Heating the hanger

Dave Stadt wrote:

My 75K natural gas unit heater costs $1.00 per hour as a comparison.

If that was last year, it may be considerably more this year. Here in Jersey, it
probably won't be too bad -- the providers are only asking for a 40% rate
increase, but I've heard stories of rates doubling.

Still cheaper than electric, of course.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 03:17:34 GMT, john smith wrote:

In article ,
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATcox.net wrote:

www.peoamerica.net/N601WR

Too bad the floor is already poured.
The best hangar heating is via a heated floor.
You plumb it before you pour and connect it to a boiler.
Makes it much more comfortable on your feet and legs while working on
the plane during the cold months and keeps the heat out of the rafters.

The IR heater in my shop heats the floor to the same temp as the rest
of the building. I do have two of the large ceiling fans to circulate
the air to prevent much of a temperature variation between the floor
and ceiling. If I have any complaint about the tube heater it would
be the noise and the supplied thermostat. The noise is not bad, but
it's not quiet. Mine, like most furnaces takes the inlet air from the
room. If I did it again I'd use a firebox that takes in outside air.
The standard thermostat is just a bimetallic strip. It has a very
wide dead band between on and off. Enough of a dead band that you get
chilly before it turns on and uncomfortably warm before it turns off.
It was probably about 6 degrees or more. With the thermostat properly
located and replaced with the programmable one the temperature never
changes enough for you to see the digits change on the read out. Set
it at 70 and the inside goes to 70. Both will always read 70 even
though the furnace will occasionally turn on for a few minutes. Even
with the much colder temperatures this year compared to last and the
gas usage is about half of what it was.

To heat a hangar efficiently it needs very good insulation in the
walls, ceiling and doors. Those doors need to seal well too. It
helps if the floor is insulated from he ground as well although that
is not often done. However it works very well.

As one of the major problems with heating a hangar is it's height,
ceiling fans and a lot of insulation up there can really improve the
efficiency. Without the fans you have to put a lot of BTUs into the
room so the area up to head high is comfortable. When you do that,
quite often you will find it is much warmer near the ceiling. That
makes for a large temperature differential between inside and outside
which required even more insulation and makes for high heat /energy
loss

Were I going to build a hangar I'd model it after my shop. The
foundation would be insulated from the inside with a thermal break and
the floor would be insulated from the ground as well as the
foundation. The ceiling would be no higher than necessary to clear
the tail on a light twin in the "kneeling" position (just in case).

Painted (pre finished) "Barn Metal" makes a good inside surface for
the walls and ceiling. It is far easier to install than dry wall. It
costs a bit more but less labor makes it close to a wash in price. If
the code allows and you can afford it, off set studs between the
inside and outside also make a big difference, but add about an inch
thickness to the wall. Electrical service is run in thin wall,
surface mount conduit. I have a barn metal ceiling in the shop and
that has 16" of blown in cellulose insulation.

As I said in another post, even with the high winds and single digit
temperatures we've been having the shop has been very economical to
heat.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Better off with a propane construction site heater. ;-)
I have a Radiant and Construction site heater in my hangar.
Michelle

Michelle P wrote:

Kerosene gives me a headache.
Better off with a construction site heater.
Michelle

Paul kgyy wrote:

There used to be kerosene (JP4?) heaters that just required electricity
and generated huge amounts of heat. Don't know if those exist any
more, but check ebay.

George Patterson wrote:
Blanche wrote:

One of those propane blasters?


Propane puts out a lot of moisture when it burns.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Yes, not a good idea for inside use.

Matt

Most heating contractors have a "graveyard" of old units behind their shop.
In most cases, they have been replaced due to the A/C side croaking. Find
the air handler unit from a heat pump or electric heat unit. You can
usually pick these up almost for free. Since it is just for occasional use,
absolute efficiency isn't as important as if you were trying to heat the
hangar to 72 degrees in a Michigan winter.


"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATcox.net wrote in message
...
What is the groups suggestion for heating a 40x50 insulated hanger. It
doesn't have to be hot I just want to raise the temp about 15-20 degrees
when it is 30-40 outside.

Here's the rub. No natural gas available plenty of electric though
including an unused 220 connection.

To see the hanger visit www.peoamerica.net/N601WR look in the contact me
area.

Gig

You may have a winner there.



"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
How about one of these to use up that idle 220 volt connection.

http://www.heatersunlimited.com/item29471.ctlg

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ


Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
What is the groups suggestion for heating a 40x50 insulated hanger. It
doesn't have to be hot I just want to raise the temp about 15-20 degrees
when it is 30-40 outside.

Here's the rub. No natural gas available plenty of electric though
including an unused 220 connection.

To see the hanger visit www.peoamerica.net/N601WR look in the contact me
area.

Gig

The big downside to in-floor heating is that you have to heat the hanger all
the time. With radiant heating you heat it when you need to and keep it at
33F the rest of the time.

Mike
MU-2


"john smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATcox.net wrote:

www.peoamerica.net/N601WR

Too bad the floor is already poured.
The best hangar heating is via a heated floor.
You plumb it before you pour and connect it to a boiler.
Makes it much more comfortable on your feet and legs while working on
the plane during the cold months and keeps the heat out of the rafters.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:nDOnf.17214$hB6.8153@trnddc05...
Dave Stadt wrote:

My 75K natural gas unit heater costs $1.00 per hour as a comparison.

If that was last year, it may be considerably more this year. Here in
Jersey, it
probably won't be too bad -- the providers are only asking for a 40% rate
increase, but I've heard stories of rates doubling.

Still cheaper than electric, of course.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong
to
your slightly older self.

Looks like we are going from $.7 to $1.18 per therm. It cost us $306 to
keep the hangar at 40 degrees f last winter with quite a few afternoons and
weekends at 68 to 70 degrees f. This is for a large T that is well
insulated, two ceiling fans and tight doors in northern IL. Trimline makes
an electronic thermostat that goes down to 35 degrees f and has a settable
deadband. Like Roger said a ceiling would help a lot as the peak of the
roof is over 20 feet.

I just bought 5 gallons of kerosene and the bill was over $50.00

Ouch gonna be a cold winter

Paul
N1431A
"

....
There used to be kerosene (JP4?) heaters that just required electricity
and generated huge amounts of heat. Don't know if those exist any

Tri-Pacer wrote:

I just bought 5 gallons of kerosene and the bill was over $50.00

Ten dollars a gallon for *kerosene*?

Find a different supplier.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.