Boys, it's no fun busting knuckles when it's this cold. I took some temp readings in the shop this morning. I didn't get within 30 feet of a roll up door because I knew it would be rough. In the front half of the shop it was in the upper 30's. In the back of the shop, in our metal working area it was dang cold. Glad the welders put off some heat. This is the temp on the welding table.

My brother in law has natural gas at his shop. He built a "S" shaped heater out of light weight 6" tubing. Put a jet burner in the bottom and can adjust the flame. Does a good job of heating the area where he is working.

Waste oil is the way to go, I've built a couple. My new shop is gonna be 200x300 with one at each end. I'm gonna run duct work and put blowers on them.

I am busting knuckles in this cold as well ....and days like today is when I hate what I do. Been working in the shop all week , and now on the coldest day the boss wants us to replace the air compressor in the locomotive.

When you build a new shop put a heated floor in. We did on our new fertilizer house thank goodness.

I bet that would drive the budget up a little on a building that big

Our fertilizer house is not small.

The thing that kills us is 16' side walls and 8 roll up doors. Our shop is around 12,700 sq ft and it's hard to heat that, regardless of what you do.

hoggin, do you have any plans that you went by? I've got an idea in my head but I haven't figured out the wiring and schematics of it. I know what I want to do with the burn chamber and I'm going to put a heat exchanger (dry boiler for lack of a better term) above that.

Wast oil heater is the best idea u wont regret it

Off topic, but I don't understand why they don't build heated bridges. Power it with solar panels and it only has to stay above 35 degrees. Kinda foolish they don't do this in this day and age.
Fur will it burn spent veg oil too? You could make a deal with local greasy spoon or fast food to get they're used fryer oil. I know guys burning it in their diesel trucks in Texas.

Oil heater one of accounts has two of these heating about 4000sqft. They keep it warm but takes awhile to get it there. They have 20ft side walls and 4 15ftdoors. Used oil is the way to go.

I don't have any plans other than in my head. I built a box and put a cut off propane cylinder in the center of it and tacked it to the box. Then on each side I put flat plate to attach duct to air blower on one side pushing air out the other into a duct where ever you want it. Vent the top and plumb tubing in for the oil drip

You only want about a 1 inch space between tank and box

Best money I ever spent was on heat was a Mil Surplus diesel duct heater. H81 from Gov. Liquidations burns little less than a gallon an hour of diesel, puts out 120,000 BTU and has a sealed burner with a heat exchanger so no fumes. I think I have 220 dollars in mine and it is awesome.

When I build a shop at the farm I am going to put solar thermal heat on it, and use the H81 for auxiliary.

Perch I won't need any greasy spoon oil. We have more every year than we could possibly use.

hoggin, I don't think I have a clue what you're trying to describe.

EDIT: Are you using the old propane tank as the burn chamber and the box it sits in as the plenum to hook the duct to?

Yes

there are probably 1000 different designs on youtube

Not any big ones, that I've been able to find. I'm not trying to heat a 20x30 garage.

I was busting knuckles outside all day. Really dreading tomorrow.

I built a big one that ran off used hydraulic oil but would also evaporate used machine coolant at the same time. It was kindof messy and one time when i was pushing it to the max the fire ran out of oxygen when I opened the door it ignited and burnt my head front and back. I would suggest a store bought one.

Those things burn used motor oil? I got about 15 gallons somebody can have.