In the early stages of buying the official restoration-mini garage

[94touring]

Thought about painting over it, but it's so expensive I couldn't bring myself to it.

[stan360]

hahaha ....no kidding on that

[94touring]

Preparing for winter and getting the heat situation taken care of. Last winter bought a 60k btu propane forced air heater which is great, but I want something electric to turn on and leave on.  I can still use the propane heater to rapidly increase temps till I heat myself out.  I suspect it will also work great for pumping the paint booth with heated air during painting.  Anyways I ordered a 26k btu wall heater for the far wall and a patio heater to mount toward the center of my work area where I'd spend most my time wrenching. 

[94touring]

Let there be light!  14k lumens in the center now and a light on the wall too.

[MtyMous]

Makes all the difference in the world having good overhead light. And that wall light will be awesome for detailing.

[94touring]

Heater test day.  32 degrees outside and the shop is at 71 inside with my radiant heater and electric box heater.

Edit:  hit 81

[MiniDave]

Measured at what height? My feet are always cold this time of year......but I like the shop at about 60* if I'm going to be doing anything strenuous at all.

[94touring]

Chest level.  We ended up turning it off because it became too hot.

[MiniDave]

How long did you run the heat before it became comfortable?

Yeah, I run mine for about an hour every three hours or four.....if it's really cold like it's been - low 20's. Plus my garage doors don't fit well and there are large gaps so if it's windy it gets cold again quicker. We're expecting zero this weekend.......

I think I need some insulated footwear.

[94touring]

Today was the first trial run so not sure how long it took, but it wasn't long.  I  probably need to get a thermostat for it at some point so it shuts off. 

[94touring]

This morning it's 25 outside and on the middle heat setting on the 7500watt selection it keeps it at 70 in the shop. 

[94touring]

Well as the morning has gone on the temp crept up to 76.  Need to get a thermostat badly.

[Jims5543]

Sitting here with the AC on in my office trying to comprehend this. Like I told Dan yesterday, I am not bragging, with a heat index nearing 90, I am over the hot and want some cool weather.

[94touring]

Day 3 of this heater.  24 outside this morning, 56 inside. Firee up the heater and after 20 minutes up to 67.  I did discover it has a built in thermostat.  Once the temp gets to where it's comfortable you turn the temp knob down till the unit clicks.  It doesn't turn off but the heat part kicks off, the fan still blows.  Then it clicks back on once the temp drops.  Since it's hard wired I pull the breaker before I leave for the day.  I wired it into the same breaker as the ac unit so once summer hits I'll just need to unwire it to run the ac.

[MiniGene]

Heat!  A great addition!  I remember my garage in Colorado getting so cold in the wintertime--it made it zero fun to work out there.  I always wanted to get a good heater but didn't want to really invest since I didn't own the place (just rented.)

[94touring]

Yeah it's awesome.  I run it about a third up the heat dial to keep the place at 70.  I also started running a box fan in the far corner because the heat gets trapped over there and eventually sweats me away from my work bench if I'm working there. 

[John Gervais]

Oh, that sounds rough...

I stand on a sheet of cardboard with a small rectangle of closed-cell foam sleeping pad on top of it and try not to move off of it.  My feet still get colder than ice cubes, even with thick wool socks and hiking boots, and I have a hard time reaching into small spaces from the heavy sweatshirt layered atop a wooley-booley fleece, atop a heavy wool shirt, atop a wool (river-driver) shirt, atop a t-shirt, atop the long underwear.  Leg's are similarly insulated, longjohns and heavy overalls and of course, a wool cap.

What you really need to get is an artificial palm tree in there -   77.gif

[94touring]

Lol.  Yeah and beach music and Pina colladas with little umbrellas. 

Once it gets below 40ish or so the compressor that sits outside in the side garage struggles to start first crank of the day.  We ended up strapping a shop light against it to heat the block. Does the trick nicely on cold days.  Otherwise it trips the breaker trying to turn over.

[John Gervais]

What's going to happen when it gets really cold?  Is the lamp going to be enough to keep the compressor warm?

[94touring]

We hooked it up when we hit the 20s.  It doesn't get much colder here.  It turned right over.  It starts to limp once it gets in the 40s and the week of the 20s just couldn't turn over.

[MiniGene]

I remember a long time ago I was sent to my first permanent assignment: Tinker AFB right outside Oklahoma City.  It was January but being born and raised in Alaska I thought, "No way Oklahoma going to be cold" and I didn't pack more than a wind breaker.   HOLY SHEET WAS I WRONG!!!  I froze my ass off!!!!!!  :-[

[94touring]

Looks like it's back into the 20s this week. 

[MiniDave]

You can buy an oil heater for the compressor, plugs into 110V, that should let it turn over OK - ask Justin about them. They have a thermostat so only run when it gets below a pre-set temp.

[94touring]

Ah good idea  4.gif

[94touring]

13 out today!