MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
We've got a small industrial unit (approx 10 000 cubed ft) with no heating..
We ideally need to maintain a dry (ish) atmosphere, and only heat the space when in use which can be as little as two days per week in winter..
My immediate thought is that dry heat = wood burner, but there are problems with that regarding situating it and installing it.. Our handyman that deals with stuff like that for us is against the idea on the grounds that maintaining a sufficient wood supply would be too costly and he reckons it wouldn't produce enough heat..
Sooo.. looking at something like a Sealey propane fuelled space heater my biggest concern is condensation..
Has anyone got any experience on the subject..?
condensation will be a big issue on un-insulated surfaces, or tools left out ( assuming it's workshop space ) i'd expect, so if you need dry warm then i'd look elsewhere tbh.
Can you have a smaller heated space - we put an insulated shipping container in a big unit, with workbench in, then heated that. For bigger jobs the guys bought a warm coat and hat and had a works issue of MTFU.
a £10,000 37kWh pellet burner installation with, say, a £2,500 6ton pellet tank and a further £1k of rads + pipework could generate quite a bit of commercial RHI income, maybe 20% return for 20 yrs 🙂
Has it got a high ceiling & is it insulated?
high ceiling, no insulation, steel roller door 😕
Maybe think along the lines of radiant panels off what ever boiler you go for (with black bulb temp sensors if temp control required). De-stratification fans will help with high ceiling and conventional heating.
dress up warm! The reasonably cheap (up front) options are gas space heaters, diesel / paraffin space heaters or something like Red Rads.
With gas you have the condensation and the hassle of carting big bottles of gas about - you can empty them pretty fast. Diesel / paraffin is possibly more convenient (if you run out at least you can nip to the garage) but the same condensation issues.
If you need dry heat then red rads are good for pointing warmth at surfaces - to dry paint for instance, but you can only plug so many in before things start to go pop. They don't really heat the space but they can heat the spot where you are standing
What are you actually doing in there (dare I ask). Unless there is a process that requires it (something needs to dry or set) then I never bother to heat my workshop (actually two buildings of 2000 and 1000sqft) even in the snow. I don't even bother to close the doors winter or summer. When I do need heat I use the smallest gas space heater you can get and a gentle heat otherwise you just get rinsed of gas and an indoor rainstorm. For dry heat just a couple of cheap supermarket heaters and leave them running day and night
The thing I'd try is hiring examples of the above and see how effective they are, see if you find you're blasting through gas and not feeling the benefit before you purchase.
What are you actually doing in there (dare I ask).
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edible hats!
in that case you might want to look at electric. you might find the gas or parafin heaters taint the flavour of your bonny bonbon bonnets
You'll need to check, but I think a 'Space Heater' is off the menu due to insurance issues and there are bound to be some H&S concerns.
Best option will be some form of radiant heating:
http://www.ambirad.co.uk/products/
Hth
Marko
ah hah!
that looks very promising Marko.. thanks everyone for your input
no more chilly students.. 😀