Ceramic Heater?

[rnelson0]

Merry Christmas!

I received a Bionaire ceramic tower heater for Christmas. Before I go setting this up in the garage, what are the thoughts on heaters? I know that I do not want a gas heater as I would be venting into the same sealed room. It looks like the options are ceramic, micathermic/convection, or quartz/radiant.

Aside from obvious concerns of sawdust catching on fire, I have a 400 sq ft area and I would want decent heat in the whole area. The garage is partially under a hill so it never gets absolutely freezing out there, but it is definitely sub-50F and the concrete floor is cooooooold. I do not need it to be a toasty 70F, just warm enough that I can feel my fingers.

Thanks!

[eccentrictinkerer]

A radiant heater would be the best for an area that large. Use the heater in the area you're working in.

One very important thing that's rarely discussed is that virtually all 120 volt heaters are rated at about 1500 watts. It doesn't matter if the heater is ceramic, oil-filled, $20 or Amish-built @ $200. It's only gonna put out 1500 watts, period ( per UL labs requirement).

If your space is well-insulated you'll eventually get it heated.

I sold Chromalox and Watlow industrial heating and control products for many years. Try using this calculator from the consumer products division.

http://www.chromalox.com/resource-center/calculators/comfort-heater.aspx

Good luck and stay warm.

BTW, I use a propane heater to heat up my shop initially then I use 2000 watt baseboard heater to maintain 50 degrees (outside temp 20 degrees.)

[tseavoy]

My shop has a potbelly stove that I burn prestologs and wood scraps in. I also have two electric heaters, each on separate circuits. When it is below 40 I usually use the wood stove to help heat up the shop along with the electric heaters initially, then maintain about 50 to 55 degrees with the electric heaters. One is an oil filled radiator heater and the other is a fan forced air heater. Since the heaters are limited to 1500 watts by code, the only difference is how the heat is distributed. Today it's about 34 degrees and the shop got up to 60.
Without the wood stove it would have settled at about 45. BTW, the shop is about 300 square feet and noooo insulation.
I used to have a kerosun kerosene heater back when. I don't recommend it.
My wife's studio has a ceramic tower heater from Costco -- at about 80 dollars a real buy. It has a motor to oscillate it over 90 degrees and a remote for setting the temperature. I works great for her space, about 100 square feet and is insulated.

Tom on Marrowstone

[cwsmith]

I have a Bionaire tower heater that is ceramic. It does a very nice job of heating my converted garage to family room. But that is fully insulated and today bears no resemblance to the garage that it once was.

But, this is a family room and not a shop. I don't think that I would use it in a sawdust laden environment. If nothing more, the ceramic heater contains a fan, which is is going to circulate the air, sawdust and all, through the heater where I suspect it will eventually clog the unit and seriously cut it's efficiency.

It may even pose a fire hazard, and I have no idea if the heating element poses any risk of "exploding" the dust-laden air. But just the thought of any air circulating, fan-driven heater in my shop would cause me to hesitate on using it. Perhaps during assembly times or when I'm just puttering, but certainly not during sanding, cutting, or finishing times.

Empire makes a wall mounted gas heater (which I use in that family room) that is excellent, but also expensive. I've had one for just about 20 years now and only recently had to have a gas valve replaced. The burner and heating chamber are vented through the outside wall, but are also securely isolated from the interior air circulation (air circulates around the outside of the heating chamber, and the burner is on the inside, all gasketed, etc.) So, no inside air is ever in contact with the flame and the finished interior room grill, easily pops off for cleaning etc.

I recently discussed the possibilities of this heater with a customer engineer at Empire and he said it would be an excellent choice for a shop because of the design.

However, the price is pretty close to a $grand. When I purchased it 20 years ago, it was around $600. But it does and excellent job, has it's own thermostat, doesn't require electricity, and has proven to be an excellent heater for the family room, even on sub-zero nights.

My local gas company is a supplier, so it's been awhile since I've checked out Empire's web site, but I believe this is their link: http://www.empirecomfort.com/EMPIRECOMFORT/default.asp

Again, this may well be well beyond your budget, but I thought I should at least offer the information.

CWS

[MilDoc]

I have a Delonghi oil filled. Running all night my uninsulated detached 1 car workshop is comfortable the next day down to around 30 degrees outside (if I wear a flannel shirt). No fire worries at all.

[rnelson0]

Thanks for the advice, guys!

Oil and wood burners are out. Sounds like the ceramic can either catch on fire or at the very least, clog up (you would think that would be in the marketing materials somewhere or at least a warning). Looks like that leaves the Quartz/Radiant or Micathermic/Convection heaters. As I said before, I only need it to warm so that my fingers are not numb, so I think 1500W will work for me - worst case I buy two.

Any recommendations for manufacturers/models? Unfortunately the local HD has nothing in the store for me to look at and the online reviews are all over the place for every model on their website, and I am not buying sight-unseen without at least a solid recommendation.

[dkerfoot]

I personally wouldn't worry about it. Just don't have it in the direct path of tool discharge. Blow the dust off if you smell a bit of smoke. IMO you will smell it a very long time before it comes anywhere close to bursting into flame.

As mentioned previously, pretty much all electric heaters will put out 1500 watts. Also all electric heaters are pretty close to 100% efficient.

.

[eccentrictinkerer]

Electric baseboard heaters are a very good value. I just installed 2 ea. 8' 2000 watt, they cost about $65 each.

The watt density is about 20 watts per linear inch. This translates to about one watt per sq. inch of fin area. At this watt density is virtually impossible for the heater to cause ignition of sawdust or anything else for that matter.

Good housekeeping would include occasional vacuuming of the fins to prevent dust buildup. Accumulation of dust would impair efficiency, but not cause ignition.

I've used baseboard heat in my garage shop for several years and never had a problem.

[messmaker]

This may not matter cause you gotta have heat, but they eat the juice so be prepared for a nice spike on your bill if you run them a lot .

[dkerfoot]

This may not matter cause you gotta have heat, but they eat the juice so be prepared for a nice spike on your bill if you run them a lot .

It all depends on your local electricity cost compared to other fuels. As I mentioned before, electric heat is nearly 100% efficient. You pay for 1500 watts and receive 1500 watts of heat. Also consider it is quick and easy to start and stop heating whenever you desire. Wood or corn heat may be cheaper per BTU, but if they continue heating the shop for three hours after you have left, they may not be the bargain you had anticipated (not to mention the value of your labor).

When you figure in the efficiency (both kinds just mentioned) and the low initial cost, the actual payback period for buying a "less expensive" heating system for a shop is usually going to be 10+ years. This all depends on many factors, but electric space heaters are actually the wise choice more often than not.

Sometimes common wisdom misses important details. I get better gas mileage from my Town & Country Van than people get from their silly little mopeds. When all six of us are in the van, we get about 168 miles per gallon per person. Plus it is paid for. It would be nearly impossible to "buy" a more fuel efficient vehicle that would actually save me money.

I work out of my basement and use an electric radiant heater to augment my gas furnace in the winter time. The electric heater is on a switched outlet. If I am going to work down there first thing in the morning, I switch on the lights while I am making my coffee and it is warm by the time I go down. When I am done, I turn off the lights. Many mornings (like today) I work on my laptop in the living room and don't bother heating my office. My cost to heat the office would be lower on a $/btu basis if I opened the furnace vents in my office, instead of using electric. BUT - my total cost over the winter would be higher because I'd be heating it 24 hours a day instead of 2-8 hours per day.

As they say, your mileage may vary...

.

[dbhost]

My electric bill is kind of high / nasty anyway. But...

I have recently been replacing deteriorating filberglass / polyester batt insulation in my attic with new R30 Owens Corning Kraft Faced batts. The worst areas are done, which covers about 300 sq ft. The insulation there saves me enough that I didn't even notice any increase in electric use from October through December.

I am working, slowly on replacing attic decking, and insulating under that decking right over the garage. I can't do the walls yet, but definately want to do the attic, and finish the doors.

[rnelson0]

I have recently been replacing deteriorating filberglass / polyester batt insulation in my attic with new R30 Owens Corning Kraft Faced batts. The worst areas are done, which covers about 300 sq ft. The insulation there saves me enough that I didn't even notice any increase in electric use from October through December.

I actually got the Owens Corning garage insulation kit for Christmas as well and finished installing it a few hours ago (arms are still itchy!). I will see how that changes things overnight and I will stick with the heater I got for Christmas for a bit. I think a few degrees of warmth from the insulation plus a few degrees from the heater should make it "warm enough" if not toasty now.

I guess the only other question I had was, does Bionaire make a good unit? Only cwsmith mentioned he had a Bionaire but did not say if he liked it - no news is good news? Worst case, I have the receipt, I guess.