For our Blade F16 project we need some ideas. We are working in my garage, and there is just the usual "holes in the wall" and under the garage port for ventilation. Last winter we used some 200W bulbs directly over the hull panels to heat them while the epoxy set. It worked, but I was not impressed with it. The garage is not insulated very well, so we need some KWs from our heatsource.
A fellow builder here in Norway use a paraffine/diesel heater for his workspace. I have been thinking about a natural gas heater. Using electricity is not very economic anymore..
What do people use, and what kind of precautions do we need to take with the different options? Risk of fire is something I denfiately want to minimize!
-- Have You Seen This? --
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: Rolf_Nilsen]
#152840 08/18/0811:23 AM08/18/0811:23 AM
Rolf, first I would think about proper thermal insulation. No point in heating the back yard too. Second I would use water as a transport medium. Natural gas burners are very good, if you have a gas pipe near you. A gas burning powerplant can provide all the hot water and heating you need for your home. The unit is very small - aprox. 45x60x90 cm, you will need to use radiators in all the rooms. But ... is there a natural gas network there ?
I can buy natural gas on 6 and 12liter tanks, but no natural gas network (we export 99.9% of it). I would have to install a chimney/exhaust and run some plumbing and that sounds like an extreme undertaking for one or two winters, at most three winters. Insulation will happen as best we can.
So what do you use in your workshop by the water Gato? Or dont you use it during winter (it is a lovely workshop, so that would be a pity).
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: Rolf_Nilsen]
#152843 08/19/0810:07 AM08/19/0810:07 AM
I have been using a diesel heater in my work space. And I have an unheated room for cutting wood and anything else that makes dust. I will be using the same heater to heat an oven that is built around the mold to bring the temp. up to 55C. Also I have a small electric heated in a foam box to keep the epoxy resin at about 20C. A note about my weather conditions, it very rarely goes below, -5C where I live.
lesburn1.blogspot.com
A-Cat USA 49 18Sq 49
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Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: lesburn1]
#152844 08/19/0811:35 AM08/19/0811:35 AM
My workshop close from the water is not used for wood or epoxy work when the outside temp drops below 15 deg C. Just to heat when working is causing a lot of problems with humidity. When working wood or epoxy you need a more or less constant temp and humidity to avoid problems. As you can see on my blog, I was working in the living room <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> when doing the DS12. I also have possibilities to use the workshop at my work.
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: Gato]
#152846 08/19/0811:54 AM08/19/0811:54 AM
Increasing the temperature in the workshop while gluing and especially when glassing is a big no-no. Outgassing is not pretty either <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I think we can have pretty stable temperature when gluing/glassing as long as the heater runs. This workshop is our only alternative unfortunately.
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: Rolf_Nilsen]
#152847 08/20/0804:42 AM08/20/0804:42 AM
G'day Rolf it doesnt get as cold here as you get but we get down to zero overnight at times. I've found that this setup of 4 x 500w halogen lights gives me good working light and lifts the local working space temperature at a controlable rate by putting the lights closer if need be. I took this photo today and it got down to minus 5 last night outside but you can feel the whole shed is warmer. The downside apart from power cost is that when you turn these lights off after a few days continuous use, most of the globes melt. regards
Jeff Southall Current boats Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider Nacra 18 Square Arrow 1576
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: JeffS]
#152848 08/20/0806:08 AM08/20/0806:08 AM
That was what we used last winter. Apart from needing cleaning and not directly heating parts in the shade it worked quite well. This winter we want to heat the whole room, as we are working on both sides of the room (1 car garage). We also noticed how the lightbulbs did not last very long, did not think about them melting.
I am becoming paranoid with regards to the power company, so I would prefer to not use electricity for heating. 2000W is pretty expensive considering how we will be working most of the winter. Thanks for the tip anyway!
What boat is that in the picture?
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: Rolf_Nilsen]
#152849 08/20/0806:18 AM08/20/0806:18 AM
Hi Rolf, My shop is a detached building and has insulated walls and roof. I use an electric baseboard unit of about 2.5 KW. These are cheap, easy to install, and about as safe as you can get. On the coldest nights it will keep the shop at 50 DegF (0 - 10 outside). To supplement this I also have a propane unit that screws directly into the top of a 20 lb. propane tank. One thing to keep in mind is that a 5 gallon bucket or 55 gallon drum of resin takes forever to reach ambient temperature when you turn on the heat in a cold shop. I used to try saving money by keeping the shop cold until it was time to do a layup but this turned out to be not very practical. Then, I tried hiding containers of resin in odd corners of the house and my wife got really pissed at me.
Kevin
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: Kevin Cook]
#152850 08/20/0806:28 AM08/20/0806:28 AM
I have a heat box for resin, a simple 60W bulb in a box with the resin. This keeps the temperature of the resin surprisingly stable.
The propane unit you use, is there any open flame there? I would not be comfortable with open flame in my workshop, and a thermostat would be nice. Preferably not running on electricity for its main energy consumption <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I know I am asking for something which might not be out there.. Sorry.
Re: Heating your workspace, ideas?
[Re: Rolf_Nilsen]
#152851 08/20/0807:20 AM08/20/0807:20 AM
Thats a 14ft Arrow and the pink one on the ground is an 11ft Arafura Cadet, I just picked up 2 of each to get junior cat sailing going here but they all need something done. regards
Jeff Southall Current boats Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider Nacra 18 Square Arrow 1576
Hmm, this may take a bit more looking. I was thinking that the Coleman camping products may work but they include this warning in their documentation: "During operation, this product can be a source of ignition.Never use the catalytic heater in spaces that contain or may contain volatile or airborne combustibles, or products such as gasoline, solvents, paint thinner, dust particles or unknown chemicals"
I was wondering if the Coleman type products were the same as the the other catalytic products that keep the process below auto-ignition temperatures.
Last night was fun. We winterized the workshop. 0 to 3 deg C last night, and this morning it was still 10degC in the workshop. That was pretty good concidering that we did not have a heatsource active in the garage. Looks like something out of NASA, dont it
In reality it is just some cardboard and aluminium foil, rubber gaskets on the port to the workshop etc. So far it seems to work well, and lighting was also improved. At least we think so. But what do a couple of tin-heads know
The heaters designed for workshops that use the waste oil from your local car or truck garage are the biz, steady heat and relatively free from fumes smells etc, downside they are a high initial cost but if you can source the oil for nothing then payback is quick.
I've had far too many diesel space heaters that you end up smelling and exhaling breath that smells of oil fumes, doesn't half kill the old passion sessions with the better half, straight off.
The LPG Green House heaters which are thermostatically controlled, if your workshop is large, are really good, downside is they do end up putting large amounts of condensation into your workshop which is not great for epoxy.
The best workshop heater I've had was a wood burner, get a good quality one and you can shut them down enough that they will still light the next day, you don't need a very big unit either as they are better to be run at mid heat than to control them down to far where they fume and "oil" up the flues from lack of heat.