asking for advise is a great 1st step.

 

[4Sixty2Fairlane]

I put in floor heat in my last two shops and when I built my house. Love it. Just make sure the slab is insulated with 2 inch foam or the ground will suck all the heat from the concrete.

 

[68 HEMI GTS]

Floor heat is not an option as It’s already poured. It’ll stay heated all winter long at atleast 50f. But I’d like to warm it up another 20f whenever I work out there. It 2x6 built so I have R19 in the walls and R38 in the ceiling. It’ll have some cars and equipment in it. Won’t be empty by any stretch. I’m leery of the high efficiency furnaces as I don’t have a drain in the building. I’m out in the country (it’s open) so I hate to drain it outside as there will be times I may not get out there for a week or better to check on it.

 

[dla4567]

The benefit of high efficiency furnaces is sealed combustion chamber. There are some non condensing furnaces with sealed burners including some hanging heaters.
The 2 stage is nice because it can heat up quickly when you want to work in the garage with out being oversized the rest of the time.
Another option is 2 small hanging heaters.
I use an 80% downflow furnace that blows heat across the floor. It has open burners, just need to be aware of flammable fumes and store properly.

 

[Builderguy]

This is the product that I will probably use from reverberray.com:
DES3 Series Tube Heater
SINGLE-STAGE, ECONOMICAL INFRARED TUBE HEATER
or you can find them at:

Detroit Radiant Products Company
21400 Hoover Road | Warren, MI 48089

Toll-Free : 800-222-1100
Phone: 586-756-0950
sales@drp-co.com

Maybe a little partial to Detroit Radiant since they are based in my home state. Pretty sure there are others out there very similar but I have installed this product and it is not difficult at all. Say 2000 square feet with the use and temps you describe above I would try a single tube along the longer length. Nice people to talk to. I can't remember but I am pretty sure they will do retail. Best of luck.

 

[bm02tj]

There is a large variety of tube heaters out there
standard ones leave the bulk of the heat at the power end so clearance is an issue
I did a shop that needed heat above the work bench across a 4bay shop
I installed a brooder heater design the first 1 feet lined with stainless the second 10 feet aluminized and the last 10 feet steel with a baffles to dump the last of the heat so more even over length
You need to do your home work and visit shops with the heat and look at needed clearances

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Glad I live in SE Texas lol. I use a small propane radiant heater and a couple of electric radiant heaters (when needed) and place them where I'll be working. They don't raise the temp all that much but the roof isn't insulated but it gives me some relief when the temps do drop and sometimes they drop into the 30's here. Been a long time since since I've seen mid teens here.....

Rn't you a little too old to be looking at the MIDteens

 

[moparedtn]

I gotta do something with the garage for heat...
about 720sf with a high peak. No natgas up here, no LP tank. All electric.
The garage has that thin foil-backed insulation everywhere, including roof.
I've got some of those "milk barn" little 110 heaters; they ain't worth much, really.
I need to step things up, but I'm skeered of what a constant-on 220VAC heater is
gonna do to the electric bill.

 

[Road Rat]

Where you’re at a small (18k to 24k btu) mini split heat pump would do great. Most are rated at 100% heat output at around 5 degrees. That would cover your locale I believe. You can pick one up for around $1000-$1400. Then you get a/c and heat. I put a 24,000 btu unit in my shop (700 sq ft 12 ft side walls) on the gulf coast that’s insulated with double foil bubble with a Mylar backing, and I noticed my electric going up around $20 a month. I put a Pioneer brand in mine and there are around a dozen in the neighborhood with no problems. You can install yourself with minimal tools and vacuum pump. One way to consider. Brian

 

[Road Rat]

That was for Moparedtn, sorry I didn’t clarify.

 

[Cranky]

Rn't you a little too old to be looking at the MIDteens

 

[dadsbee]

Best thing I ever did in my shop. Oil fired, direct vent/air intake and nice warm filtered air to work in now! I'll never light grammas old parlour wood stove again.

 

[moparedtn]

Best thing I ever did in my shop. Oil fired, direct vent/air intake and nice warm filtered air to work in now! I'll never light grammas old parlour wood stove again.
View attachment 858305

I'm glad of that, given the amount of combustibles in there, ya packrat.

 

[moparedtn]

Where you’re at a small (18k to 24k btu) mini split heat pump would do great. Most are rated at 100% heat output at around 5 degrees. That would cover your locale I believe. You can pick one up for around $1000-$1400. Then you get a/c and heat. I put a 24,000 btu unit in my shop (700 sq ft 12 ft side walls) on the gulf coast that’s insulated with double foil bubble with a Mylar backing, and I noticed my electric going up around $20 a month. I put a Pioneer brand in mine and there are around a dozen in the neighborhood with no problems. You can install yourself with minimal tools and vacuum pump. One way to consider. Brian

Thanks.
Yeah, I've been looking at those or maybe even one of those big-assed "window" jobbers they sell at HD/Lowes
that does a/c and heat.
A third choice was an old hotel PTAC take-out unit, although I have my doubts they're very efficient.