Shop Heating Options

Video - December 30, 2016

One of the biggest changes I have to adapt to after moving to Colorado is the need for heat. In fact, it’s been at least 15 years since heat has been anything more than an afterthought. So I had my work cut out for me as I researched shop heating options and weighed that against my budget and what makes sense for my personal situation. So here’s a quick rundown of the options I considered and the video will go into detail on the system I installed. Special thanks to some kind folks on Facebook for providing me with images of their shop heaters.

Forced Air Heaters (Gas)

These units run on natural gas, propane, kerosene or diesel. They can be ceiling mounted or floor-standing (the kind usually found on job sites). These are pretty efficient but do require a gas supply, an exhaust, and preferably a clean air intake and a sealed combustion chamber to prevent any major issues from the presence of wood dust or finishing fumes in the air. I had three issues preventing me from going down this path. First was my gas line. Apparently there is no convenient location to tap in and we’d have to make a very long run across varied terrain and concrete. Second, the clean air and exhaust would be visible on my front porch, which would be quite an eyesore. Third, the cost was prohibitive. Because of the gas run and some other factors, the first bid I received was over $5000. Obviously I’d need to get more bids but given all three reasons combined, I decided to consider other options. Thank you Michael Valentinas for the use of your picture.

Forced Air (Electric)

Similar in concept to the gas versions, these units rely solely on electricity to generate heat. While easy to install, the obvious drawback is the increased electric bill. This is the type of unit I installed in my shop for the sake of initial cost and ease of installation. I have both the Fahrenheat FUH54 and the Fahrenheat FUH724 installed.

Infrared Tube Heat

For the first couple of days of researching shop heating options I became convinced that infrared was the only way to go. It has an enclosed combustion chamber, makes very little noise, and doesn’t blow any air around the shop. They can be powered by electric or gas. The infrared energy, just like the sun, is unique in that it warms objects and bodies instead of warming the air. In fact, you can stand in front of one of these just after turning it on and immediately feel the heat on your skin. But the more research I did, the more I realized that this might not be the best option for me. First, the tubes are large and have to cover a fairly significant area of the shop to be effective. Second, this type of heat can result in hot and cold spots. At least while it’s bringing the room up to temperature, you could easily end up with a hot face and cold feet. But those who have these units installed seem to really love them, so your mileage may vary. Thank you Doug Lawrence for the use of your picture.

Pellet or Wood Stove

This is probably the most old school of our shop heating options. You simply drop a big old oven in the shop and start burning stuff. These things can really crank out the heat but you do have to keep stocked up on fuel and if you are concerned about kids or pets, this could be a big safety issue. Also, there could be insurance and code ramifications of installing something like this in a residential garage space. Thank you Kevin Culver for the use of your picture.

Ductless Mini Split Heat Pump

This one is near and dear to my heart since I’ve been running these in Arizona for the last 5-6 years, though I can count on one hand the number of times I used the heat setting. These units consist of an outside compressor unit and an indoor head unit that blows warm or cold air into the space. they are very energy efficient and quiet. As a heater, they aren’t very aggressive and they generally won’t work very well once the temperature drops to a certain point. I brought one of these with me from Arizona but as you’ll see in the video, things just didn’t work out. Thank you Matt Kummell for the use of your picture.

Radiant In-Floor Heating

After all of my research I have to say this is, in my opinion, the gold standard in comfortable efficient heating. A properly installed radiant system will heat the entire space from below evenly and without the need for extremely high temperature heat sources. But it generally does require installation prior to pouring the slab. There are ways to install it in a new sub-floor on top of the slab, but that’s a long ways away for me so even though I think this is the best solution, it’s just not practical right now. Thank you Nathan Jobe for the use of your picture.

Obviously there are quite a few other options available to woodworkers, but these seem like the most popular and accessible. If you have experience with one of these heating units or one I didn’t mention here, please feel free to comment below.

My Setup

In the end, I decided to go with two forced air electric heaters. The video gives you all of my reasons why but I can tell you that these things work incredibly well. One the coldest days, I can get the shop up to a very comfortable working temperature (mid-60’s) within 45 minutes. Most days I wind up turning the more powerful unit off and turning the smaller unit down just to keep the chill away. So while I do anticipate a nice increase in my electric bill, these things don’t need to run constantly to be effective in my space. And just so you know, I have an insulated 4-car garage that’s about 950 sq ft.

Let us know what shop heating options you prefer!

Discussion

Dee Davis December 30, 2016 2:50 pm

It might be wise to watch your relative humidity when heating. You wouldn’t want to dry out a quantity of nice wood. I have a small humidifier in my Northern Indiana shop that I usually run on a low setting for that reason hooked up to a humidistat. It also helps with your heating efficiency.

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- Marc Spagnuolo December 31, 2016 8:59 am
  
  It’s already incredibly dry here. So far, the heaters haven’t done much to dry the space further. While the space is insulated, there seems to be at least some envelope penetration and the humidity tends to follow the outdoor humidity.
  
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matt December 30, 2016 3:36 pm

Getting to mid-60’s is a great target.
I can work in upper 50’s, but water-based finishes start getting very unhappy.

Wish youtube had the parks and rec clip where Ron had a city inspector at his shop… as he was drying his oily rags in front of his wood stove.

Matt

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- Andrew October 20, 2022 3:49 pm
  
  A scant seven years later, it is!
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ-LXepDHUU
  
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Anthony Bermudez December 30, 2016 3:46 pm

Have you thought about adding solar? Here In Colorado is an excellent location to install solar because of the long bright summers and the high elevation puts us closer to the sun which makes the panels more effective. We just made the plunge and we are effectively running completely off our panels. It’s also one reason I’m looking at electric heating for my garage/shop.

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- Marc Spagnuolo December 31, 2016 8:57 am
  
  Yes we are absolutely considering our solar options. In fact we did that very thing in AZ and loved it. Since we’re new here, I’m assuming we’ll need at least a few months of usage history before a solar company will be able to properly size our setup. So we’ll probably look into it next year.
  
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Adam Wisner December 30, 2016 3:58 pm

This may be a noob question but couldn’t you set the knobs where you usually do then turn the units on/off at the breaker? I have the 5000 watt model but can reach it from my workbench so I haven’t tried using the breaker as an on/off switch. I guess the downside would be that it wouldn’t run the fan at the end until the heating element has cooled sufficiently.

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- Marc Spagnuolo December 31, 2016 8:56 am
  
  Well yes and no. Trying to be frugal, I’m currently investigating how little heat I need to get by. So that means playing around with one or both units at various settings. Also, if I’m primarily working on one side of the shop on a particular day, I might only use the heater on that side. But one of the biggest reasons NOT to shut them off at the breaker is what you brought up, the fact that the fan is designed to run until the heating elements cool down.
  
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Mike December 30, 2016 5:15 pm

That is my Cayenne forced air heater that Marc features in the article and video. I paid about $3000 installed. Two factors increased the cost: 1) The installer had to run a 3/4″ gas line to feed the heat and my clothes dryer, which is on the opposite wall of the heater. I had a 1/2″ gas line going to the clothes dryer, but they felt it was insufficient for two gas appliances and 2) It is a rather long run to the outside wall for venting, so they used stainless steel vent pipe.

I don’t have a closed combustion chamber. Yes, it would be safer, but the reality is my heater doesn’t run all that much, and I turn it off when I am making dust. I only keep it set to 55F, which for me is a very comfortable short-sleeve working temperature (I am born and raised in chicago, and prefer it a bit cooler). I share my shop with my wife’s car, even with the door opening and closing in 0F weather, it does not need to run too much if I keep it at 50-55F.

If I am going to apply a finish, I raise the temp to 75, wait for the entire shop to heat, turn off the furnace, apply my finish, wait for it to dry, then open all 3 overhead doors to let the shop fully ventilate for about 30 minutes before turning the heat back on.

I think it is a 60,000 (maybe 80k) BTU unit. It works perfect for a 3 car insulated shop. I just leave it set to 55F 24/7 and don’t think about it too much, unless I am applying finish (as described above).

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- Marc Spagnuolo December 31, 2016 8:53 am
  
  So this makes me thing my $5000 bid might not have been that far off, assuming my gas line situation was a little worse than yours AND I was getting a unit with a sealed combustion chamber and fresh air intake.
  
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- Randy Roloff January 12, 2020 7:24 am
  
  Maybe vent your dryer heat into shop space?
  
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sredinbo December 30, 2016 6:58 pm

Mark, I have a very similar heater for my 24 x 24 x 8 shop and it does a phenomenal job! It does wreak a little havoc on the electric bill though.

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George December 31, 2016 7:41 am

I tried a gas fired radiant tube heater in my new shop but it ended up being replaced with a gas wall furnace. I am very pleased with the decision. The radiant heater had an external air feed but air condensed when it entered the heater box so we ended up taking the unit down. I live in Ottawa, Canada so the heater is needed for /-5 months of the year. The wall furnace is an enclosed burner unit, so no worries with dust. I keep it set at 20C and I wear only a T-shirt and jeans when working in the shop. When I did my research I thought radiant was the way to go, but living the disappointment and turning to the wall furnace was the best decision. Turns out the install price is the same.

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- Vlad Zdvorak September 27, 2018 7:19 pm
  
  Hello I’m in search of heater for my 700sq. ft workshop. would like radiant tube, but my ceiling is only 9 1/2 ft and I think it would be very hot directly under . What is Your wall furnace unit? Do You still like it? I think, I may go that way. I live in Barrie , ON. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks vlad
  
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Steve Hilberg December 31, 2016 10:00 am

I have a Fahrenheat unit to heat my 3-car garage (one bay is the shop). When I’m not working in the shop I keep the temperature about 40-45°F, and turn it up when I come out to work. It does a good job at maintaining temperature. I’ve been very happy with mine. One note about ceiling fans to circulate the warm air – make sure you have the set to blow up toward the ceiling, not down to the floor. That will force the warm air to circulate along the ceiling and down the walls and will minimize drafts.

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Mark J December 31, 2016 7:12 pm

I have a ceiling mounted 7500 watt electric heater similar to yours, Marc. In fact it might be a Fahrenheat model. Based on the power draw and my electric rates in the Chicago area I figure it’s about 95 cents an hour when running.

I have a basement shop with concrete walls and floors so 68 degrees is about tops, but that’s good enough.

One thing worth mentioning is that these are 240 V units, and if memory serves mine needed a 30 amp line. So like the gas lines the wiring needs will require some planning.

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Mark McGee January 1, 2017 8:33 am

I live north of Denver and have the same shop heating dilemnas. Risk of open flame, running a gas line etc. I use a forced air electric heater similar to the larger of yours. My winter electric bill goes up about $150 a month because of the additional electric use (30×30 shop). I also built a hot air solar panel that produces about 7 hours per day in the winter, on cloud free days. It cost about $350 to build and gives a 80-100 degree temp rise (inlet air to outlet air) with a 80 cfm ducted bathroom fan. This works out to about a KW of heat, if my math is correct. I have room on the south wall for two more and will add them next year. The design is based on projects I found at the builditsolar.com website in the “Solar Space Heating” section. I can send along photos and build notes. Welcome to Colorado!

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paul January 7, 2017 4:21 pm

I built my shop 2 years ago and installed hot water in floor radiant heat, i used 2″ hd Styrofoam under and around the perimeter. My shop is 600 sq ft and costs about $600 per season to heat up here in eastern Canada. I have the thermostat set at 16degree C and its always toasty warm.

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Mark Spencer January 10, 2017 2:06 pm

I have been following this to see options for my shop. I live near Dallas TX, and we get a few cold days/weeks per year. I have a 600 sf metal building shop with spray on insulation on the inside walls and ceilings. I have a 24K BTU AC Window unit, which does well even when temps hit 100+ in the summer. Current heating is only two space heaters which are ‘meh’ at best. I was considering that when the window unit dies, to replace it with a unit that has AC and Heat. Or would I be better off going with what Marc installed?

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carl January 11, 2017 12:27 pm

I put in baseboard hot water heat in basement workshop . Spaced away from concrete foundation with 2 1/4″ ( 1/2″ total ) pieces of rubber as recommended by heating supplier/ contractor.. Since I had hot water heat, seemed logical. Soldered units together to make runs, and put copper pex adapters on ends to plumb with orange (heating tube, low Oxygen permeable pex ). This is connected to existing cast iron radiator by boiler. Downsides , needed to modify cabinets for pipe, and until upstairs reached shutoff temp, basement keeps heating. Thus work area gets very warm. Upside, it lowered gas bill as heat rises, and until air temperature drops upstairs to the point boiler turns on.. boiler now runs maybe 2 to 3 times a day instead of every hour. Plumbed a friends garage the same way, except used ( professionally installed) propane boiler. Keeps garage at 70 during day and 60 at night, dropped his propane use by 2/3’s . Now considering hot water heat in house.. yes it requires occasional blowing out with air hose, wood dust, no combustion issues with wood dust.

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Dave January 21, 2017 10:21 pm

Hey Marc,

First time on the site in a long while – glad to see you are doing well. Regarding heaters, I went through the same research process as you, and initially went with an electric heater for similar reasons. Unfortunately, my electric bill went through the roof, so I had to get rid of it. Gas was out of the questions because of access issues and difficulty venting. I ended up with a ceiling mounted, forced air hydronic heater and it worked out great in every way. You just need access to hot water.

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Randy Sonnicksen January 24, 2017 7:29 am

Hey Marc,
Love your site. I live in Minnesota and put a gas fired heater in my garage 2 seasons ago, and have been very happy. A couple things I did that I will never regret is I put in a Sensi Wi-Fi programmable thermostat. I can use the app on my phone to turn up the heat a bit before I go out, and turn it down from anywhere if I forgot to when I left the shop. Another thing I did was to wire a pair of Honeywell Ademco 958 overhead door switches ($16 on amazon) in series with the thermostat (I have two overhead doors). This prevents the heater from running when the door is open which is handy for when I’m snow blowing the driveway, etc.

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Jack G McCuloug March 27, 2017 10:35 am

Unsightliness aside, did the mini-spit do a decent job of conditioning the air in the shop? Do mini-splits blow a lot of dust around the shop or create excessively dry air. Seems like a viable option for the climate.

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- Marc Spagnuolo March 27, 2017 5:50 pm
  
  It didn’t do a very good job of heating the space. But it’s pretty underpowered for the square footage and total volume of air. If sized properly, it would probably be a decent solution. It does blow out air, but not like in a wind tunnel or anything.
  
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- Steve Thorne June 17, 2017 6:23 pm
  
  We have used two mini split units for over a year now south of Ft Worth. Smaller areas, 300 sq ft and a larger unit for 600 sq ft. In these spaces they both very adequately heat and cool. No wind tunnel but perform well. We don’t experience a humidity fluctuation due to these units. These units do require frequent air filter cleaning. Very quick and easy to blow these thin filters clean but if there is dust they will get it.
  
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- Jeanne Carey January 2, 2018 8:13 am
  
  Key points for Heat pumps. Fujitsu are good to -15F. We changed our house over totally to this and electric/hybrid heater and electric range (convection) when remodeling. I am considering it for the shop as well. We live in Plymouth, MA – prior to this year, our total elec. bill was 398/month for the coldest month (I am curious to see the bill this past month with the cold). The house is very well insulated, R21 walls; R60 ceiling; 200 sqft of glass 1500 sqft, on three floors, we are heating the basement as well. We installed 2 outside units (A) 18K with 2 wall heads 15 & 9K; (B) 2nd floor is a ducted unit, with short runs to 3 rooms and the return in the hallway.
  
  Also we received rebates for the units, which assisted in cutting the costs. Only other options were LP or Oil.
  
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Evan September 14, 2017 6:41 pm

Hey Marc,
Just anted to follow up on this after a few months. Curious to hear your thoughts– good and bad. Thanks!

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- Marc Spagnuolo September 16, 2017 7:51 am
  
  I really only used the heaters for a short time before things started to warm up. But so far, these heaters are going to be perfect for my situation. And now that the garage is well-insulated, the length of time the heaters need to stay on is pretty minimal. I’m pretty optimistic about the upcoming Winter.
  
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  - Keith January 20, 2018 12:32 pm
    
    It’s been a while since I’ve followed you. Welcome to Colorado I live up north of Denver as well in Loveland Colorado and I do a lot of work Bill Custom Cabinets for a builder in the Frederick and Longmont area. I deal with heat issues all through the winter. I too have a ceiling-mounted electric heater which works great but I have yet to leave it on overnight for a whole month to see what the bill might go to. I was told to make sure I don’t let the temperature get down around the mid-to-upper 30s because it would be bad for my machines. Is there truth to that?
    
    Reply
    - Marc Spagnuolo January 20, 2018 1:06 pm
      
      Hmm not really sure. Unless you have moisture in the shop, I can’t see why the machines would have issues. You might want to warm up the shop first before firing everything up but ultimately, I’d be more worried about glue and finish at those temps. This is only my second winter here but so far, the shop has yet to get under 45 degrees even on the coldest days. But both this and last Winter seem pretty mild.
Tom Queen October 27, 2017 9:59 am

just watched your video again because i have a problem and need to put a little heat in my workshop. Don’t need much down here in South Carolina but there are times we need something. I also work in shorts in the winter and need to keep my legs cozy. Anyway, was wondering how was the utility bill comparison when not using and now. My HVAC guy recommends that i use a propane Blue Flame option for work shop, I can use fans to circulate the heat. Any thoughts or ideas i welcome.

Thanks.

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- Marc Spagnuolo October 27, 2017 10:36 am
  
  Well we are just now getting into Winter and my heaters were installed toward the end of the season last year. Not to mention this is our first year in this house so the utility bills are just now establishing a baseline. So I’m not sure I’ll even have much in the way of useful info regarding the actual impact of the heaters on the bill. But last year, we didn’t really notice much of a difference. Ultimately the key is insulation. If the space is insulated, then the heaters don’t run all that often. Also, I can turn them off completely overnight and the shop isn’t freezing by morning. Many people turn these things on and keep them running overnight so as to not lose all the heat they built up during the day. Good insulation goes a long way. So for the occasional use just to take the chill off, I think electric is a good option with the lowest barrier to entry.
  
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Michael Dorsam December 20, 2017 7:48 pm

Mark, Group:
Last year, I installed an Infratech Radiant Electric unit (6024, I believe), and am very happy with it. I stuggled for years with a shop too-cold for Winter operations (Annapolis, MD), and reached the point with my work that I couldn’t cope with the downtime. At a nominal 30 degrees outside, the insulated shop will stablize at about 45; the Infratech gets me to 60 within the span of morning coffee and getting kids to school. The unit is silent and wood-dust safe.

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- Jeanne Carey January 2, 2018 8:16 am
  
  Mike,
  How is this one safe from wood dust?
  
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David Crook November 13, 2018 3:11 pm

Just found your YouTube and I’m following the same path, as a matter of fact the electrician is coming tomorrow.

I have a 2 car garage and think I can get away with 1 5000w unit. What do you think?
I live in Charlotte, NC where the winter avg. temp is somewhere around 45 degrees.

I’m a disabled hobbyist and will rarely use the heater more than 15 hours a week so I’m hoping the electric won’t be affected too badly.

Can’t wait to see your “Lighting” video.

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Angelo Garofalo November 28, 2018 6:19 pm

I use my garage as my shop. I have a spray booth in the corner. My dilemma is what type of heat source can I use with dust and spray finish floating around in the air. And I only have 125V. I just need to get it up to temp for spraying and shut it down when spraying and keep it off after I’m done. Any suggestions?

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Mark July 1, 2019 9:02 pm

I hope to build my dream shop soon (600+ sf) with radiant floor heating. I’d also really like to avoid overhead dust collection pipes. Ever give thought to an in-ground dust collection system AND radiant floor heating? I’m thinking that at the very least i can lay a pattern of tubes to efficiently heat the shop and still get at least one main dust collection channel poured in the slab (steel plate covered 6×6”) to get to the shop center. plus another channel along one wall.
Crazy am I?

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- Marc Spagnuolo July 2, 2019 11:20 am
  
  Not crazy at all. But when you are pouring the slab you have these options to consider. Most people in existing spaces can’t even consider them. While I’m 100% with you on radiant heat (efficient and comfortable heating option), I’m not as keen on the dust collection in the slab. that’s just a personal choice. If you’re very confident in where you want your lines and your connection points, then go for it. Me, I change my mind too often to hard-commit to a configuration, especially in a new space.
  
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Roger October 28, 2019 11:28 am

Cool, same unit I put in my shop a few years back (I only needed one though). I have to stand on my tip toes and really stretch to reach the control knob so I would be really interested in hearing or seeing about the thermostat purchase and install if that is something you ended up doing. Thanks.

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Corbin October 29, 2019 7:15 am

If you haven’t already installed the thermostat, I’d recommend installing it on an interior wall, away from any external temperatures. We had one installed in our old church, close to the front door, the outside being just on the other side…man, that thing ran and ran no matter how hot it got inside because it was sensing the outside temperature! It was like 85 degrees inside, but it sensed the outside temp of like 20.

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West November 6, 2019 4:44 pm

Marc, does your dust collection system keep the air in the shop entirely? I’m trying to figure out heat for my garage shop currently but with the dust collector located and venting outside, I’m wondering how quickly it’s going to suck all my warm air outdoors. Thoughts?

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- Marc Spagnuolo November 7, 2019 2:27 pm
  
  It will likely suck it out at whatever cfm the unit is capable of. It’s hard to estimate how that will actually impact your shop air temperature and how much harder the heaters will have to run to re-heat the air. Back in AZ I used to run my vented DC with the air conditioner on and it wasn’t that bad. But it was also 1800 sq ft of space.
  
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Bill Fackelman January 27, 2020 8:25 am

Hey Marc,

Firstly, thank you for the great article, and for being a resource for all of us! Your site and videos are awesome. I had a question about my particular shop. We have a 17×22 garage that my wife and I run our small wood working business out of. Unfortunately, it is un-insulated. We don’t have plans on insulating it any time soon since we plan on moving in 3-4 years. I was looking at a forced air electric heater simular to yours, but I have some concerns. My garage has a loft, so the ceiling is only about 8ft high. Would saw dust be an issue with a forced air electric system. My concern is dust blowing around, and the combustion concerns.

We have a dust collection system, but I don’t currently have an air filtration system (The dust collector vents outside). My dust collector can capture most of the dust, but there is still dust that is kicked up when using the table saw and especially the miter saw. You can run your finger over a shelf and find dust; I have that kind of shop haha.

Do you think a forced air electric would be safe? For some context, we live in south Jersey, so the winters do get fairly cold at times. We are out in the shop for roughly 3-4 hours weeknights, and 6-7 weekends.

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- Marc Spagnuolo January 28, 2020 7:52 am
  
  From my experience with electric forced air, you do want to take efforts to keep them clean. A little blast of compressed air can do the trick. Outside of that, I personally think it should be fine.
  
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Phil Kenkel December 3, 2020 9:39 pm

Hi Marc,
I built a 1000 ft garage with 3-10 ft doors on the first level. One bay for misc projects. Second floor is probably 800 ft split 33/66%. The larger section is to be woodshop. Considering dust/paint/finish/two floors/wood dust migrating to cars/moisture from snow on cars melting and migrating to the second floor/heaters drying down the air… I have analysis paralysis.
I have a 100 amp panel and was considering Mini splits, but have concern with large doors and minis not making up the air or coils plugging with dust. I will put a vacuum system in, but you can never catch all the fine dust.
Live in upper Iowa and it can get darn cold. Sprayed the 2×6 walls with insulation, & roof. 2″ of insulation under slab. Doors insulated too. Put gas line in the ground ahead of frost on the chance I will use it. the structure is not attached the the house.
Calcs say around 50KBTU heat and half that for cooling in the summer.
Was falling back to a cheaper solution: window AC up. 50K forced air heater down to warm the whole structure, Maybe some cove heaters upstairs to take the edge off upstairs should the heat from below not penetrate the floor quickly or flow up the stairs.
Any thoughts would help.

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Chris Altman January 17, 2021 9:06 pm

Hi Marc,

How have the two units worked for you the last couple years? I’m working out the details of insulating and heating my detached 24’x24’garage here in the chicagoland area. Have the electricity costs with these have you wishing you pursued a different option if you were try all over again?

Thanks in advance for your response kind sir!

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- Marc Spagnuolo January 18, 2021 10:55 am
  
  The two units worked just fine while I had them. I knew eventually I would move to a more efficient heat solution and did so last year. So now I have a ductless mini-split that is my primary heat source. I sold one of the heaters you see here (the more powerful one) but kept the other unit as backup and supplemental heat when needed. So the cost of running two electric heaters will definitely add up over time. It’s a major consideration if you’re thinking long term. So if any other more efficient option is actually…..an option, I’d say go for it.
  
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Meesh Miller November 30, 2021 12:28 pm

We completed our project of building a workbench, tool storage, wood storage, etc, a few months ago in what doubles as our garage. We only own one car so the space works well as a combined shop and garage. But after a pleasant summer and fall the weather has been chilling down- (we too live in Colorado- in Niwot), so we’re researching our options. We’d decided on the Fahrenheat FUH Electric Heater (5000 watts) and came upon your stellar youtube video on your own shop heating choices. We had a couple of questions. We were curious to see how your electric bills were affected, whether you invested in a remote switch, and whether you felt it warmed your space sufficiently. (Our garage is about 20 x 24, has a pretty high ceiling, and is not well-insulated. My husband works out there without complaint, but we’d really like to warm things up!

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Carter H Harrison Jr February 7, 2022 3:15 pm

Dear Marc,
I am newly retired. Now with more time to devote to my interests, I’m insulating my garage bay wood shop and planning to add some sort of heat out there. I have only a modest dust-collection system. While I do clean up a lot of what it doesn’t catch, I certainly don’t get all. I was all set to purchase the Fahrenheat 5000 watt model until I downloaded the instructions and found this: “This heater is not suitable for use in hazardous locations as defined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). This heater has hot and arcing (sparking) parts inside. Do not use in areas where gasoline, paint, or flammable liquids are used or stored.”
This gave me pause.
As with many garage shops, I share the space with cars and other equipment. I have chain saws, a wood splitters, and other combustion tools out there and fuel. And then there is the wood dust and finishes.
Any insight? You must have had some concern about wood dust and finishes (though one of the things I love about your videos is how clean your shop is).
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Carter Harrison

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo February 7, 2022 4:49 pm
  
  I can’t say much without making it sound like I’m recommending you go specifically against a manufacturer’s warnings. As you noted, I keep a pretty clean shop, minimizing dust and I don’t have much in the way of truly volatile substances now that I use mostly hardwax oils for finish. And I never spray inside my shop. You’ll have to weigh the stated risks against the reality of your shop situation and decide for yourself.
  
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Ben February 25, 2024 12:47 pm

Question about the ceiling mount electric heaters. Are they safe in a wood shop with airborn sawdust?

My new residence has a detached shop 350 sq/ft with a gas fired ceiling unit which scares me with sawdust in the air as I dont believe the compustion chamber is sealed and I dont think I can adapt it. I have 100 amps in the shop so I think I will go the electric route if it is safe with airborn sawdust. Especially if I can get one that will run just the fan in summer.

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cookielawinfo-checbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.