Shop Improvement #1: Heating

I just finished a couple weeks off work.  The first part of the vacation was spent at Glacier National Park, which was fun.  It was also pretty crowded, because half the park was off limits due to a fire, and those visitors ended up moving into the remaining open areas.  I will do a post on the park later on.  It's what happened after we got back home from Glacier that made the vacation become useful.

I have a good neighbor who is an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning) guy.  This spring, he had agreed to help me install my shop heater.  However I was busy clearing trees, and he had to make a few trips out of state.  Finally we both had nothing else more pressing to do, and so we finally installed the shop heater.

The shop previously was heated by a wood-burning stove.  The old owner used the shop as a business, and was there every day to put wood in and keep the shop from freezing.  He removed the stove and flue pipes when he left, leaving a hole in the side of the shop, which I covered up.

I don't intend on being in the shop every day of the winter, but I also don't want it to freeze, so a propane heater for maintenance heat is perfect, and it can use the same wood stove hole for flue gas.

My neighbor gave me a shopping list for Home Depot, and I was also his low-skilled helper.  The heater was a Craigslist find.  It was already set up to burn propane, and came with some double-wall flue pipe.

Below:  Peeling back the plastic sheeting and removing insulation, so that we could install 2x6 boards to suspend the heater from.  The 2x6 boards must attach to at least 3 roof trusses.

Below:  Using a block and tackle to hoist the furnace into position, to align the furnace exhaust vent with the hole in the shop.

Below, the heater is suspended from the 2x6 boards in the correct position.  Test fitting the flue pipe to ensure it is horizontal before screwing the boards to the trusses and tightening the hangers.  Electrical is pulled but not connected.  No gas fittings yet.

Insulation re-installed, plastic sheeting almost tacked back on.

Below:  Connecting flexible gas pipe between furnace and wall-mounted pipe.  Electrical and flue gas piping are finished.

Below:  A Low-Temperature digital thermostat.  We installed it clear across the shop, near where the water fixtures are located.

Outside, ready for caulking.

Below: 75,000 BTUs ready for winter!  We added a nice piece of sheet metal to cover the hole.  A wood stove requires an 8" hole, but the propane heater only has a 4" pipe, so the hole was oversize.  The sheet metal plate that the exhaust passes through hides the larger hole nicely!

UPDATE:

I've now been through three winters with this furnace - It's a champ!  It maintains temperature within a pretty tight range above freezing, and doesn't burn a lot of propane doing it.  When I need to spend much time in the shop, it can raise the temperature from 38 degrees to 60 degrees in about 15 minutes.  Sadly, it can't do anything about warming up the concrete floor.  I can be comfortable wearing just a  T-shirt, but the feet will get really cold eventually.