Heating A Area Saftly

CCSowner

How would you heat a basement or a garage during the winter time for a long period of time (3 days)? There will be people working in the area for the 2 days so fumes from the heat source would have to stay very mild. Plus there would be a lot of paint fumes to. Is Electric heat the only way to go?
Thanks
Adam

__________________
Adam Forsythe
Creative Covering solutions
"New England's Answer to Brick paving and Tile/Stone"
www.creativecoveringsolutions.com

firemike

What kind of fumes - Latex (water) or oil/solvent?

What type of heating equipment do you have available? How big is the area, and how much heat will you need (ie: amount of temperature rise needed, air leaks, amount of concrete floor/walls that has to be heated, etc?)

Electric will probably be the safest, with the no fumes, but depending on the size of the area, you may need a rather large heater with a high current draw.

A good salamander with a thermostat will probably be the cheapest and easiest, but you will have a slight odor. A drawback is kerosene introduces moisture into the air, raising the RH.

You might consider renting a good sized propane heater, they give fast, clean heat, but need larger propane tanks (100 pounders for a decent heater, otherwise you wll be changing the little 20 pounders every few hours or so.) I occasionally rent a 75,000 btu propane heater and it will heat a 20 x 20 area nicely and last a day and a half to a couple days on a 100 lb tank depending on the outside temp and cold load. I use it when we need to set up a temporary shop or paint booth in a homeowners garage or other unheated area when it's cold.

More detailed info will get you a more accurate answer.

__________________
-Mike-

Bone Saw

i aggree with the propane i did some staining indoors in the cold blasting a propane reddy heater no problems

Michaeljp86

I would go with propane, its clean and can put out alot of BTUs. I would like to get one of those heaters that go on top of your 20lb propane tank.

My dad said when he was 17 and needed to work on his jeep so he had it in the garage and had a old smudge pot and cranked it up. I guess he almost burnt the house down. I always wondered why the ceiling in my grandmas garage was black.

BigMikeB

Depending on the type of fumes I don't think I'd go with an open flame.