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How do you heat your hangar?

caapt

Well Known Member
Winter is coming. I want to use a propane heater, but am concerned about Carbon Monoxide. I am renting a T hangar and would like to work through the winter (north Texas)
 
Many years ago I was in a large T when I started my build. I purchased two electric Quartz IR heaters. They worked well but you had to be working in their range as the air temp is not affected. I bundled up and they made the work tolerable even when hangar temps where near freezing. Not cheap to run though.
Today, I have an electric furnace in my shop/storage hangar but it eats you out of house and home if you use it a lot.
I have a ductless split heat pump system at the home hangar designed to keep the hangar at 60 deg.. It stays on full time and is very economical in our Pacific NW climate. It also cools in summer. May not be so good in other climates.
It has the extra benefit of a dehumidifier as well.
 
I have a T hangar in Caldwell Idaho. It isn't as cold as many places, but still cold. I installed a propane ceiling hung heater last year and it does a great job heating everything above 8' high! I had to install a ceiling fan. It takes an hour or two to heat from 35 to 60.

If I want quick heat or local heat when I am using epoxy, I use a heater like this.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Dyna-Glo-200-000-BTU-Portable-Convection-Propane-Heater/3458948

It will heat the entire hangar up in about 30 minutes. The problem is I have to keep re-filling the tank. I have one of the 4' high tanks and it lasts a couple weeks.

The biggest issue I had was the air leaks on the sides of the roll up door. I ended up using 2" thick foam insulation on the entire door and then taking some old fire hose and using it for weatherstripping on the sides. That made a huge difference.

Even after sealing the doors, I don't think there is any way to keep a T hangar air tight enough to worry about fumes. As long as you keep the heater adjusted and in good condition, you can't even smell it.
 
more advice ....

So I'm not a hangar owner, but worse, borrow them from time to time, for annuals, etc.

Lots of good advice on the forum over the years....basically if you are working at your bench, you can tent it, and heat the air inside pretty easily.

propane gives off almost zero CO, ( think forklifts in warehouses) when proper combustion is occurring.
as others have noted, radiant heat is king....electric or gas heats a radiating emitter, ( the red glow) and the waves travel until they strike a surface, such as your butt, tools, wing of the plane, the wall, floor etc....and that surface absorbs, and reflects some part of the energy.
The air stays relatively cool, and doesn't just head for the 20' ceiling in the hangar, where it's warmth is lost to the cold roof!
 
I used a 10 X 10 canopy with sides and a couple of 110V electric heaters and some carpet scraps over the concrete, after an hour I'm in a Tshirt with OAT's in the 20's.


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About 15 KW worth of this
HEAT902821.bmp


Sure! it makes the meter spin but virtually no maintenance and cost less per BTU than I can make it work out with all other fuels that are readily available. I even considered waste oil for free, wood, coal, solar, Heat pump. Almost any maintenance at all costs more than you can save across 10 years with other forms of fuel.

Just happen to have one of these

TRANE-75-TON-AC-ROOFTOP-UNIT-with-GAS.jpg


in the side of the shop to blow air across the electric strips ;)
 
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I used a torpedo heater like bt3vex suggested my first year of ownership when I NEEDED to do a lot to the plane in the winter. I used the 300,000 BTU version, bought on craigslist. It made my head feel funny after a day of work. And I spent a lot on propane, 20 lbs at a time.

This coming winter I need to do three relatively major things, and I will probably go with the tent method suggested by crabandy, either by buying just such a setup or building one with PVC and plastic. Electric is included in my hangar rent, and I already have a milk house heater setup to pre-heat the engine that will work in the tent.
 
How do I heat my hangar? By building it in Florida. You should see how effective the heating is in June-August. :D
 
Val6 heaters. Val6.com I have a KBE5L 2 step with a thermostat. It heats my 50x50 hangar all day to 65 degrees when or more and when below 20f needs no ventilation. Burns JetA or kerosene. They are not cheap but they will out perform any salamander heaters. They are also very quite

http://val6.com

FWIW
 
I'm sure people won't believe it when I say it's clean but...

I've used Propane torpedo heaters for many many years in my garage and hangar. I also have a high sensitivity (not for home use but for RV trailer use) CO monitor that I keep right near the workbench. I only use Kerosene for heat, and within seconds of firing up the heater (I have 115K BTU, 110K BTU, 155K BTU, and now a 140K-180K BUT version in various hangars and garages) they are making lots of hot air. Not much for any smell either, when warmed up. If you let them run out of fuel, they will huff and puff during their last gasps, and make plenty of CO for a minute...but if you avoid that, they burn very clean. Also, short cycling them where they turn on and off a lot, will increase CO a bit. So you don't necessarily WANT to buy the biggest and most expensive one you can. I'm in WI, and worked on 2 airplanes thru winters when it was sub zero. If you're anywhere in the lower 2/3 of the country, you won't need a very big heater for a normal garage.

Now, one time I got cheap and stupid and tried to run diesel in them, since they run fine on diesel, but I ended up with a headache and it was very noticeably worse than kerosene.

My latest one I just bought a couple weeks ago because the local Natural Gas company here decided to up my zero usage meter reading rate to about $35/mo...and that's without using any natural gas. That got me irked enough at spending hundreds a year to heat a hangar that I only need heated a few days a winter that I decided to get another torpedo and just do it that way.

The only real drawbacks are that Kerosene isn't easy to find sometimes, and the heaters make some noise. But depending on your work area, it may or may not be a big deal. Make sure to get a CO meter, and if you have CO readings climbing up, make sure you have adequate ventilation. My garage leaked enough that I didn't need to add more.
 
We are lucky to have natural gas and use overhead radiant heat in both ny workshop at home and in the hangar at the airport. Keep the hangar at 50f all winter, just enough to make working and prepping comfortable.
 
Just an observation...

Some folks can work in their hangar/shop when the temperature is 45F or above. Others want it at 75F. I insulated my shop extremely well and heat it with an oil type radiator space heater and for really cold weather I pre-heat with a propane heater before I actually work out there. I have found that I can work comfortably at 60F or above.

Now those who know me well are wondering why don't I get out in my shop more and finish my 7...? Good question. I hereby resolve to do just that! :eek:
 
cost of fuel is sometimes an issue. fwiw there are ways to tap into your bulk propane bottle at home. fuel there is a fraction of getting a 20lb bottle filled.
 
Have used a few types

I don't have a hangar so i just use my garage which I hope this year gives birth to a wonderful RV -7.

This latest house I had installed a Natural gas garage overhead heater and man I am glad i did. IT keeps the garage warm but at -30C(-22F), yes it gets that cold here I need to use an electric heater for warmth near the bench while working on small stuff. Otherwise an extra shirt and I am good to go with the rest of the fuselage work.

I am surprised at the kerosene "Herman Nelson" use(that is what we call them here) as no_one picked up fumes. I would be very careful with these and would not use them in an enclosed area without a sufficient cold air source AND a really good functioning alarm type carbon monoxide monitor. Those fumes really do kill and SILENTLY!

Good luck with your build.
 
I've built a plane in -10 weather in Minnesota in an uninsulated hangar and it was like working on the moon. I started out with just a little Buddy Heater to warm up frozen fingers.

Eventually I graduated to a couple of kerosene heaters and moved to an insulated hangar.

It heats up nice and toasty. If you let the fuel get too low, you will get some fumes that can get obnoxious.

The hangar was leaky enough, air wise, that I never had a concern about CO.

There's another piece of equipment that I'd highly recommend for building: A good pair of fleece-lined jeans from LL Bean.
 
i don't have heat in my hangar but i built a 10' x 10' insulated shop in it.i wouldn't want to try to build an airplane in an unheated space but this set up works well for maintenance . surprising how comfortable 25 deg. can be with no wind chill. shop can be heated quickly with up to 4 space heaters and then one maintains it.
here's my tip.........get an electric frying pan for $5 from goodwill and keep the tools you are using in the frying pan next to your work. metal really pulls the heat from your fingers.
 
here's another FWIW..................
state of the art kerosene heaters claim roughly 100,000 btu output on 3/4 gallon of fuel. so roughly that cost is $2.75 for an hour.

a propane ''salamander'' of 100,000 btu will use 1.1 gallons of propane in an hour. bulk propane is $.70/gallon.
 
Do you NEED to be in the hangar? I could not imagine building the plane there, although, some have. Insulation is the key, I did drywall top and walls, and insulation including garage doors, (at home) one little toaster size 1500 watt heater kept the temps at T **** temps even while it was -0- outside.
 
Fleece-lined jeans

...There's another piece of equipment that I'd highly recommend for building: A good pair of fleece-lined jeans from LL Bean.

Bob, that's a great suggestion. :) Those fleece-lined jeans from LL Bean are also nice for those Saturday morning breakfast flights in the winter. I have two pair, and I live in Alabama.
 
In the early 90's I was renting a t-hangar from the airport operator (the city of South St. Paul, MN), for the Cessna 140 I owned. I was selling the 140 to start the RV-6 and I didn't want to lose the hangar so I built a 20' X 20' shop inside using lumber, batting, plastic, etc. I heated it with a 5000w electric forced-air heater. When the city building inspector came to look at it his eyebrows went up and he asked me "Temporary?". Yes. "How long?" 2 years (it took 7). He then issued my permit. The heat bill was low (average $35-55/month) and it was a great place to work. Raised a lot of eyebrows.

As far as permanent heat, most of our new hangars are getting floor heat (Uponor,etc.), with a few using gas fired radiant. We are seeing fewer gas forced-air, with the big unit up in the corner of the ceiling, due to the relative inefficiency and rather uneven heat.
 
Has anyone installed a ductless mini-split heat pump system?

My hanger is 50x50, and heat would be nice, but cooling in the summer would be really nice as well....

Sort of afraid what it would cost to cool though.

-Dan
 
Has anyone installed a ductless mini-split heat pump system?

My hanger is 50x50, and heat would be nice, but cooling in the summer would be really nice as well....

Sort of afraid what it would cost to cool though.

-Dan

Heat or cool is the same price with a heat pump. You're running a compressor and moving refrigerant. The reversing valve just changes the direction of flow. Electricity is one of the WORST ways to heat anything as far as efficiency goes, but if you don't have gas fuel (natural or propane) there's not a lot of choice.

A related question is: how much electrical capacity is available? I work in buildings that have minimal capacity for upgrade due to the incoming power already being maxed out.

~Marc
 
Has anyone installed a ductless mini-split heat pump system?

My hanger is 50x50, and heat would be nice, but cooling in the summer would be really nice as well....

Sort of afraid what it would cost to cool though.

-Dan

Yes. A 28k BTU unit keeps my hangar 65-70deg F in moderate weather and 60 when it is really cold. I just installed it a couple months ago so the $$ to run it is still unknown. Heat pumps are very efficient in the Pacific NW relatively mild climate.
 
Has anyone installed a ductless mini-split heat pump system?

My hanger is 50x50, and heat would be nice, but cooling in the summer would be really nice as well....

Sort of afraid what it would cost to cool though.

-Dan

You would likely want a fairly large "mini-split" setup for a 50x50 depending on how well insulated it is.

By comparison I have a 50X30 that is separated into 2 offices and a shop. Each office has a 12,000 BTU unit and the shop area has 2 wall mount units. total capacity of all 4 units is 48,000 BTU/H. works great for be and provides versatility of only conditioning the space that is being used. ( the shop is only conditioned when working several days a week).



If the area you want to condition is all one space (like a hangar) you would probably be wasting your money with the mini split setup. They cost a lot more per BTU output than a standard split system or package unit.
 
Kero combustion can be corrosive - be aware.

Like cooling and CHT's look at ambient - a guy in Miami can heat with a light bulb, it won't apply to Minnesota, WI, SD, ND - - you get the picture.

Kerosene - This contains sulfur and that will adsorb to the humidity in the combustion process - that makes sulfuric acid in the condensate. Tools (and other dense metal pieces) will heat more slowly, thus potentially forming a thin film of condensate. In a large hangar it may not be a factor, but i know of a guy that ruined many $1000's of tools this way. Ambients were -10F

I am looking at the radiant, or forced air propane heaters, so this thread is helpful.

I envy you guys with 220v and AMPs available.

EDIT: I found that K-1 kerosene is only .04% sulfur, so way lower than I remembered. Still be careful with tools.
 
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I know forced air heat isn't popular these days since there are more efficient options but I have to say I am very happy with the forced air gas heaters in my 60x60. Add to that the big *ss fan I have to push the heat down from the ceiling and the hangar is comfy no matter what the temps are outside. And the utility bill has always been reasonable since I'm just using the heat when I'm there.

Before I had the heat installed I used one of these propane heaters to heat up the space. 200,000 BTU quickly heats up the space but burns through the propane. They have smaller units too. They are $120 at northern tool.

173608_700x700.jpg
 
here's another FWIW..................
state of the art kerosene heaters claim roughly 100,000 btu output on 3/4 gallon of fuel. so roughly that cost is $2.75 for an hour.

a propane ''salamander'' of 100,000 btu will use 1.1 gallons of propane in an hour. bulk propane is $.70/gallon.

News flash - propane for usable containers is not that cheap. Local cost for filling a 100# container is $85-90 - that is for 24 gallons, right at $4/gal. Hopefully, you can get it for less.
 
I have a 12x16 fully enclosed car shelter tent, shortened to 12x12 in one wing of my Tee hangar. I use a couple of halogen work lamps for heat and light, plus a small electric space heater when necessary.

This enclosure heats up quickly and economically. If I get chilled while working, I recover in the shelter and do some paperwork. I also have a fridge, a desk and three workbenches and small electronics lab in the shelter, so I can do lots of detail work in there.

In the summer, I can repurpose the shelter as a paint booth. $300.
 
yes, propane has gone up since i posted that but i just paid $1.29/gal. to fill my bulk tank. hangars at my airport have bulk propane tanks.
several years ago when propane prices went out of site here, like $6/gal bulk i calculated that elec. space heaters in my house had a break even cost to propane when it hit $2.40/gallon.
also, i think most airports have natural gas. if you are going to heat a lot maybe the installation and monthly service charge will beat your 100lb bottles.
 
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