Shop interior is 60x40. Peak ceiling height is about 30 feet. All open with no fan for circulation. Insulated with hard foam insulation. Insulation looks to be about 1/2" thick. Ceiling insulated with glass bat. Windows insulated and doors also. Really good shop. Just no heater!

 

I have long term ideas in mind but short term, don't know how to proceed. Obviously, heat rises. So it would take quite some time before i may even feel the heat on certain heating devices. Unless its directional or radiant, etc. 

 

Which In this case, that may be the only alternative i have at the moment. I need to get to painting my bee equipment. But even in March old man winter is holding on tight. Miss mud season wants old man winter to kick the bucket, but they can't hear each other. 

 

So one evening, the neighbor set out an old kerosene heater free for the taking. I snatched that up! Works really well, especially free! I just put dyed diesel in it. But the btu output is left to be desired. I put it right under my work area one evening as i was working. I could tell that after some time i need to separate myself for a while from the heater due to its combustion byproducts. 

 

But, now i want to entertain something that i can use and have more heat output and be a little further from.

 

I've been eyeing torpedo heaters. I have diesel in a drum now and use it for the skid steer. So the idea of multi application is appealing. 

 

But i also have 2 100 lb propane tanks. 

 

So i thought about either torpedo heater with propane or the radiant style on the tank type heaters. But that is a bit self defeating. 

 

Getting a wood stove or propane furnace in the shop is the goal eventually. Putting in ducting in to circulate the air better is also a goal as well. 

 

But for now, i just need a stop gap. Anyone have firsthand experiences they would care to share?

I am in the process of building a waste oil burner, Almost done. It’s small scale and heats my 24 x 24 garage fine, burns about a quart an hour, and averages about 500-600 f. I got some fine tuning to do, but may post a few pics of it in action when done. So far I got 0 Dollars into it, just using scrap material, but now I got to fork out about a 150. Dollars for a through the wall chiminy flu. and pipe.

I have a shop heated with a wood stove and I work in it almost every day.  The shop is considerably smaller than yours, but the idea is still the same.  The shop is 36’ x 30’ with 14’ eve walls and a 17’ peak.  There is also a 200 square foot room with a 10’ ceiling attached.  The total shop area is just under 1300 square feet.  The building is a pole barn style (girts and purlins) with metal roof and metal walls.

For the ceiling (roof) insulation, I have R25 fiberglass batts placed between the 2 x 8 purlins (24” on center) covered with white plastic sheeting.  For the walls, I contstructed 2 x 4 inner walls (16” on center) which provided space for 5 ½” fiberglass batts for insulation (the extra 1 ½ inches of space came from the width of the girts).  I covered the wall studs with OSB sheeting so I could hang anything on the walls anywhere I wanted.

I also installed a commercial ceiling fan about three feet down from the peak of the ceiling.  The woodstove came from my house when I upgraded to a larger woodstove in the house.  The woodstove in the shop is a Regency 2400 series with a 75,000 BTU capacity.

I also live in the Pacific northwest (the Willamette Valley in western Oregon).  I can tell you that on a day that barely makes the freezing mark, I can easily keep my shop at 70 degrees.  The air is always dry, even when you walk in first thing in the morning.  The ceiling fan is a must; I reduced my firewood use about one-third after I installed it.  Also, the ceiling fan makes the temperature throughout the shop much more uniform.

I know that you are trying to do something for the interim, but with the size of the building you have, I think I would put all my energy toward the final product.  I think I would get the walls and ceiling to at least an R21 rating, otherwise the shop will be difficult to heat no matter which choice of heating source. 

If you use portable propane or kerosene heaters for the interim, you will be adding moisture to the air.  That heated air with the added moisture will likely condense on objects far away from the source of heat.

- John