Garage Lighting and Heating (China Diesel Heater?)

Soldato
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21 Jan 2010
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Hi folks,

I currently have about 14 tube lights in my workshop. I think they use a bunch of electricity but I've never tested.

I'm thinking of replacing with either LED battens or those fancy hexagon lights.

I'm also thinking of a basic 100 quid china diesel heater to blast heat in. Has anyone bought a specific one they'd recommend?

Can anyone give any guidance?
 
See my thread for the diesel heater side of things. I have a MAXPEDINGRODS but they are 99.9999% the same with really only the control units that differ very slightly between them.

As for lighting, I have a smaller garage than you at ~36sqm but I have 5 40W LED panels (cheapish from Amazon) and the room is as bright as I could ever realistically want it! I had flourescent tubes in there before and I did give some thought to just replacing the tubes with drop-in LED replacements but they still look naff. The panels look far smarter in any case.
Thanks - I keep meaning to read through this. I guess they are all much of a muchess. I was looking at this:

The MAXPEDINGRODS ones all seem to be 12v?

I see you mention smell - is that the heater itself stinking the place up? That is a disappointing bit of news if so! It'll be a gym, so kerosene sickness not ideal :cry:

Lightwise - I hadn't considered the panels. Is it just trial and error to find placement/did you apply any "planning"?

I was looking at these things, but no idea w.r.t lumens etc:

I would probably need x3 though for the full workshop (37sqm).
 
Got you, the setup I plan will essentially be a PIV.

I am putting the whole unit outside in a lean-to and the hot air will be ducted into the building. This will reduce condensation and also stop any drafts if there were some.
I hadn't considered this - so essentially you are external mounting and ducting in heat, vs. internal mounting and ducting out exhaust?
 
Ah - I hadn't realised it had a big start up power demand. I understand it needs a cool down cycle otherwise it'll grenade itself, so maybe a car battery is a safer prospect overall (pseudo UPS?).
 
So today I need to finish laying the gym floor and get organised on the other half of the workshop. I've ordered two racks to replace two bits of IKEA stuff I've been keeping hold of for a decade.

The thing that keeps playing on my mind is how to exhaust the heater. I have 4 brick courses I could drill through, or I could mount higher up and come out of the wood. Going out of the wood obviously introduces fire risk without the appropriate fitting that stops heat transfer.

Has anyone done it out of wood before?
 
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Where are you planning to mount that vent? Reminder that it needs to be lower than the output from the heater itself to prevent condensation buildup issues... If you're going up to get to the vent you will need a drain hole at the lowest point, which obviously cannot be inside your building unless you want to die. FWIW I had mine initially venting into the path between my garage and house at about 4ft from the ground and the exhaust fumes hung around and made it basically unbearable. If you're venting into a larger area or where there's generally a breeze even on a still day then I'm sure you'll be fine.
Thanks --- pic below:

kjoVtB2.png


I was thinking where it sits on the floor here (https://i.imgur.com/4EC9opj.jpeg) right hand side --- but then it might get in the way of a 6ft bar/putting weights on and off. So I could either offset the rack or mount the heater higher.

So plan is to mount it higher. That means it'll probably vent about in-line with the window, but on the rear. That's a good 10-14ft (no idea tbh) higher than a human. Green blob on image for reference. I have a lot of tolerance in height so could come a bit lower too I guess.

Actually the shelf above where the box is in that pic above (https://i.imgur.com/4EC9opj.jpeg) might be about right; albeit a bit flimsy.
 
Higher the better really, on a cold still day it'll 'pool' lower and it really isn't pleasant so giving it every chance to get dispersed is your friend. I don't see any reason why you'd be unhappy with locating it above the green dot inside and venting it out there, save for refuelling it. Given the fuel pipe from the tank to the heater will be pure chinesium (likely a thin green plastic pipe) which is in no way fuel rated and WILL leak you'll be buying fuel pipe anyway... so you might as well put the tank somewhere convenient. Or get a bigger one. Or... both. The ones that come in kit form give quite limiting requirements on how near the heater the tank needs to be for it to work. In my experience, tank placement doesn't seem to matter all that much. Except if you have a very long fuel line you'll spend a fair while priming it every time it runs out of fuel before you notice. I have around 3m of fuel line between the tank and the heater and I've had the tank at various heights relative to the heater and had precisely no issues. I've mentioned it before but the fuel smell from the vented tank is ever-present and unpleasant, moreso if you happen to spill it while refilling. I will eventually relocate my tank to somewhere outside the occupied space for this reason and it would make sense for you to plan to do the same from the beginning if you can, especially given you'll be wanting to separate the tank from the heater in any case.

BTW, the exhaust pipe between the heater and that vent is going to get extremely hot when it is running at full chat, 200C+ sort of hot. I have wrapped mine in some exhaust ceramic insulation cloth stuff (nasty, wear gloves!) to lessen the likelihood of fire and/or severe burns if I happen to touch it.
Yeah I mean theoretically I could mount it as high as possible within the eaves. I was considering how much of a faff it would be to refuel it. Are you saying the tank they come with is smelly, or a separate tank is smelly?

The more I hear about these things the less I am inclined to even bother - although I am quite far down the rabit hole now :cry:

Edit: I also measured up my lights - they are 5ft tubes. I don't think I can get LED replacements at a sensible budget, but I have since learnt they aren't all that inefficient (I was thinking they were 10x worse than even a regular halogen). I will stick until I do something grander I think.
 
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The fuel tank has a vent in the top, which... vents. You'll see what I mean just by looking at it :)
Ah got you. So it'll be stinky even if it's used then - hmm.. Feels like I will be working out and vomming at the same time. I'll push it as high as I can, as the roof isn't sealed, maybe that'll give the fumes from the fuel a chance to exit.
 
I went with the 240w version of the same PSU for the one mounted outside of my garage/workshop in a box to keep it dry, etc. The 360w version has a fan active all the time, which failed on my first attempt; 240w/20A should be more than enough, I reckon. It is hard to see but boxed in with metal mesh across the bottom and a hole on the right side with a short length of tubing for the air intake to be heated. The top is hinged, and the front of the box sits on a small wooden lip at the bottom and is held on with magnetic catches used for cupboard doors so I can open the whole thing up

heater-Copy.jpg
Dammnit man you've got me thinking again. I can easily get access to the rear of the workshop, and I have some leftover roofing sheets I could repurpose as a lid. Maybe I will mount it to the rear of the workshop.....! Avoids losing space where it is quite critical too.
 
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The only downside I can see is that the exhaust would be quite low to the ground.

@Macro I know it's "just a box" but any chance of more pics of your setup?
 
That's brilliant insight, thank you! I am always pained to touch my workshop as the previous chap basically had it built and then never so much as put a drawing pin in the structure lol.
 
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