I have an essentially unheated basement under my house that I am trying to turn into a woodworking shop for my wife and me! It is about 40’wide by 20′ deep and has bare cinder block walls. We plan to use about 50% for the shop. The side we’re using has a drive in garage! Here in Kentucky the winters are cold enough that it isn’t possible to spend more that 45 minutes or so downstairs once the cold weather sets in. I have tried an electric baseboard type heater that puts out about 1200 watts and it only helps marginally within 6 or 8 feet! I need suggestions so I can use the basement year round! Has anyone tried the oil filled radiator type heaters in your shop? What kind of results did you have?
Thanks for your input!
Have a safe and happy new year. KY Joe
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You mentioned that you tried "an electric baseboard type heater ". But your shop is 800 square feet, with the walls (and floor?) being an infinite heat sink.
Step 1 -- add something to the walls to slow down the loss. Add a layer ov something to the floor for the same reason.
Step 2 -- install baseboard heaters all the way around the new walls; or buy a bunch of the oil-filled radiators; or get a "hotel room" unit that combines heat and A/C in a single in-wall unit (and be sure that it can handle the room size).
Step 3 -- be prepared for the newly increased energy bill. Heating a previously unheated basement can be a bigger expense than you might have planned.
Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.
you might try a 10k-15k elec. overhead heater.they are very easy to install, work great,but will spin the bearings out of your elec meter if left on all the time! larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I don't know if this will help, but I have a garage shop in Michigan that I heat with a ceiling suspended "Hot Dawg" heater. Keep in mind my garage ceiling is high (almost 10 feet).
It is about the size of a case of beer and it can burn propane or natural gas. Check out a local propane dealer. It will need to be modified for natural gas if it set up for propane - but they will do it for you, or you can do it by following the instructions that come with it. Mine came with all the conversion parts included. Cost is about $700, but it is a lot cheaper than electric.
You could also look into a wall mounted heater at a propane dealer as well. A smaller mobile home type gas heater would probably work well.
Good luck.
Home Depot sells a wall mount non-vented gas heater which will supply 18 or 30,000 btuh. They have models for LP or Nat.gas that can be hooked up to whatever type gas supply you have.
If you have a mobile home supply house you can buy from you might get a better price from them.
I have one of these mounted on a portable wooden stand to use as an emergency heat source in event of a power failure. I use it with a portable LP gas tank.
As someone suggested you need to insulate the block walls. I would glue 3/4 " Owens Corning insulation to the walls as a minimum.
Edited 12/28/2004 12:46 pm ET by ARROWSHOOTER
As others have mentioned, insulation is probably a good first step.
In our last house, I was amazed at how much different the basement felt when I insulated the band boards.
If the perimiter is insulated, and heat you add to the basement will tend to migrate upwards into the main house, rather than going outside.
Anything with an exposed flame is a bad idea if wood dust is in the air. Radiant heat is your best bet to take the chill off, but as others have mentioned, the electric bills will be very high if you try for 72F. A direct vent pellet stove might be your best bet as it can generate significant BTUs.
What are your range of options ? Do you have oil, propane, natural gas, or just 100/220 ? How flexible can you be with the solution ? how long do you have to get a positive ROI ?
In any case, the "A" solution here would probably include R13 in the walls and under-floor hydronic heat using a small NG boiler. You need to get to the library to get some info on calculating heat-loss and operating costs on various solution; then look at your options.
I know guys in Muskoka who are heating previously 3-season spaces with a 40 gallon water-heater and under-floor piping. They tend to have zones in layers (e.g. a 3-zone system with keep-warm, keep tepid, and prevent freezing zones) which they manually crank up when they're working in there.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario