Radiant heat shop floors

[56-210Sedan]

I have been looking at radiant heat (concrete shop floor) as a possibility for a planned shop in the future. any of you using this product or know of someone who is using radiant heat?

[chevynut]

Marty, I personally don't think I'd do radiant heat in a shop, if you mean the kind embedded in the floor. In the winter, you don't want to heat it all the time due to cost. If you don't heat it all the time, it would probably take a long time to bring it up to temperature, because you have to heat the concrete up. If you keep it warm all the time, it's going to be expensive.

I have a 75kBTU unit heater, and it works great...only about $600-700 new and cheap to install. I think putting radiant heat in a floor is a lot more expensive. I turn mine down to 40-45 unless I'm going to work out there, then it takes 5-10 minutes to warm it up to 65 where I like to work. This past winter I left it closer to 68-70 all the time because I was doing so much primer work. For a couple months my gas bills were pretty high.

[56-210Sedan]

I think you have a very valid point Laszlo

[chevynut]

$100 a month to heat a shop is a helluva lot of money, imo. My tools never really feel cold, even when it's below zero outside. The coldest my shop ever gets is with the thermostat all the way down, at about 45 degrees. IMO it's foolish to heat a shop all the time when you're out there so little. I'll bet most guys don't average more than a couple of hours a day in the shop...average! That's 17 hours a week.

Sure the concrete is warm with radiant heating and it recovers fast after opening a door...but that's not the issue. It's keeping the concrete warm that's using the energy. It probably takes several hours to heat the concrete back up if you use a setback thermostat or turn it down when you're not out there. I'd rather turn the temperature up, go change clothes, and work in a warm shop right away. My total gas bill for my worst month this past winter was $147...and that includes heating my entire house and hot water for two people. The average temperature that month (mid-January to mid-February) was 31 degrees.

Overhead radiant heaters are a completely different story. You can turn them off and on when you need them. We have some open-patio bars that use them and can stay open even in the winter.

[chevynut]

Like I said, I think the overhead radiant heaters make sense in a shop, and perhaps the radiant floor heaters make sense if you already have a boiler you can tap into...not sure about that because of the piping needed in the concrete. But I don't think the radiant floor heaters make sense if you have to do the entire installation, and you don't use the shop 8 hours a day to work in. I think Marty plans to use his shop like I do, as a place to work on cars after his day job. I don't think he would want to pay to heat the shop all day and all night.

The other thing to consider is insulation. If you're using high cost fuel, like propane, you might want to invest in additional insulation and even build with 2x6 walls, instead of 2x4. Mine is 2x4 with R20 walls, R30 ceiling. If I had the heat on all the time I would double the ceiling insulation. I also insulated around the inside of the foundation with 2" foam boards up to the bottom of the slab. My 2 overhead doors (16x8 and 10x8) are insulated, but not very well....just 1" or so of foam insulation. A lot of heat loss there, I imagine. I'm not sure how to get around that.

[56-210Sedan]

Wanted to bump this back into the population of the site since we have some new members on board, so if you have input please speak or type LOL:)

[mikev8nut]

Im with laszlo in his first post. I personally wouldnt use under floor heating in a garage or workshop. If i was in there 5 days a week it would be a different story.

[destroyertta]

i seen this site www.garagejournal.com have alot of info on garages and from what i seen online its not that expensive to run the pipe in the concrete its the bioler that are expensive but i herd of people running it through a woodburning stove and once you heat it up it doesnt take much to keep it heated as long as you insulate as best you can you could also do your driveway and you will never have to shovel snow again

[markm]

I also have a 125,000 BTU unit heater in my shop with a dedicated 500 gallon propane tank. About $100 to top it off last fall, used about the same this winter.

[destroyertta]

posted before said it had to be reviewed dont know what happened but from what i hear about these systems they take a little bit to heat up but once its heated up its not that much to maintain it and running the pipe is the cheap part its your boiler choice thats the most expensive part i heard of people running through a woodburning stove and people use this to heat their driveway to melt the snow and ice they dont have it on all the time so it must not take that long to heat up would be nice to not have to snowblow the driveway you could always run the pipe and hook up a heating source later also if you sell the house its a great selling point i would like to do it just cuz i think its cool but i would like to do the house and driveway too so it might be worth it if you do the whole system people who have it love it good luck though