So, I feel the need to heat my workshop because I’m hacked off with half freezing to death, but by what method?

The workshop is about 12 metres by 4 metres and about three metres high. There is some insulation present (in the ceiling space and along one wall), but otherwise it’s exposed stonework and single glazing.

What would people recommend? Gas? Halogen? Electric? I need it to be as efficient as possible (so I think that probably rules out electric), but I’d be interested in peoples’ opinions.
Thanks!

How often and how long are you using it for ?

It’d be for a couple of hours first thing in the morning, then same again mid-afternoon. It’s just to take the chill off the place if I’m honest. That would be 5 days per week.

Have you got a mains gas supply?

No, no mains gas supply.

If it was me , id insulate the other walls , sort out any drafts ( not sealing vents !!!)- wouldnt bother double glazing – unless i managed to scavenge a free window from a refurb and fitted it my self.

Then id stick in a gas space heater

I have a bombola gas heater that i got free in my workshop only used a couple of hours at nights and it brings 6 x 3 up to temperature enough to turn it off after a half hour. – i have 50mm kingspan on the roof and external walls – and one walls shared with my house. But i do have 8 air bricks ( used to have my boiler in the garage.)

Drac, I know where you going with that, but can’t stretch to that initial expense.

Thanks for the recommendation trail_rat. I’ll take a look at the bombola. I take it they can run off bottled gas?

You can make that wood burner from a gas bottle .I think that is one of them in Dracs photo so no real expense

Drac, I know where you going with that, but can’t stretch to that initial expense.

That’s made form an old gas canister.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gas-Bottle-Wood-Burner/

Well spotted Edric.

Yeah they run off calor gas bottles We used to use them to heat the bike workshop all day 6 days a week through winter as well look on gumtree you can pick em up cheap. The expensive parts getting a bottle to save giving a deposit. Quick freecycle add sorted that 😉

It probably isnt the most efficient way but its not expensive and its install cost is alot less than many other options. A woodburner would have been my suggestion if you said you were working in it all day 5 days a week but itll just be getting to temp when your leaving the workshop.

Takes no time at all to get a burner to temp and once lit it will tick over all day on a tiny bit of fuel, once back into the workshop open the vents up again and some fresh fuel.

Room , not burner.

You also assume he has aready supply of sticks.

Look at this on eBay:

calour gas fire

http://bit.ly/11sZv0W
These are awesome mate old calor has heaters gas lasts ages an get so warm older ones much better an warmer

Room , not burner.

DOH!

You also assume he has aready supply of sticks.

What ever he choses it’s going to need fuel.

I’d say its cheapest way aswell log burners will need flume outside or you will die lol so more money to fit

What about an infra-red heater..? Heats you rather than the volume of the workshop.

Right a gas space heater have a greater output than 45w/m2 and will need ventilation of 100cm2 plus 55cm2 for every kW above 2.7. It also requires an openable window.

That is dedicated ventilation too, not just thinking draughty old building be ok.

And no way would I ever trust a second hand heater from ebay.

Just check all pipe works fine an it will be ok an most people run them in closed rooms old people swear by them in houses I’ve been to at work

They are leathal things and require a lot of ventilation.

My workshop is about the same size as yours, plus an open roof.

In the house though we’ve economy 7 and a number of storage heaters. We don’t now use these so what I was going to do was ‘relocate’ the heaters into my workshop and connect up to economy 7 wiring. The only cost I’ll have to do it is the armoured cable between the buildings.

While they won’t be that cheap to run, I do know when I’ll be using it so intend to only switch them on the evening before.

My Electrician ‘suggested’ it wasn’t illegal, put possibly not legal…

You can buy storage heaters for pretty much nothing, just collection costs.

At work we have an Andrews kerosene space heater, ideal as we are rarely in the workshop all day, instant heat. Bit fragrant as we run ours on red diesel as that is what we have loads of, but plenty warm in a far bigger shed, yours is like a wind tunnel in comparison, ideal for it.

Have used bigger Andrews gas systems to heat marquees, lots of gas, not cheap.

Just to add, I took the kerosene burner home when our water supply froze a couple of years ago as it comes through an external stone shed. Shed is about 16’x16′ and was like a sauna, when the water came through to the house it was luke warm. About 20 min of burn time.

B r it’s not illegal to move you storage heaters just don’t touch wiring in the meter so you’d have to use a block or bridge of the wiring from off peak fues box

Sorry, family beckoned.

The DIY woodburner looks like it may be a go-er, though it would inevitably require some major-ish rood work to accomodate a flue of some sort.

And thanks all for the information and advice thus far…all really useful stuff.

The DIY woodburner looks like it may be a go-er, though it would inevitably require some major-ish rood work to accomodate a flue of some sort.

You could go through the wall either.

I missed the part where diy built wood burners became safer and less of an insurance risk than a bombola…….

Any suggestions where I can find a stockist for bombolas please trail_rat? Or are there similar units on the market?

Eh?

I’ve a £30 oil filled radiator with thermostat in mine – which is the same size / descrpition as the op’s – which I flip on first thing if I know I’m going to be in there for any lenght of time.

Needn’t be complicated.

Valid point re oil filed radiator.

Cost £50?
Running costs fairly high, but even doing something fairly sensible DIY is going to cost £1000 maybe if you are talking flues etc. That is a lot of running hours for a radiator.

Is your house nearby? Can you run some pipework and fit a standard rad?

Storage heater is not the worst solution either as they give out most heat during the day which is when you are in there I assume?

B r it’s not illegal to move you storage heaters just don’t touch wiring in the meter so you’d have to use a block or bridge of the wiring from off peak fues box

Cool. I’ve the wiring from the ‘box already where I’ve taken a heater off the wall in the house, just need to get my fiendly Electrician to check my work once I’ve lifted the path and installed the cabling.

Bombolas just another name for a calor gas butane heater

As bear says you need ventlation.

Thanks fellas.

just one thing on the old calor gas bottle wood burners prior to you cutting them up

unscrew the valve from top (after depressurising in a VERY well vented area(outside))

Fill with water to cull v.explosive gas residue that WILL be in the canister

Now make your cut with implement of choice but NOT electric – petrol Sthil Saw is the fave, cheap to rent

If you only use say a bench and small area when you are in the workshop and the rest is for storage then consider building a false room within the workshop simply from cheap wooden batons and line it with bubble wrap or polythene. Then use a fan heater and it will be hot within 5 mins or so. I have put a hinged door into the storage area, , again made from a wooden frame lined with bubble wrap. Incredibly cheap and very effective.

Drac – Moderator

Drac, I know where you going with that, but can’t stretch to that initial expense.

That’s made form an old gas canister.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gas-Bottle-Wood-Burner/

Well spotted Edric.

But then Kevin mccloud of man made house programe, channel4 got a telling off from calor gas for doing that and had to pull the relevant part of the programe off air,and off 4od.

http://www.calor.co.uk/about-calor/press-centre/calor-warns-customers-not-to-replicate-man-made-home/

Wonders wether to report moderator………………then thinks better of it.

Insulate the floor, sheet of dpc, 3 x 2 bearers lots of fibreglass and then chipboard or ply with an old carpet on top.

I bought my large gas bottle wood burner for 30 quid not worth the time to make it yourself unless your a welder with these things laying around. My flue it about 120cms linked and the top of it is hardly hot. Use a sleeve between that and the roof should stop your shed catching fire.