# Heaters



## Parentdrywall (Dec 19, 2010)

What are you guys using for job site heaters? We use k1 space heaters but they stink and k1 is costly.


----------



## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

I fired up the propane heater today and man did my eyes sting after a short while.

I think if I needed to have temp heat on a regular basis, I would just get a normal furnace and haul it around. I would also haul around a 3-0 door with a hole in it for the vent and just vent it out.


----------



## Rockhound (Jul 12, 2007)

Reddy Heater. It was 110k BTU when I bought it but since replacing parts,which are the same for most sizes,its now more like 150K. It burns pretty clean as kero turbos go but still a kerosene heater y'know. Had too many headaches with propane heaters.


----------



## cork-guy (May 1, 2010)

cleveman said:


> I fired up the propane heater today


I just can't stand being around propane heaters, I get a nasty headache that lasts for hours. Even though it's more costly I'm content with using a generator and an electric heater.


----------



## Gough (May 1, 2010)

We get electric furnaces from the HVAC guys around here for almost nothing and install 220V pigtails. All of the prefabs and mobile homes come with electric units and the HOs usually swab them for natural gas after the first winter. Two big advantages: no smell, and no added moisture into the building envelope. IIRC, burning one gallon of kerosene produces a little over one gallon of water, propane produces a little less. Given the moisture from the drying framing and sheathing, drywall mud, and finally, paint, it helps to take some steps to avoid adding a bunch more water.


----------



## Parentdrywall (Dec 19, 2010)

Gough said:


> We get electric furnaces from the HVAC guys around here for almost nothing and install 220V pigtails. All of the prefabs and mobile homes come with electric units and the HOs usually swab them for natural gas after the first winter. Two big advantages: no smell, and no added moisture into the building envelope. IIRC, burning one gallon of kerosene produces a little over one gallon of water, propane produces a little less. Given the moisture from the drying framing and sheathing, drywall mud, and finally, paint, it helps to take some steps to avoid adding a bunch more water.


Do you have pictures of these furnaces? Anybody else use just electric heaters?


----------



## Gough (May 1, 2010)

Parentdrywall said:


> Do you have pictures of these furnaces? Anybody else use just electric heaters?


 
I don't have a picture of any of the units that we've used, but you could see some if you Google for images of "electric furnace". It's basically a beige box with a cold-air intake on one side of the lower part, a squirrel-cage fan in the lower part, some resistive elements in the upper part, and a warm-air exhaust at the top. We have the tinners build a cube with some grills on the top, add a pigtail and we're good to go.

These generally put out a lot more heat (10-20KW) than most electric heaters, plus the blower moves the hot air around.

If you can't get one as a giveaway from your friendly HVAC guy, you can always spring for a Fostoria electric salamander. They cost about the same if you have to go retail.


----------



## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

got a no vent propane heater today which claims to be 99.9% efficient. I will try it and see if I like it. Cheap at about $135. If this isn't the ticket, then need to spend $350 for a vented furnace or buy a used forced air furnace on craigslist.

Size matters somewhat. I'd rather have something mounted on the wall than taking up a 3x3 footprint on the floor.


----------



## Tim0282 (Dec 11, 2007)

I use a Fostoria 15KW electric portable. Easily heats a two story 2000Sq. Ft house. No smell and dries the mud fast. Great heaters. I like the electric furnace idea, too.


----------



## Parentdrywall (Dec 19, 2010)

Tim0282 said:


> I use a Fostoria 15KW electric portable. Easily heats a two story 2000Sq. Ft house. No smell and dries the mud fast. Great heaters. I like the electric furnace idea, too.


What's it cost? How much a month or per job to run?is it hard to wire up to panel?


----------



## Gough (May 1, 2010)

Parentdrywall said:


> What's it cost? How much a month or per job to run?is it hard to wire up to panel?


I just bought a 10KW and the 15KW isn't much more-somewhere in the $700-800 range. Obviously, operating cost depends on how much it runs and your cost for electricity. Since we pay about $0.08/per KWH (neener, neener), it costs us about $19/day to run it full blast. At that same rate, a 15KW would be just under $29/day. Both of them run off of standard range/dryer recepts, 50/70 Amps @ 220 VAC, respectively.


----------



## MattRoefer (Mar 1, 2010)

*Q-Mark BRH562 QMark Garage Heater With Continuous Fan 
*


----------



## MattRoefer (Mar 1, 2010)

or check out...

*Mr. Heater MH210KTR - Mr. Heater Forced Air Kerosene Heaters*


----------



## moore (Feb 5, 2011)

gas/ kero adds to the moisture content .gough is right. elec. is the way to go. if able.if able.


----------



## Rouerplastering (Sep 6, 2010)

200k torpedo heater. But we don't work unless the heat is fully functional on the jobsite. The whole plaster freezing and falling off thing. Ya know?

We just use the torpedo heater for hanging board and taking the chill out of garages.


----------



## Tim0282 (Dec 11, 2007)

cleveman said:


> I fired up the propane heater today and man did my eyes sting after a short while.
> 
> I think if I needed to have temp heat on a regular basis, I would just get a normal furnace and haul it around. I would also haul around a 3-0 door with a hole in it for the vent and just vent it out.


Do you know you can adjust the regulator? There is a phillips head screw on top of the regulator. Turn it one way or another to adjust. You can take out all of the fumes. You are burning too raw gas. Had the headaches. Turned that screw and, gone!:clap:
Still hard to beat the electric, though. Burns the moisture out.


----------



## Navy (Feb 15, 2011)

*Kerosine heaters burn with a greasey residue*, with a new heater this can cause a stain in the ceiling boards that is nearly impossible to remove or cover. I live in Saskatchewan Canada and use heaters 8 months of the year, Up here we use propane heaters in the prarie but when I lived in Vancouver, on the coast the humidex was so high the added moisture was a problem as *propane is a very moist heat*. The homes with geothermal heat are the worst as there is no furnace to flashup, *the 220V electric heaters are the best thing to hit drywall since mixed mud*! They provide* the dry heat required* to get the moisture out of the mud and should be started up in the house before the boardmen go in as a stack of board on the floor will draw moisture from the air and retain it in the walls. An average 2000 sq. ft. home will use 2-3 electric heaters. These are the square box heaters and when you turn them on they don't seem to be throwing much heat but you come back the next morning and it is swealtering inside.


----------



## denjul (Mar 28, 2009)

the contractors around here use both propane and electric furnaces. The other plus with electric is it doesn't cost to use them because the elec is on the customer


----------



## OrangeBusa (Feb 16, 2011)

Frost fighter _ indirect fired heat 
clean dry heat no fumes no headaches, no additional moisture in the air
add a couple of air movers and you will never go back to anything else


----------



## Mudshark (Feb 12, 2009)

Electric heat is the way to go. It produces a dryer heat than the others. I refuse to work in an area with propane fumes and it adds so much water to the drywall you may as well turn the sprinkler on. Get these construction heaters and have the sparkies wire the building for 220 for the stove and dryer plug ins. Much safer in my opinion but best to have the home owner or general contractor supply the heat and then they become their liability not yours.


----------



## VanGoghFinish (Aug 1, 2011)

I have aways used the cheap propane pot heaters from big box stores.Hated the fumes and they where very inefficient. You have to get the good ones from your bigger gas,propane,etc supply company's. The they are not cheap but they are awesome. No fumes and burn for days. I finished up a small two story house today that I started taping last wednesday I was shock to find that it was still burning today when I showed up to sand 5 days later. I always run them on low flame and use 100lb tanks.


----------



## JMC1981 (Aug 27, 2011)

Parentdrywall said:


> Do you have pictures of these furnaces? Anybody else use just electric heaters?


 Yes. On 95% of our jobs the electric is ready to go. So, we have 15 or 20 small electric heaters in the company. Even on an average 2 floor house, 4-5 of those electric heaters will heat the place comfortably; sometimes as little as 2 depending on the weather.

We used to use space heaters like everyone else for the longest time. Problem is it's next to impossible to get the home owners / builders / contractor to refund your investment for fuel for the heaters. With fuel prices the way they are it doesn't take long to start eating into your investment. Furthermore, those space heaters since they're always around dust, don't have long shelf lives and are expensive to repair / buy new.

So, down here in the states, we buy those small electric heaters. Home Depot carries them for something like $13-$14, cheaper than a jug of fuel. Problem solved.


----------



## jb4211 (Jul 13, 2010)

I have a propane, torpedo heater. I only used it outside when I was installing a stone veneer. It was so cold the stone wouldn't stick. I tented the area with plastic and heated it up toasty warm.


----------



## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

*Electric or Kerosene DV*

Oil heat is common here, so running a kerosene DV heater like a Monitor 422 or OM-22 is pretty easy (although a few hundred dollars for just the construction install). For smaller areas, shorter term, I use electric heaters. Electricity is expensive around here. As little as one month of heat can justify a DV install over electric.


----------



## Willievkatz (Jul 28, 2021)

*Reviving this thread in hopes of getting some additional/new answers.*

Middle of paint stage in ~3,400 square foot remodel. Lots of tile in the upcoming weeks--floors, walls, all sorts of interesting details. Going to have several days in the next few months where weather is below freezing for multiple days at a time. New furnace unit is in, but can't get start-up for a while--need temp. gas, electric permits, etc.

Any suggestions about some good space heater investments? I'm thinking electric, 220 space heaters would be best. But looking for ideas. Run them overnight? Timers? Auto-shutoff functions? Specifics would be helpful. Thanks.

















Lots of this going on 👆


----------



## Robie (Feb 25, 2005)

From what I understand, the electric, oil-filled units are the safest. I have one that runs constantly in cold weather....110v
Pretty inexpensive also. 4-5-6 of those would keep the place workable,
About $70 each.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

Without reviewing the thread, for that size of the building, I think I'd concentrate on getting the already-in place furnace going. If it requires LP, shouldn't be all that prohibitive to get a temporary tank in.


----------



## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

A lot depends on whether you have electric outlets everywhere. I have a bunch of small ceramic electric heaters with thermostat control.


----------



## Willievkatz (Jul 28, 2021)

hdavis said:


> A lot depends on whether you have electric outlets everywhere. I have a bunch of small ceramic electric heaters with thermostat control.


Thanks to everybody for input so far. 

We just have temple electric outside of the service panel, no outlets inside hot yet. So I guess a bunch of extension cords and power strips, or have the electrician wire up a couple outlets inside.

I'm leaning towards the oil soap radiator heaters just because of ease of management--fewer concerns about checking, overheating, fire, etc..


----------



## Robie (Feb 25, 2005)

Willievkatz said:


> So I guess a bunch of extension cords and power strips


You know this already...make sure they are heavy duty.


----------



## tjbnwi (Feb 24, 2009)

I’ve used Eden Pure heaters in the past, they work really well.

Tom


----------



## Willievkatz (Jul 28, 2021)

Robie said:


> You know this already...make sure they are heavy duty.


You got it. Good reminder. Like this one, right?












tjbnwi said:


> I’ve used Eden Pure heaters in the past, they work really well.
> 
> Tom


Those look great. I may check them out for a future investment. 

At this point, with cold front and NWS winter weather advisory in effect, heaters of all types are flying off the shelves at big box hardware, Sams, etc. After driving to an out of the way big box hardware store, I ended up grabbing seven oil-filled radiators. Will set them up and hope for the best. As long as we can retain reasonable temps for paint, stain, and tile work everything should be fine.


----------



## Robie (Feb 25, 2005)

Those are exactly the ones.
Be careful though. If you are paying more than $1.29, you are getting ripped off.


----------



## nickko (Nov 11, 2012)

I never understood the hype of the eden pure heater. There 1500 watts just like most of those little portable electric heaters that are a quarter of the price of an eden pure. And 1500 watts is 1500 watts.


tjbnwi said:


> I’ve used Eden Pure heaters in the past, they work really well.
> 
> Tom


----------

