Back up heat

[Pickering Snow]

Well fellows i know theres another thread going on shop heat but thought i would give a fyi to guys who are running big shops with water service yesterday i went out to the new shop when i walked in it was cold i knew i was screwed. I have two heating units in the main shop waste oil and a natural gas back up system plus i have a eclectric heat exchanger bulit into our gibson ac roof unit. Well like it has been very windy the last couple of days just didnt think about this but apparently the oil furnace got something injested into the =nossle and had quit but my dam back up furance natural gas forced air the ingniter failed and didnt fire has well and honestly didnt have the electric unit turned on , well anyway major pipe bursting and water damage everything was frozen solid got the oil furnace running then ran to the hardware and got parts for the gas unit when i got back water everywere think my renters are gonna be pissed off cause there steam jenny is frozen has was mine cracked the pumps i think i will being looking into a tube or infra unit this week for both sides gotta call insurance company today .

[cat320]

Fred I thought you went with radient floor heat? I guess that is the best way to go from what I hear especially on cost saves you big time by only heating from the floor up to head level. Sorry to hear that it froze up on you I know that sinerio we almost had a pipe freeze in one of our apt's but I caught it just in time .

[drobson]

I have had pipe freezing problems for the last few years in my downstairs kitchen, had a beam replaced that was rotted and the new beam was not the same width so left a space. Problem was this space was under the floor that was under the sink/counter.

This year I pulled out the sink/counter and pulled up the flooring and filled the space with sealant. So far so good, no frozen pipes. One year the pipe burst under the sink cabinet, blew the doors of the cabinet open and soaked the enitre room.

[CT18fireman]

I wish I had radian floor heat in my shop, I have it in the house and it is really nice.

To do it I would have to tear out the concret floor and then I would not be able to keep the floor drains (grandfathered)

We have the forced air blowers coming out horizontal so they wash the floor with heat, not the same but pretty good.

[snonut12]

I am wondering the same thing cat320 ... I'd like to know if it is true that radiant floor heating is the best and cost effective source of heat for shop? Oil, gas or wood fuel?

[cat320]

With what ever the fuel type the cost should be less .Reason being that the heat stays lower and warms your feet making you feel warmer.

[wyldman]

Sorry to hear that Fred.We just went through the same thing,entire shop and office was flooded.

The most effective heat is infrared,as it heats people\objects first,not the air.If your working with the door open,it's nice,as your not blowing heat out the door,and you still feel warm.

[dapgar]

I've done quite a few jobs with radient floor heating, in both barns, shops, and houses. people love it. it does cost more initially to install, but not that much more IMO. the people just rave about it, how even the heat is, how nice their feet feel when they walk on their new tile floor in the kitchen or bathroom. when i build a new garage, it will mostlikely have radiant floor heat in it. they put an antifreeze agent in the water so that even if you turn the heat off, it won't freeze the pipes.
i've never been around infrared heating systems. but i can say that i know radiant is very all around even heat, even more so than baseboard ho****er in houses. and they make it now so you can still use nail down hardwood flooring too. very many advances in this type of heating from when it first came out.

some people hook theirs in the garage up to a hot water heater, instead of buying a boiler to do the work.

[EIB]

Wyldman,

Are you talking about the long tube type heaters? If you are, IMO radiant is even better than that. It warms you from the bottom, so your whole body stays warm. With the tube heat, it warms whatever body part is facing it. One side is warm the other is cold.

Everett

[CT18fireman]

Radiant wins hands down. You have the floor (normally the coldest part of the house) as the radiator, heat rises so everything is warm above it.

[Crimedog]

I'd kill for heated floor in the shop!!!! There is nothing worse than freezing your but off while you're laying on the creeper and then getting up and you're sweating because the ceiling is 100*.