Update on the dream shop

[Ohio Blue Tip]

I've been working on the shop all week and it's now ready for concrete.  Built the distribution manifold yesterday and put the tubing down today.  I had a lot of good help laying the tubes from my friends Charlie Chops and golf partner Art.  The photos show the manifold and test set up for the pour.  The 40-psi air gage lets you know if any tubing gets damaged during the pour.  
The catch basin has a 6" pvc tube that will be a downdraft vent system for painting.
Tomorrow I'll stat digging the trench for water, gas, power, phone, TV, and computer lines

[Crosley.In.AZ]

looks good!

[WZ JUNK]

I've been working on the shop all week and it's now ready for concrete.  Built the distribution manifold yesterday and put the tubing down today.  I had a lot of good help laying the tubes from my friends Charlie Chops and golf partner Art.  The photos show the manifold and test set up for the pour.  The 40-psi air gage lets you know if any tubing gets damaged during the pour.  
The catch basin has a 6" pvc tube that will be a downdraft vent system for painting.
Tomorrow I'll stat digging the trench for water, gas, power, phone, TV, and computer lines

Looks really good Ken.  I was wondering how much you had done.  Better keep at it winter is coming.

John

[phat46]

Very nice! I'm jealous, it takes several days  of heat before I don't get cold feet in the shop in the winter.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

what are the guide line for cold temps when the in floor heat should be used?

[WZ JUNK]

what are the guide line for cold temps when the in floor heat should be used?

Tony, where I live the temperatures fluctuate a lot in the winter.  We will have very cold periods followed by warm spells throughout most winters.  The type of system Ken is using works really great in colder climates but here it does not adjust to the outside temperature changes quickly.  This is what I have been told and I have no first hand experience with this type of heat.  

John

[58 Yeoman]

A friend of mine put in in-floor heat in his new building, and I remember him saying something about the thermostat was supposed to sense the temp of the concrete floor.  He didn't think that that sounded right, so he put the thermostat on the wall.  Bad idea.  When he opened the door, the cold air blew in and told the thermostat that the floor needed more heat.  It has slipped my mind to ask what he did to remedy the problem.

[Dave]

I've been working on the shop all week and it's now ready for concrete.  Built the distribution manifold yesterday and put the tubing down today.  I had a lot of good help laying the tubes from my friends Charlie Chops and golf partner Art.  The photos show the manifold and test set up for the pour.  The 40-psi air gage lets you know if any tubing gets damaged during the pour.  
The catch basin has a 6" pvc tube that will be a downdraft vent system for painting.
Tomorrow I'll stat digging the trench for water, gas, power, phone, TV, and computer lines

Are you gonna use a paint booth ?
Dave
ps: looks good im jealous

[Ohio Blue Tip]

I will be able to answer all the questions after a winter of use.  You can use the in concrete temperature sensor or the air sensor.  I'm using the air temperature sensor.  I want to regulate the air temperature and the in floor heating is very slow to react so if the thermostat gets a blast of cold air, it my run the system for a short time but the effect would be minimal.  Some tell me that most set the air temp. at about 62 and the building and it's contents remain a constant temp.  We will see.
I could add a floor sensor at a later date.
The heating engineers tell me that once the floor is up to temp. (about 4 days) the system will only run a couple of times a day to maintain a constant temp.  My goal is to heat the shop for $50 a month on natural gas, we will see.

I don't plan formal paint booth, just a temporary plastic as needed.

[2rods]

I have radiant heat in shop floor also. The only way to go. I have a wall thermostst but it is programmed to come on for 1 hour a day. If it isn't enough I will bump it up to 1 1/2 or 2 hours a day but it has to be pretty cold for 2 hours/day. That is enough to take the chill out and is usually around 50-55 degrees which is a perfect working temp for me. I think it will be way more than 50 a month if it is not on a timer.

[purplepickup]

Lookin' good Ken!   Git 'er good and warm for the open house.  You never know, some of us might pass out on the floor and we don't want to catch cold.

Is the brass pole going to be heated too?

[40]

"My goal is to heat the shop for $50 a month on natural gas, we will see."
 My shop is 36'X48' w/10' ceilings.....I have a Lennox 100,000 BTU high efficiency hanging gas furnace mounted in one corner.I keep it around 58 degrees as that is a very comfortable temp to work and my highest bill to date was $57 and that was a couple of years ago during an extremely cold January.It has a very powerful,quiet blower and heats the entire shop very evenly.I guess what I prefer over the floor heat is the quick recovery.....I can open the overhead door for a long period of time,drop the temp in the shop,close the door and have it warmed back up in a few minutes.I'll be curious to see how your system works out....Look forward to you reporting back this Winter.The thought of a toasty warm floor is very appealing!

[kb426]

Around here people have both in floor and an overhead for when the temp changes repidly or when you have the doors open. Most of the people I know are satisfied with the in floor except for the recovery time if you had the door open moving things around. Natural gas is so expensive here that people have quit working on projects in the winter. I only heat my garage if I'm broke down and need to repair something. It makes a long miserable winter. :cry:

[Ralph]

OBT, you're gonna love it. I'll vouch for the comfort of radiant heat. My shop feels toasty at quite a low temp setting (62F). I think good insulation is key, and the best-insulated overhead door you can find. I don't open the big door much in winter, but when I do, the shop recovers quickly. If the thermostat does trigger the heat, it goes off again pretty quick.The 24 x 26 shop runs off a 10-gallon hot water tank with a 3000-watt electric element. Kind of underpowered, but the system will maintain my set temp until it drops to -30F outside, when it starts to lose ground. Two weeks of those temps and my shop falls to about 56 F. No big deal. No way I'd ever go back to forced air heat.
Ralph

[phat rat]

lookin good Kenny. I'll look forward to seeing it when I get back